Everything about Tolerance totally explained
Toleration and
tolerance are terms used in
social,
cultural and
religious contexts to describe attitudes and practices that prohibit
discrimination against those practices or group memberships that may be disapproved of by those in the majority. Though developed to refer to the
religious toleration of minority religious sects following the
Protestant Reformation, these terms are increasingly used to refer to a wider range of tolerated practices and groups, such as the toleration of sexual practices and orientations, or of political parties or ideas widely considered objectionable.
The principle of toleration is controversial.
Liberal critics may see in it an inappropriate implication that the "tolerated" custom or behavior is an
aberration or that authorities have a right to
punish difference; such critics may instead emphasize notions such as
civility or
pluralism. Other critics, some sympathetic to traditional
fundamentalism, condemn toleration as a form of
moral relativism. On the other hand, defenders of toleration may define it as involving positive regard for difference or, alternately, may regard a narrow definition of the term as more specific and useful than its proposed alternatives, since it doesn't require false
expression of enthusiasm for groups or practices that are genuinely disapproved of.
Historical development
As a practical matter, governments have always had to consider the question of which groups and practices to tolerate and which to persecute. The earliest known example of ethnic and religious tolerance is found in the
Cyrus cylinder, which was declared by
Cyrus the Great after he founded the
Persian Empire. Similarly, the
Edicts of Ashoka issued by
Ashoka the Great in the
Maurya Empire also declared ethnic and religious tolerance. The later expanding
Roman Empire faced the question of whether or to what extent they should permit or persecute the local beliefs and practices of groups inhabiting annexed territories.
Jewish or
Christian practices or beliefs could be tolerated or vigorously persecuted. Likewise, during the
Middle Ages, the rulers of
Christian Europe or the
Muslim Middle East sometimes extended toleration to minority religious groups, and sometimes did not. Jews in particular suffered under
anti-Semitic persecutions in medieval
Europe.
In Europe, the development of a body of theory on the subject of toleration didn't begin until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in response to the
Protestant Reformation and the
Wars of Religion and persecutions that followed the breaks with the
Catholic Church instigated by
Martin Luther and
Huldrych Zwingli and others. In response to the theory of persecution that was used to justify wars of religion and the execution of persons convicted of
heresy and
witchcraft, writers such as
Sebastian Castellio and
Michel de Montaigne questioned the morality of religious persecution, and offered arguments for toleration.
A detailed and influential body of writing on the question of toleration however, was first produced in Britain in the Seventeenth Century, during and after the destructive
English Civil Wars.
John Milton and radical Parliamentarians such as
Gerrard Winstanley argued that Christian and Jewish worship should be protected, and it was during the period that
Oliver Cromwell allowed the return of Jews to England. These early theories of toleration were limited however, and didn't extend toleration to
Roman Catholics (who were perceived as disloyal to their country) or
atheists (who were held to lack any moral basis for action).
John Locke, in his
Letter Concerning Toleration and
Two Treatises of Government proposed a more detailed and systematic theory of toleration, which included a principle of
Separation of Church and State that formed the basis for future constitutional democracies. The British
Toleration Act of 1689 was the political result of seventeenth century theorists and political exigency, which despite the limited scope of the toleration it granted was nevertheless a key development in the history of toleration, which helped produce greater political stability in the British Isles.
The philosophers and writers of the
Enlightenment, especially
Voltaire and
Lessing, promoted and further developed the notion of religious tolerance, which however wasn't sufficient to prevent the atrocities of the
Reign of Terror. The incorporation by
Thomas Jefferson and others of Locke's theories of toleration into the
Constitution of the United States of America was arguably more successful.
Recent development
Though developed to refer to the
religious toleration of minority religious sects following the
Protestant Reformation, the terms "toleration" and "tolerance" are increasingly used to refer to a wider range of tolerated practices and groups, such as the toleration of sexual practices and orientations, or of political parties or ideas widely considered objectionable. Changing applications and understandings of the term can sometimes make debate on the question difficult.
For example, a distinction is sometimes drawn between mere "Toleration" and a higher notion of "Religious Liberty":
Some philosophers [.. .] regard toleration and religious freedom as quite distinct things and emphasize the differences between the two. They understand toleration to signify no more than forbearance and the permission given by the adherents of a dominant religion for other religions to exist, even though the latter are looked upon with disapproval as inferior, mistaken, or harmful. In contrast these thinkers recognize religious liberty as as the recognition of equal freedom for all religions and denominations without any kind of discrimination among them [.. .] in the case of religious liberty, no one is rightfully possessed of the power not to tolerate or to cancel this liberty.
Discussions of toleration therefore often divided between those who view the term as a minimal and perhaps even historical virtue (perhaps today to be replaced by a more positive and robust appreciation of
pluralism or
diversity), and those who view it as a concept with an important continuing vitality, and who are more likely to use the term in considering contemporary issues regarding discrimination on the basis of race, nationality, gender, sexuality, disability, and other reasons.
There are also debates with regard to the historical factors that produced the principle of toleration, as well as to the proper reasons toleration should be exercised, with some arguing that the growth of
skepticism was an important or necessary factor in the development of toleration, and others arguing that religious belief or an evolving notion of respect for individual persons was or is the basis on which toleration was or should be practiced.
Tolerance and monotheism
One theory of the origins of religious intolerance, propounded by
Sigmund Freud in
Moses and Monotheism, links intolerance to monotheism. More recently,
Bernard Lewis and Mark Cohen have argued that the modern understanding of tolerance, involving concepts of national identity and equal citizenship for persons of different religions, wasn't considered a value by pre-modern Muslims or Christians, due to the implications of monotheism. The historian
G.R. Elton explains that in pre-modern times, monotheists viewed such toleration as a sign of weakness or even wickedness towards God. The usual definition of tolerance in pre-modern times as Bernard Lewis puts it was that:
Mark Cohen states that it seems that all the monotheistic religions in power throughout the history have felt it proper, if not obligatory, to persecute nonconforming religions. Therefore, Cohen concludes,
Medieval Islam and
Medieval Christianity in power should have persecuted non-believers in their lands and "Judaism, briefly in power during the Hasmonean period (second century BCE) should have persecuted pagan Idumeans". Attempts to increase tolerance by applying different rules to different people would ultimately be self defeating.
Many universities, in attempting to enforce certain political and ideological viewpoints through means other than instruction and debate have been come to be viewed by some as intolerant.
Historically important documents
(Listed chronologically)
Further Information
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