Tolerance, respect and endorsement

As I've mentioned before tolerance is really a rather ugly word, in the sense that it implies an attitude of borderline disgust--"I'll tolerate your present". However Liberals have used it so that it now carries with it a quasi-acceptance in as much as Liberals in their post-modern mindset perceive that one can accept mutually exclusive beliefs, which in reality means they are simply tolerating them as long as they conform to the over-arching Liberal world view.

The following illustrates some of the confusion that comes from such twisting of concepts...

Some Houston residents are upset after Korans were left on the doorsteps of hundreds of homes in their neighborhood as part of a campaign to educate people about Islam....

"If we went into a Muslim country and left a Bible, we would be in prison and then decapitated a few years later," Sue Ann Pieri, a resident who chose not to destroy the book, as other neighbors did, told MyFOXHouston.com.

The foundation, which left the books on doormats or hanging from doorknobs, said in a note accompanying the Koran that "rather than judging Islam and Muslims by the actions of a few, we want our fellow citizens to judge us by the book that influences and guides the lives of over 1 billion Muslims."

Here's the problem: Moslems in many areas of the world have displayed their willingness to kill people over the hint that a copy of the Koran has been disrespected. Having heard that, non-Moslems then would naturally fear a copy of the book being put in their possession, without asking for it. Many, seeing the atrocities committed by some Moslems, and noting the silence on the part of the rest, have little respect for the religion. Also it should be noted that the TV station like most media outlets makes money on "interesting" stories, so more often than not they'll exaggerate the response of the people receiving the Koran, in order to make the story more "sexy".

The Moslems distributing the copies of the Koran are being obtuse about non-Molsems' reaction by not realizing with the violent responses many Moslems show in protecting the Koran, it makes the book a thing of fear for many non-Moslems. It stands to reason, also, that when you lay a book on the doorsteps of people who didn't ask for it, many of those books will wind up in the garbage. Thus those distributing the copies of the Koran are doing it in a way that will insure the book is disrespected.

It's unreasonable to expect people to endorse another religion. Tolerance is a rude and ugly term, made vague by Liberals. However respect is another matter. Respect for another religion would suggest that if a Koran was left on your doorstep, you set it in a secure place, and notify the sender to come get it, because you don't need it, and don't want to throw it away, out of respect for their religious beliefs. Respect would say that if you hear of someone disrespecting your scriptures, you respond with words, not clubs, knives, guns or bombs.

But because of the confusions Liberal generate with their insistence on "tolerance" we wind up with dis-respect, anger and in some cases violence.

Posted by Danny Carlton at July 3, 2008 6:40 AM