Sunday, April 19, 2020

The Intolerance of Tolerance - by D. A. Carson

"The new tolerance suggests that actually accepting another's position means believing that position to be true, or at least as true as your own." (pg. 3)

"The issue ought to be whether any particular act of discrimination is good, sensible, and proper, for there are both good and evil forms of discrimination." (pg. 22)

"Genuine pluralism within the broader culture is facilitated when there is a strong Christian voice loyal to the Scriptures - as well as strong Muslim voices, skeptical voices, Buddhist voices, atheistic voices, and so forth.  Genuine pluralism within the broader culture is not fostered when in the name of tolerance none of the voices can say that any of the others is wrong, and when this stance is the only ultimate virtue." (pg. 35)

"...historically, toleration was tied to societies that had a shared moral vision and a conscience, while today it is far more tightly tied to individual freedom." (pg. 50)

"By some assessments, a nation may become more secularized and more religious at the same time.  It's just that the religious side does not matter very much anymore in the public square and therefore in the direction of the nation, in its public pulse." (pg. 71)

"The impact of this increasing empirical pluralism is multiplied many times over by the digital revolution: with minimal effort we find ourselves exposed to an incredibly broad diversity of cultures, opinions, interpretations of history, languages, and so forth.  Moreover, in the virtual world we can create our own realities.  All of this conspires to push questions of truth to the margins while magnifying the importance of tolerance." (pg. 74)

"In the name of tolerant diversity and a free press, the agenda of hidden motives surfaces: a targeted contempt for and hatred of Christ and Christians, a contempt and hatred reserved for no other religion.  The current pattern of distinctly anti-Christian polemic is worse than bad taste: it betrays a myopia, not to say a willful ignorance of history, that is frankly shocking." (pg. 93)

"To talk about the tolerance of God apart from this richer biblical portrayal of God is to do him an injustice.  His love is better than tolerance; his wrath guarantees justice that mere tolerance can never imagine." (pg. 103)

"The failure to recognize the evil in our own hearts is precisely what convinces so many of us that our opinions and motives are above reproach while those who contradict us are stupid or malign." (pg. 130)

"...when the vision of what is 'the good' becomes hugely polarized in any culture, such that widespread consensus is no longer possible, then it is not only a question of who 'wins' or 'loses' on any particular issue, but also a matter of the extent to which the opposing view is tolerated." (pg. 146)

"No Christian should ever succumb to the idolatrous notion that the right party will bring in utopia.  That is not where our ultimate confidence lies." (pg. 157)

D. A. Carson, The Intolerance of Tolerance (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2012)