Does religion teach intolerance?
By Ramsakha
@Ramsakha (205)
India
6 responses
@Netsbridge (3253)
• United States
22 Sep 07
Although the Bible, for instance, teaches Christians to love one another and love their neighbors, there are areas in which Christians are admonished to separate from the unbelievers and not be unequally yoked. Also, according to the old Testament, the Jews are told to kill anyone who does not practice the religion or to kill anyone who attempts to introduce a new religion in their midst.
1 person likes this
@Netsbridge (3253)
• United States
25 Sep 07
A puzzle indeed! However, I think these clauses are probably insertions by certain people to accomplish their desires. The one sure thing I know about the God of the Bible is that, HE does not contradict Himself!
@Ramsakha (205)
• India
23 Sep 07
I always wonder how a God can tell His children to kill anyone who does not practice their religion or to kill anyone who attempts to introduce a new religion in their midst. All human being are His children. How can people perceive Him asking one child to kill another child?
@deebomb (15304)
• United States
30 Sep 07
Netsbridge and Ramsakha if you study the way the peoples that God told his children to kill you would understand why he had them do it. Those people were sacrificing their babies to their gods. God did not want his childen to become familiar with those gods and the best way was to get rid of them.
@revdauphinee (5703)
• United States
23 Sep 07
true religion does teach us to be intollerant of the evil in the word so i guess the answer has to be yes
@Ramsakha (205)
• India
23 Sep 07
True religion does not teach us to be intolerant even of the evil. Intolerance is a negative aspect of thoughts and actions.Likewise evil is negative. Religion teaches us to be positive and that is tolerance. People should be good in their thoughts and actions, and that addresses evil indirectly.
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@Ravenladyj (22904)
• United States
22 Sep 07
I think its a sad combination of both..I think ppl do misinterpret religious text AND many religious texts DO in fact teach INtolerance.....BUT its certainly NOT all religions that do this..I think its more mainstream religions that have this horrible habit to be honest with you..
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@Ramsakha (205)
• India
23 Sep 07
When we say that a religion teaches intolerance, are not we saying that the God of that religion is intolerant? Can God be intolerant? I believe that God is One and different religions lead to Him. People may have different beliefs, they may follow different paths but in the end they reach Him only.
@luzamper (1357)
• Philippines
22 Sep 07
Religion specifically Christianity does not at all teach violence but many people really misunderstand the Christian religion. Patience is one of those being taught to Christians, even if they are persecuted. Nothing in the New Testament where Christians are taught to retaliate; in fact they are taught to pray on behalf of their enemies and they are even commanded to love their enemies.
@lecanis (16647)
• Murfreesboro, Tennessee
22 Sep 07
I think many religions have some form of intolerance in their scriptures, but it's usually down to the actual believer to decide which parts of their religion they will focus on. I have known people in every religion that are tolerant, and people who are intolerant. I don't believe you can really say that a whole religion is tolerant or intolerant, good or bad, because it's always going to come down to the individual person and their own choices of what to accept and act upon.
I do believe that many groups within religions teach intolerance... there are some Christian denominations that are severely bad about it, just as there are the Muslim extremists, or any other form of extremist. But you can't judge everyone else by them.
So I wouldn't say all religions teach tolerance, but that all religions could be perceived to teach either tolerance or intolerance deciding on how you choose to take them.
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@Ramsakha (205)
• India
23 Sep 07
I agree with your views that religions are perceived to teach tolerance or intolerance on how people choose to take them. Here the role of religious leaders becomes very important. They should convey the right meaning to the common people. But unfortunately they give give coloured interpretations of religious teachings to serve their personal vested interests.
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