Tolerance as Spiritual Strength
Summary: The article argues that tolerance is a rare spiritual quality. Religious leaders and individuals may resist it because tolerance can weaken control, disrupt group identity, and challenge comforting beliefs. Many use intolerance defensively to protect their worldview. The author recommends an open mind and strong faith, acknowledging beliefs rest on conviction, not facts.
Religious tolerance vs Intolerance
Tolerance is a spiritual quality. Unless you have it in full measure, it is difficult to practice tolerance. Religious leaders rarely promote tolerance because doing so would confuse the faithful and wean them away from their control and influence. Some of them speak against not only other faiths but also those who are competing with them for followers. Therefore, often you find a church against another church and a guru against another guru.
Many people also build a wall of defense around themselves to ensure that their faith and way of life are not disturbed or unsettled by contrary beliefs and practices. If you have built a world of illusion around yourself based upon your religious beliefs and philosophy, you would not like to disturb that world by challenging your core beliefs and values and throwing yourself into a mental mess. Therefore, to ensure peace and stability, many people use intolerance as a defensive mechanism. For them, intolerance works like a wall and keeps them within their comfort zones.
It is the same psychology that prevents many from embracing change. Therefore, to practice tolerance, either you must be a spiritual person or your faith must be strong beyond measure. Both are rare to find among people. If you resort to your religion to find comfort in your group identity or to use it for your selfish and worldly purposes, you may also use intolerance to achieve the same end and protect your interests.
The best approach is to have an open mind, strong faith in what you strongly believe, and stick to that even if you find contrary opinions. The justification for this is that beliefs are not usually supported by reason or facts. It is why they are called beliefs or convictions, not facts. Facts depend upon evidence and reason, whereas beliefs depend upon convictions and values you inherit from your culture or environment that become a part of your consciousness.