Tolerance and Truth
I work at a private liberal arts college that carries no religious identity. I am often struck by the inconsistency in what many on campus deem as “tolerant.” The definition of tolerant seems to necessitate that an individual give up any idea that is considered fundamentally true, and, so too if others do not adhere to that truth they are wrong.
The ironic reality is that there are absolute truths running around all over the place, especially on a college campus. It’s simply that the absolute truths of Christianity are dismissed as radical, naive, socially unaware and the list goes on.
The truth? Tolerance is hollow. It affords peace that has no proposition for human change or love of neighbor.
As Christians, according to Lewis, we must not abandon the absolute truth of Christianity, not because we are making it but because it is making us — it is fundamentally who we are and by it we have our being.
Here’s a quote from The Weight of Glory that begins to address some of this:
The waking world is judged more real because it can thus contain the dreaming world; the dreaming world is judged less real because it cannot contain the waking one. For the same reason I am certain that in passing from the scientific points of view to the theological, I have passed from dream to waking. Christian theology can fit in science, art, morality, and the sub-Christian religions. The scientific point of view cannot fit in any of these things, not even science itself. I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.
Why, in your opinion, is there a dismissal of Christianity when it comes to science or other subjects? Do you agree with Lewis regarding Christian theology fitting into any list of subjects?