SERMON : Peaceful coexistance requires mutual respect and tolerance

Our society has learnt the hard way that peaceful coexistence necessitates mutual respect and tolerance. We know too well to ask what happens when intolerance becomes the order of the day! In social, political, cultural and religious contexts, the term toleration or tolerance is used to describe attitudes which are moderately respectful of the differences in different situations or among members of the same or different societies. Having people different from us is just part of the beauty of nature. And nature itself is united in its diversity. And in order man to live in harmony with nature and fellow human beings, he or she must be respectful and tolerant toward those who are different from him or her. There is no way man can be intolerant and remain just.Unfortunately, it has been always difficult for man throughout human history to be tolerant in quite a number of situations. The concept of toleration is might sound controversial for a number of people in different situations. Those in power at times feel it as their duty to punish and correct the otherwise tolerable behaviours! Here authorities may not be wrong because they have a right to punish an aberration. On the other hand, civility and pluralism require a certain amount of tolerance always. For any respectable society to deserve that appellation, it must observe and respect a certain amount of pluralism whereby all people despite their differences must agree to a minimal consensus regarding the shared values, which tie all the different people into one society with the overall objective for the good of the same society. Once this has been achieved, then different groups of people can coexist and interact without anyone being forced to assimilate to anyone else’s position. With this mentality, even in conflicts that will naturally arise out of diverging interests and positions, people can still agree to disagree and observe their unity in diversity. It is only with such a back ground that many human conflicts can be resolved durably by dialogue which leads to compromise and to mutual understanding. Tolerance has never been an easy issue at any moment of human history. Many philosophers have dwelt on it in their discussions. Karl Popper asserted, in his work “The open society and it enemies” Vol.1, that there are limits to tolerance when it comes to tolerating the intolerance. John Rawls in his book “A theory of justice” asserted that the intolerant have no right to complain when they themselves are not tolerated in their society. What is more interesting however is that most thinkers conclude almost in the same way that society and its social institutions have a reasonable right of self-preservation that supersedes the principle of tolerance. Hence, the intolerant must be tolerated but only insofar as they do not endanger the tolerant society and its institutions. Jesus too, spoke very often of tolerance in his earthly ministry. He spoke many times in front of a community in the desert which was characterised by limitations, imperfection, and exclusionist intolerance of those who did not belong to their community. And Jesus taught them how to practice tolerance, respect, prudence and discernment. In an instance of intolerance, John approached Jesus and said: “Master, we saw someone who is not one of us driving out devils in your name, and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him” (Mk 9,38ff) But Jesus was of a different view because of his great tolerance and openness towards human diversity, he answered: “You must not stop him,” and he went ahead to explain that all those who invoked his name to work a miracle, could not turn round and speak ill of him. With these words Jesus exerted a comprehensive influence, which later on could not be confined within institutional limits. This kind of teaching was very useful to his disciples and the early Christian community in understanding that the work of the Holy Spirit can be exercised any where that the Spirit wills. It is in the same line that the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us to see and to respect all goodness and truth found in others who might be different from us. The Church teaches us that the Holy Spirit blows where he wills. The Spirit enjoys the right to act beyond the visible body of the Church. And as Christians we must feel happy when we come across the manifestations of the Spirit in other groups of people. And of course, whatever comes from the action of the Spirit, will be good, holy and true. On the other hand, tolerance should not be mistaken for naivety. While we should respect the Spirit’s presence in others, we should also be aware of human actions with all of their imperfections and sins. That is why the tolerant man needs as well the capacity to distinguish and separate the work of the spirit from the actions of men. And in order to do this in a balanced way we need to practice tolerance without endangering ourselves, to practise mutual respect with due prudence and discernment. That way we can build a just society where people can truly coexist. Ends