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What is the Difference Between Tolerance and Freedom?

25 Apr 2007 Brian Purkiss  

9 Responses to “What is the Difference Between Tolerance and Freedom?”

1. on 25 Apr 2007 at 9:22 pm 1Allison

   Well… lets see…
   Freedom: being able to do what you were born to do
   and having the choice to avoid it

   Tolerance: tolerating others’ beliefs by not forcing them to agree with you (letting them have freedom) but keeping yourself free by continuing in your own beliefs

   wow does that even make sense?

2. on 25 Apr 2007 at 10:25 pm 2Brian Purkiss

   Agreed.

   But…
   What’s the difference between the world’s definition of tollerance and the dictionary’s version of tollerance?

3. on 26 Apr 2007 at 7:40 am 3Rollie Pohlie

   The world’s definition of tolerance is not only do you have to let them have there beliefs (whatever they are)but you also have to accept them as good.

4. on 26 Apr 2007 at 9:03 am 4Brian Purkiss

   So what’s up with that?
   Why do we ‘have’ to accept them and not just tollerate them?

5. on 27 Apr 2007 at 11:18 am 5Jokerr

   Because the world wants everyone to be equal. If you tolerate another person’s belief, dictionary wise, it implies that their belief is inferior. Not just because you didn’t believe what they do, but because you pass it off as a second rate thought. If you tolerate in the world sense, then you submit to the other person’s belief. When everyone submits, as the world wants, then everything is equal.

6. on 27 Apr 2007 at 2:25 pm 6Rollie Pohlie

   But it seems to me that when you submit to everyone else’s views, you lose your freedom. Why should I have to submit to someone else’s views in general if I don’t believe there correct? (I’m not attacking Jokerr)

7. on 27 Apr 2007 at 2:56 pm 7Jokerr

   You shouldn’t unless you willing choose to (freedom of choice). It’s the world that want you to submit. I think Allison said it best but as Rollie pointed out, the world wants everyone to be equal in that everyone’s beliefs are good.

   I’m still trying to answer the original question however I’m going on 4 hours of sleep and not enough caffeine :(

8. on 27 Apr 2007 at 3:17 pm 8Jokerr

   The only conclusion I can come up with is that you cannot be both tolerant and maintain true freedom at the same time. To tolerate something means to look at something with an open mind. To be fair, objective, and PERMISSIVE. Freedom means to be free from all external control, interference, regulation, etc. To be permissive means that you grant or denote permission to another. By that very definition you loose your freedom when you tolerate something because you have just granted permissions of your beliefs to another person. You are in fact accepting (submitting to) a belief that is not your own.

   In a way, I think I gave an answer to the original question, but then again…no sleep and caffeine makes Jokerr crazy.

9. on 30 Apr 2007 at 3:38 pm 9Allison

   Jokerr said: “Freedom means to be free from all external control, interference, regulation etc.”
   Hm… an agreement of terms might help in this discussion. I cannot recall a case of this kind of freedom. It seems so to me we are always under some kind of external control, whether it be gravity or Providence.
   Freedom in the Christian sense is being free in Christ- but at the same time we recognize we are influenced by an ‘interference’ of God working in our lives.
   About tolerance- if you can’t be truly free and tolerant, hm. That is not what Christians are called to do. We can tolerate other religions- because God Himself is patient with us- but we remain truly free in Christ, even if we don’t agree with the other person’s ideas.

   I hope that made some sense…

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