Appeasement of irrationality is not the same as religious toleration. To be tolerant, in a rational, intelligent way, means to respect other people’s right to practice their religion, so long as that religion does not include human sacrifice rituals and the like.
Tolerance also extends to the way a person treats another. To maliciously taunt someone of another religion or race – or over some other difference – because of their difference, is certainly a rude and perhaps even threatening act.
But then there there are the “multicultural” excesses of today – excesses that are irrational acts of “tolerance”, which are actually acts of intolerance against Westerners by a few highly infantile, hyper-offense-sensitive members of the Muslim community. And, worse, this intolerance is turned into official policies by members of the Western community in places of authority, anxious to prove to Muslims that they are not bigots.
This cannot result in pleasant relations between Muslims and Westerners living together in the West. Such choices on the part of authorities to ban whatever offends a few Muslims can only lead to a growing resentment against Muslims. Continue reading
