Learning to practice tolerance, not violence

Over the last few weeks we have experienced several significant events, both sacred and profane. Many say that the profanity of the terrorist attacks is due to our supposed intolerance of Islam.

On the sacred side, it has been presumed by some that Passover should have been observed last week, because the Roman Catholic and Protestant holy day of Easter was observed last weekend.

This not the case. Passover will be observed on April 23rd, because Passover is based on the barley harvest, as the bible dictates and not the location of the sun at noonday, as the Council of Nicea dictated.

However, if there were bombings associated with whether one observes Easter or Passover properly, would one say that such bombings were caused by intolerance to the views of the bombers? Wouldn’t one blame the bombers and those who support them and see the argument as a separate issue?

No one has a right to not be offended. Tolerance does not mean that one must not express ones views, simply because those views may be offensive to others.

It also does not excuse violent behavior, simply because the person engaging in the violent behavior was offended.

Tolerance does not require one to accept the views or approve of the actions of others. It means that we acknowledge that what others think and do is different from what we think and do and we do not engage in violence simply because we disagree.

Dave Miller, Ritzville