O.C. RELIGION : ON FAITH / Rev. WILLIAM AULENBACH : Intolerance by Christians Is Intolerable
I received a tract in the mail recently entitled “The Tolerance Dilemma.” The first page of this seven-page booklet quoted Billy Graham: “One of the pet words of this age is ‘tolerance.’ It is a good word, but we have tried toapply it, too often, where it does not belong . . . over-tolerance in moral issues has made us soft, flabby and devoid of conviction.”
I don’t object to the quote but to what the tract does with it.
The author (unknown) goes on to quote John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
The author asks: “Where do these non-Christians and nonpracticing Christian people . . . being very tolerant of one another, fit on the ‘shall not perish’ scale?” The insinuation is that if one is a non-Christian or a nonpracticing Christian, one will die.
Let’s start with the nonpracticing Christians. Where in the Bible does it say that if you don’t go to church, you won’t be saved? Going to church is “good works.” Christians are saved by faith, not by going to church. Can people be good Christians without going to church? Of course they can.
As to non-Christians, I can’t believe that they will automatically go to hell--for two reasons. First, I don’t believe in a place called hell. And second, I believe that God is not a Christian. If God doesn’t love Jewish people (Jesus was always a Jew), Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Mormons, and so on as much as Christians, then I don’t understand what we call the “love of God.” My God is inclusive, not exclusive.
The author of “The Tolerance Dilemma” suggests not only that unbelievers are doomed, but that if I tolerate and respect people of other belief systems, I am part of the dilemma. This is wrong.
Many Christians denigrate those who don’t believe exactly as they do. One sees daily what Christian intolerance has done. Doctors who perform abortions are murdered and their clinics bombed. Gays are maligned, harassed and even executed.
Many Christians kept silent during the Holocaust, did not prevent the activities of the Ku Klux Klan, and allowed slavery to continue. Women are still second-class citizens in many Christian denominations. On and on could go the list.
Maybe “The Tolerance Dilemma” is that the Christian church has been too intolerant--elitist, narrow-minded and self-righteous. Perhaps it is time to become more tolerant, not less.
How? Here are three ways:
* The Rt. Rev. William Swing, Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of California, is organizing something called United Religions, an idea based on the same concept as the United Nations. People of every religion would come together to discuss their commonalities rather than their differences.
* Orange County has a Diversity Faire once a year where members of all religions who feel so inclined come together to share, listen and cooperate. Last year it took place in October on the UC Irvine campus.
* Interfaith coalitions are growing in many communities, giving people of many faiths a way to meet and work on common issues. I belong to the Orange County Interfaith Coalition for Social Justice, which is involved with welfare reform. This is tolerance in action, and the only dilemma seems to be that more faith-based people aren’t involved.
No more can Christians afford to believe that they are God’s only answer to humanity’s needs. Twenty-first century Christianity needs to be intolerant of intolerance and tolerant of tolerance.
*
On Faith is a forum for Orange County clergy and others to offer their views on religious topics of general interest. Submissions, which will be published at the discretion of The Times and are subject to editing, should be delivered to Orange County religion page editor Jack Robinson.