Leisure and Tolerance—An Historical Perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explain and explore the concept of tolerance as developed in post-Reformation Europe. The religious turmoil of this period tested the social order of the day and will be used to exemplify the difficulties of embracing tolerance while clinging to dogma. The work of French philosopher, Voltaire, provides the reader with an understanding of the Enlightenment's perspective on tolerance as an outgrowth of the repression of the reformation period. Tolerance, in the traditional sense, is limited to the allowance for diverse systems of ideas, beliefs and practices. Tolerance is differentiated from diversity, as a contemporary description of sensitivity to and appreciation of personal difference, and multiculturalism, an all—inclusive attempt to embrace ethnic and racial differences. Tolerance as a contributing factor to cultural progression has profound implications for the continuing evolution of leisure theory. Leisure, both substantively and functionally, requires and supports the notion of tolerance and its subcategories of diversity and multiculturalism.