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To say that man’s inability to tolerate another man’s own belief has hampered his elevation in general cannot be over-stated. To have a clearer understanding of religious intolerance, defining it should give us a clear vision of its effects.
There is no clear definition of the word religious intolerance. However it can best be described as the absence of being unwilling to put up with someone else’s beliefs. In clear and simple terms we can thus posit that religious intolerance means not tolerating beliefs that differ from one’s own. The issue of religious hostilities dates back a long time ago. The quarrel that ensued between the Israelites and Egyptians from the Biblical accounts can be said to have been the inability of both parties to encourage or accommodate their different beliefs. In the end, it resulted in the loss of so many lives.
When the birth of Jesus Christ was publicized, so many children were murdered because the King had misinterpreted the prophesy of John the Baptist, and probably thought that the one who would dethrone him had been born. As he grew up, he began his message. He reached the point when he could no longer be tolerated, and so he was murdered in one of the most brutal means in the history of man.
The great prophet Mohammad sought and got enlightenment after thirty days in a cave. After gaining this new experience, he began preaching his message of love and denouncing some activities in his society. The member of his own society got angry with him and then began persecuting him and his followers. This also led to many deaths as the persecuted had to put up some form of resistance.
Mahatma Gandhi the great thinker was not also left out in this kind of intolerable activities. There was a time, he wanted to pray inside a church and the members of that church turned him away. He got angry and turned his back on Christianity as a religion but not on Jesus Christ, because like Christ, he lived an exemplary life. Who knows; if that had not happened, he would probably have converted to Christianity.
There was however something peculiar to both Christ and Prophet Mohammad. While their own people rose against them, they were accommodated by outsiders. For instance when Herod ordered the killing of Children, the parents of Jesus Christ took him away to far away Egypt. In the same manner, while the prophet was chased away by his own people from Mecca, the people of Medina received him with arms wide open.
Since those days, the question of tolerance has in one way the other hampered the growth of man in understanding his fellow man and society. Insolence towards each other’s religion has given rise to truculent activities. As a result many religious wars have been fought.
But one thing the followers of all these great thinkers have failed to do is to follow the example and teachings of their various masters. There are so many lessons to be learnt from the kind of lives they all led.
Jesus Christ put it succinctly to his disciples that he had not come to die for the Jews but that he came to save the world. For this reason he paid the tax collector an august visit, even when his admirers had written him (i.e. the tax collectors) off.
If every man should follow this example, we can be sure that problems of religious wars and crises would be put to rest. And if this is achieved, can it not be said that he has achieved his aim of saving the world in that respect? The prophet before he died advised every Muslim and every man to dress his neighbor as he would dress himself. He also advised every man to feed his neighbor as he would feed himself. This in simple terms means loving everybody irrespective of their beliefs. After all, he had been tutored by some Jewish business men; he was doing business with before deciding to serve “Allah”.
To further press home this view point, the achievements of Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, cannot be over-looked. He himself in a bid changed some certain things which were not right, especially the Caste system which was in itself discriminatory, sought and got enlightenment. And in his Noble Eight Path teachings, he preached against lies, shedding of blood, and wrong ways of speaking, having wrong resolve (which includes religious intolerance), taking wrong actions, wrong means of livelihood and much more. Paying lip-service to this issue is not enough; every hand must be on deck to address this matter.
Religious uprising where ever they occurred have destroyed a lot of things, from Islamic Jihads to the era of the reformation in the 16th century. Such rumpuses hindered economic growth in the periods they occurred. Addressing this issue is so important in that some crises are miss-interpreted to be either religious wars or that religious undertones are not lacking in them. A typical example of this until recently has been the difficulty in differentiating the problems bedeviling the Arabs and the Israelites from religion.
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Ejiro donald
Enefe Ejiro Donald was born and raised from a humble background. I appreciate and advocate for equity, justice fairness and world peace. I look forward with eagerness to that day when the world will be a better place for all to live in...we can all work it out...the lil contributions from every citizens of the world can help achieve this dream
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Comments
This is Great Oke Rotimi | Oct 12th, 2003
This is very informative and very enlightening.
It is very certain that we need to tolerate ourselves in other to make peace with one another.
This is a nice one Donald. keep it up
____Rotimi omo iya shade
This is wonderful and indeed great neba princewill | Dec 19th, 2003
The issue of intolerance is a great problem in our todays world especially with the diversity in religious faiths.
l will want you to keep on with the ideas
neba princewill
Charu J. | Aug 31st, 2007
It's great that you wrote about tolerance, which is very much needed these days. Check out these books which might interest you:
1.) Muhammad and Jesus: A comparison of the Prophets and Their teachings; William E. Phipps.
