Tolerance should have Limtations...that must be respected
Posted on Wednesday, 14 January 2015
Tolerance
should have limitations
…that
must be respected
By Apolinario Villalobos
There is nothing wrong with tolerance which
even the people’s pope, Francis is practicing. It is important however, that we
should recognize and respect its limitations or boundaries. We should always
remember that our rights end where the rights of others begin. Tolerating the
ways of others should not mean that they can go beyond the line beyond which
others dwell on their own kind of rights.
It is important that religions should be
tolerated and respected – not abused and ridiculed. The latest bombing of
Charlie Hebdon in France is a clear manifestation of how some people can have
the temerity to ridicule other people’s religion, this time, Islam. The bombed
group even has the gall to justify their act by mentioning that the new pope
had his share of ridicule, but the latter did not react. How can these people
forget that human beings differ in degrees of tolerance? …or better, peoples belonging to different
races differ from each other? Why can’t these French just ridicule their fellow
French, for fun?
Most importantly, religion is such a
sensitive issue deserving utmost respect. Its spirituality deserves the highest
degree of esteem, as it deals with a person’s total being – his life and
relationship to his Creator. And, nobody has the right to question such faith.
The Islamic State issue is more than
annoying enough that it even disheartens some Muslims who go against the
violent ways of the said movement. Comparing faiths at this time is uncalled
for and can just worsen the heating up friction between the Christian and
Islamic faiths. Groups of so-called “concerned intelligentsia” are nothing but
hypocrites who cannot even discern the simple meaning of the “Golden Rule”.
Finally, the best act that one can do if he
desires to go beyond boundaries of differences is by simply extending a hand
beyond them for the sole purpose of helping.
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