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Leaving Memphis, Tennessee and crossing the Mississippi River on the interstate bridge into Arkansas, there is a huge sign which reads "Leaving Tennessee. We're glad you came." I've often wondered, are they sure? How do they know whether or not to be glad I was there? How many murders, rapists, and child abusers have read that sign? Shouldn't there be a separate sign for them, something along the lines of "We're glad you are leaving"? Congregations also struggle with welcome issues. On the one hand, congregations face difficulty making their welcome broad enough. Despite the invitations that read "All are welcome," some in fact are not. Racial, social, and economic barriers often effectively exclude some whom we wish would come. And theological issues require us to wrestle with issues where acceptance may improperly cross the line to condoning. On the other hand, it sometimes appears that congregations could be made better if their welcome was less broad, if certain people were encouraged to leave. A pastor that I knew once announced to some of his fellow pastors that he had come up with a new self care plan. He had decided once a month to choose someone to excommunicate. It elicited a good laugh, mostly because the pastors there knew they also would not have much trouble making up their own list of candidates. If only we weren't required to be so tolerant! Tolerance. Particularly in the wake of the excesses of Islamic extremists, lack of tolerance is black mark charged against all religion and has brought about renewed concerns about religion in general A recent book by Sam Harris, The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason, argues that for the future well-being of the planet, all religions that are unwilling to submit their beliefs to some form of verifiability should be dismantled. It is amazing how intolerant tolerance can become.
Since supporting the rights of all and condemning hatred has much in common with Christian ethics, churches have had little difficulty also lending their support to this secular virtue. But it would be good to remember it is more of a secular than a religious virtue. A concordance search for "tolerance" will come up with few entries. At best, it comes up with a few words that are also sometimes translated "forbearance." Both tolerance and forbearance are rather insipid cousins of the Biblical injunction to "love your enemies."
It needs to be conceded that religion by its very nature is exclusive, and therefore, intolerant. To admit that one's religion is inherently intolerant is difficult to do, for it feels like confessing a great and shameful sin. But the paradox of monotheism is that while it proclaims a god who loves all people, it also judges those who aren't true believers. While the second table of the law requires us to love, not merely tolerate, our neighbor (including the one with false beliefs), the first table of the law requires us to put God first and to abandon the tolerance of false beliefs.
Katrina LDR has the responsibility of following up with those who have ended up in Nebraska as a result of hurricane Katrina. We have received the list from FEMA and are attempting to contact them to update their status. Because some have gone back, new ones have come, and some are not on the FEMA list, it would be helpful also to get input from congregations. If you are/were providing assistance to a person or family dislocated by Katrina, or if you know of someone living in your community, please contact Karen Andresen at LFS. Her phone: 402 660-0049; e-mail: kandresen@lfsneb.org. Services available through Partners in Caring:
For more information, call 402 978-5677
In Christ's Service, Roger Kruger (402) 978-5670 (direct line and confidential voice mail) This e-mail newsletter is an endeavor of Partners in Caring, Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska, Inc. I envision it as a way to share ideas, resources, and conversation about the joys and struggles of ministry. I welcome your input. Feel free to pass it on to friends. If you wish no longer to receive copies of this newsletter, please reply with “unsubscribe.”
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Tolerance
Tolerance, however, has become the chief virtue of secular society. Our increasingly complex and diverse world requires it. Postmodernism, with its questioning of absolutist "truth", adds it support. Laws strongly enforce it, and infractions are met with the same kind of public abuse and scorn that was once reserved for heresy.
It is also good to remember that though the civic ethic of tolerance has become an absolute virtue, at its heart, tolerance is not absolute. In engineering, tolerance is inherently neither bad nor good. It is a range, a plus or minus figure that specifies the amount of imperfection that is acceptable without jeopardizing function. In medicine, tolerance is related to the body's immune systems. The human body can "tolerate" a certain range of foreign bodies without being seriously compromised, but there is an upper limit at which point function and vitality are affected.
The challenge of maintaining a paradox is maintaining both parts equally. Frankly, it would probably be a lot easier either to be totally intolerant, condemning everyone with whom we don't agree, or completely tolerant, refusing to make distinctions between good and evil. Most of us have a default tendency to lean in the direction of one or the other. But God calls us both to exercise courage in taking unpopular stands and to exercise love in staying connected with people who challenge our most basic assumptions and beliefs about life and faith. It is not surprising that may be stressful. All balance requires tension.