2.)Jesus and Buddha: the parallel sayings; by Marcus Borg
Brendan | Oct 13th, 2008
Interesting points. I am not as well versed in world religious studies as you, but I agree with what you said. Jesus came to be our Savior-following God's will by dying on the cross for us and raising again on the third day. The Bible clearly says that a prophet will be rejected in his home town. This can be seen with Jesus, his disciples, and others all throughout history. Herod felt that Jesus, the Messiah, was a threat to his throne, thus having the male babies killed. Religious intolerance can be traced, for the most part, to the beginning of mankind. People/Society does not get over the fact that, even if extreme, there are certain belief systems. This led to the Religious Wars and can be seen throughout all history. The Reformation was not as much an uprising(atleast at first), than a faithful man addressing issues that were not Biblical. It led to hostilites because the church leaders and others would not be proven wrong, even if it meant murdering. The Reformation ended on a quick note in that key leaders were quickly excommunicated or executed. This then only led to more intolerance and problems.
Michael McCormick | Oct 14th, 2008
The world contains a countless number of religions and variations of religions. Even if religions as a whole strive to follow an example of toleration, not every individual will be pleased at once. It is the nature of those with strong ideas to want to discuss and disagree with others. That is okay, but before things get out of hand, those with conflicting views just need to agree to disagree. Toleration should be a goal that is always in mind. In the article, you stated "If every man should follow this example, we can be sure that problems of religious wars and crises would be put to rest." Unfortunately throughout time, not everyone has followed this example. Like you said, Jesus Christ was brutally murdered. In the next millennium, the Crusades were not a pretty sight. Israel and Palestine have been in conflict with each other for decades. On September 11, 2001, Islamic terrorists, not the country of Iraq as some misinformed people believe, attacked the United States (...why have we been fighting a war for 5 years in Iraq???). Does the fact that Muslims attacked the U.S. mean that I should hate all Muslims? Of course not, I am a tolerant person. A small group of people do not share the beliefs of an entire religion. The best solution for everyone is to become educated about other individual's differences
Kourtney | Oct 14th, 2008
I don't know if I agree or disagree with you on this artlice. The only thing I know is there shouldn't be wars over religion. It doesn't matter what religion or belief someone uses, there will always be a heaven and a hell. So what is the point in having religious wars? That's what I think about religion tolerance and it's implications. While others think differently about the situation.
Andrew McCormick | Oct 14th, 2008
I completely agree with your assessment of religious intolerance in the world. More recent examples of this ridiculous prejudice and hatred are evident in my nation’s upcoming Presidential election. The Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, has been slandered by some members of the media for being “Muslim”. My question is, “Why is this even an issue?” and “Why should calling someone Muslim be taken as an insult?” Barack Obama is NOT a follower of Islam; he is a Christian. But even if he was, why should his religion be discriminated against? In America, we have freedom of religion, so my country and I should start behaving as though we intend to protect this right. According to our founding documents, a Muslim-American has just as much right to be President as a Christian-American or a Deist, or a Jew, or an Agnostic… etc. Regarding your comment about “insolence toward each other’s religion has given rise to truculent activities” and consequently “religious wars”, I agree totally. Most vividly in my mind, I see the Crusades. Supposedly fought in the name of God, these vicious battles between Christians and Muslims laid the pathway toward modern-day hatred, beheadings, and other heinous acts. My wish on the topic is that all Christians would follow the examples and teachings of Jesus Christ and that Muslims would follow the examples and teachings of Mohammad. Worrying less about who is correct and spending more time following one’s religion would severely reduce religious intolerance across the world. Additionally, I see it illogical for Jews, Christians, and Muslims to even consider controversy with one another. After all, these three monotheistic religions all stemmed from one man and his children. I’m no biblical scholar, but I don’t think Abraham would approve of such bickering and violence.
Zachary James | Oct 16th, 2008
I agree with the idea that religious intolerance should be stopped and your article as a whole, but there are a few points I would like to add. One is that events such as the Protestant Reformation are inevitable extensions of free thought. Prior to the invention of the printing press, the Catholic Church was preaching its message to people who were largely illiterate and incapable of reading the Bible and interpreting it for themselves, so those people were forced to accept the Church’s teachings. Once people began to become more literate and form their own opinions on the Bible, it was inevitable that everyone would view it slightly differently, and some influential people would view it differently enough to begin new sects of Christianity, which leads me to my second point. Everyone, even within the same sect of a religion, views religion and its practice slightly differently because people have their own unique thoughts and ideas. Because of that, everyone probably disagrees with 99% of the world on at least one aspect of religion. The major problem doesn’t come from these disagreements, but the fact that people are often unable to separate the views they disagree with from the people who hold them. There are many people who, without taking the time to know him or his ideas, might assume that a person like Gandhi was automatically a bad person because he did not hold their same views on religion. It is clear from a religiously neutral perspective that Gandhi was a quality human being, but few people are ever able to take that religiously neutral perspective, and that is one of the major problems in the world.
Colin Gould | Oct 19th, 2008
I agree thoroughly with the points you make about religious intolerance in your essay. I
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