talk about an OT thread!
1) The inconsistency in what is protected. For example everyone today
talks about tolerance. But what does this mean? What it ends up
meaning is There are no moral absolutes so the only valid belief system
protected is one that doesn't espouse moral judgments. But what about
being tolerant to the idea that someone might feel otherwise? Why is
state sanctioned secularism the only valid religion (and yes secularism
is a belief system - a religion). It's sort of funny that those whom
often claim to be the most 'tolerant' are often the most vicious when it
comes to attacking someone that disagrees with their view of
tolerance. There are many views I could state that would get me
labeled as being 'intolerant,' yet, somehow it's supposedly not
offensive to state All views on X,Y,orZ are equally acceptable. To me,
and many others, that later position can be considered extremely
offensive. Why is only one view (secular humanism) considered 'non
offensive' but other religious views are some how bigoted and
intolerant. It's pure hypocrisy.
The key difference here as I see it is how far some people want to
take these disagreements. For many conservatives (granted, this is
a generalization here... so let's say many conservative politicians
instead), it is not enough to simply state I find Y and Z to be
offensive but they often want to take it to the next level and say
not only are Y and Z offensive, X is the only legitimate option and
we should make Y and Z illegal.
Consider if I was a vegan (I'm not) and you're a meat-eater. Let's
say that I'm passionate about it being morally offensive to kill and
consume animals. It's entirely my right to believe that and state my
opinion to you and anyone else I can find to try and spread my belief
system onto others (as it is your right to do likewise). However, it
would be ridiculous for me to try to pass legislation or, God forbid,
a constitutional amendment stating that meat consumption is illegal.
It would be wrong for me to try to impose my belief system on people
who have differing, but still legitimate, beliefs.
To me, tolerance doesn't imply that I have to agree with what
everyone else says or does - it just means that I am willing to allow
them to believe what they want to believe.
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