Lived Religion and Lived (In)Tolerance

Abstract

Once long ago G.K. Chesterton boldly declared: “Tolerance (or what he generally termed ‘impartiality’) is the virtue of the man without convictions.” In a similar manner he described modern tolerance as a tyranny (Chesterton 1908). Contemporary theorists use similar discourse in describing tolerance. Building on Marcuse’s notion of “repressive tolerance,” Žižek (2008) sees tolerance as an ideological category and “post-political ersatz.” Other theorists argue that our modern society has gone “beyond toleration” (Stepan and Taylor 2014). Habermas (2003, p. 3), for example, considers tolerance as a foundation of liberal political culture. It seems that liberal and secular democracies need more than ever a serious reconsideration of the concept and everyday practice of tolerance as a response to the new models of intolerance, social exclusion, and religious violence. A critical discourse on toleration and tolerance seems to have a particular weight in the context of political secularism and religion. There has been an acceleration of interest in the relationship between religion, (in)tolerance and politics in modern societies. Numerous cases of contemporary debates in our multicultural and multireligious societies are perceived as problems of intolerance—the present waves of Islamophobia, anti-migration sentiments, religiously inspired terrorism, blasphemy and free speech debates, various forms of religious and ethnic nationalism, racist and discriminatory behavior towards minorities, conflicts about religion and sexual diversity—these are just some of them. The question of tolerance and religion addresses some of the most challenging and persistent features of peaceful and equal coexistence in the world “risk society.”