Noori Dresses Blog Religious Tolerance

Religious ToleranceTolerance is defined as "acceptance of different views." Religious tolerance, therefore, is the acceptance of another's faith, even when it is different to our own. Millions of people around the world enjoy the freedom to practice whatever religion they choose to practice, without fear of retribution.While many of us were raised to accept and respect the views of others, many people are not so fortunate. In areas, such as the Middle East, and large portions of China, people die for their faith every day. The government or ruling parties refuse to accept any religion that is not their own. In some cases, just practicing any religion is forbidden.It can be difficult to imagine living in an environment as unforgiving as that, but if we truly examine our hearts, we may have to rethink our position.Sure, most people are tolerant of most mainstream religious practices. Jews accept Christians, and vice-versa. We accept different denominations of the same faith, with differing opinions on the correct way to worship. We may even accept paganism or earth based spirituality as a perfectly acceptable choice for worship.As open minded as we can be, there are still religious factions that cause the hair on the backs of our necks to stand up straight. The idea of a child being sucked into a cult terrifies many religious parents.Likewise, Judeo-Christians may feel the same way about Eastern philosophy or religious practice, especially Islam at the moment.Islam teaches peace but some Islamic extremists have called for the death of non-Muslims. Many of them even have problems with other sects of Islamism. Muslims kill more Muslims than non-Muslims. Many Communistic countries prefer their citizens to believe only in the government system and are quick to dole out punishment to those with faith in a deity. The Tibetan monks who have been martyred are a prime example.Most religions promote peace and goodwill. This makes it easy to be tolerant of them, but what happens when someone's beliefs are diametrically opposed to your own? Fundamentalists of all kinds can find this particularly difficult.In the case where one religion would deny the basic human rights of an individual to believe what they will, the idea of tolerance is negated. First, it was negated by the ones who would forbid other practices, and secondly, it should be negated in terms of letting the first group get away with evil plans. Tolerance is a great goal, but must be treated sanely.