Comments on: Intolerance Towards Tolerance

By: Haider

Haider — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 16:34:54 +0000

Hello Ala, and welcome to the blog

Well, I know some Egyptian Muslims who resent Coptic Christians, and anyone who associates with them. This intolerance could be rooted in politics, but it’s easy to find religious justifications to support such an attitude.

I think the Muslims went through phases of predominant tolerance towards others, but there remain groups of Muslims who cannot come to accept the presence of others.

By: Ala

Ala — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 10:58:16 +0000

As far as I know, Muslims have no problem with other religions, especially the ones they have historically lived side by side with (Christianity, Hinduism), and don’t go around trying to compel people to follow theirs. But it could be argued that they wouldn’t be treated equally under Islamic law, and conversion to them would definitely not be tolerated. Of course, this is the same with other religions, but I am using Islam as an example. It seems that no religion can be fully tolerant of another if it looks at other religions from the point of view of its own assumptions, and therefore from the point of view of its own superiority.

By: Haider

Haider — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:57:23 +0000

Carly, there are many reasons for why people would be intolerant towards people with other beliefs, and personal insecurities is certainly one of them.

I chose to focus on a valid objection (i.e. that we shouldn’t equate correct beliefs with false ones) that has been applied to the wrong issue (i.e. religious tolerance, since religious tolerance doesn’t mean that you equate religious beliefs).

By: carly

carly — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:23:39 +0000

Ameen to that! I would ague that many are not open to accepting others’ religions due to their own insecurities. I have found my own faith to be strengthened by knowing about other faiths. After all, truth cannot be diminished, and ignorance only propagates ignorance and fear.