The Goddess of Tolerance

Charles Colson has penned an insightful article on the dilemma faced by liberal Christians. In his commentary titled The Tragedy of the Religious Left, Colson writes that the crux of their problem is their inability to agree on the authority of Holy Scripture.

He quotes Dorothy Sayers, who penned these words: “In the world it is called Tolerance, but in hell it is called Despair, the sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die.”

Charlotte Allen, the Catholicism editor for Beliefnet and the author of The Human Christ: The Search for the Historical Jesus, in her article titled, Liberal Christianity is paying for its sins, says the following about the decline of liberal Christianity:

"When your religion says "whatever" on doctrinal matters, regards Jesus as just another wise teacher, refuses on principle to evangelize and lets you do pretty much what you want, it's a short step to deciding that one of the things you don't want to do is get up on Sunday morning and go to church."

The idea of tolerance is being proclaimed by some today as if it were a part of America's founding documents—maybe even found somewhere in the Bill of Rights. It goes hand-in-hand with that same silly idea that everyone has a right to not be offended. Tolerance is not a part of our nation's original DNA. It is merely an idea born out of our national, collective guilt for some things our nation did wrong in the past. But ultimately, the idea of tolerance—at first glance a seemingly noble idea—is merely rooted in our sinful desire to define good and evil for ourselves, just like Adam and Eve.