Silly Old Bear

Tolerance has become the Great Religion of America.

Webster defines tolerance as:

“sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one’s own; the act of allowing something” [1].

In other words, if you don’t agree with me or don’t believe the same thing I believe, I will indulge or allow that difference and still accept you as being “OK”. I am not required to change my belief system in order to be tolerant. I simply allow for the fact that your belief system isn’t the same as mine.

I think that is a good definition of tolerance, and constitutes a healthy and realistic approach to life … most of the time. I also believe, however, that there is an appropriate time for intolerance. Let me give you a couple of examples in an attempt to help you understand what I mean.

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