I hear a lot of criticism about people of my Faith and people of faith in general for their "lack of tolerance". The fact of the matter is that we are actually far more tolerant than the people who argue that we need to tolerate them more. In a less civilized age, and among less civilized peoples, aberrant and abhorrent behavior is greeted with violent, immediate, and punitive correction, up to and including death. Life has ever been so, because governments like religions regulate behaviors that threaten to undermine the civilized society.
When people attack me for my views on Abortion, Marriage, Gun ownership, Taxes, Education, ad infinitum, I realize it is because they do not value what I value. Despite their claims to the contrary, they value behaviors and outcomes more than they value people. Contrary to their suppositions, I care far more about people than I do about outcomes. Read about my students, read about my political views, and you will see that I am for the freedom and growth of an individual. I do not believe that I have any right to impose my beliefs on other people. Let them live how they choose, and let them embrace and shoulder the consequences of their own choices.
My beliefs originate with the Beattitudes. Most irreligious or anti-religious people who attack me incorrectly assume that my beliefs originate with the commandments, which punish people for their behavior. The Old Testament was a violent time, when men could be stoned to death for adultery or simply for walking too many steps on the Sabbath. In the New Testament, Christ makes clear that why we do a thing matters at least as much as what we do. It is praiseworthy to help people on the Sabbath; it's not work, and it's not about how many paces you take. It's about the steps you will take to contribute to a civilized society. Too many Christians invite this kind of rabid reactionary behavior because they focus on what a man does. We are interested actually in what a man is, and that is why Christ changed the focus to the heart of man rather than his hand.
Christ invites man to change his nature rather than attempting to correct his behavior. Our detractors claim we are judgmental and do not accept others. On the contrary, we do. It is not people but rather behaviors that are not tolerated, because those behaviors undermine civil society. In the Faith, we do not drive the people out. We continue to minister unto them, inviting them to repent and change their nature to conform with what ought to be. Eventually, through the Atonement of Christ, the behavior goes away while the people may remain. Christ asks us not to change that we are but WHAT we are. Changing who we are automatically alters our behavior. Being always leads to doing.
As they attack us for linking our beliefs to politics, those who advocate for "alternatives" show their disdain for civil society. James Madison, who authored much of the Constitutional Law that allows them to do what they like as long as they accept the consequences, pointed out that "The Constitution was written for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." What these people advocate is not tolerance but immorality, and the Constitution cannot survive that "fundamental transformation".
The perpetuation and stabilization of society requires that we tolerate only the behaviors of citizens that are neutral to or supportive of civil society. I do not hear arguments for why alternative behaviors help, only arguments for the weaknesses of the traditional methods. We of course stand ready to assist the man at all times, in all circumstances, even if he be a Samaritan, because who he is matters more than what he does. What he does matters in terms of how it affects what we can do.
They attack traditional marriage because they claim they desire equality. They are already equal. Every adult in America may marry a member of the opposite sex, and as such they are equal under the law. The people are equal, but the behaviors are not, and that is why the behaviors are not treated equally. Only traditional marriage can biologically create children, and only children created in a traditional marriage have the best odds at becoming law-abiding adults who respect not only what the law is but why those laws are extant. Alternative marriages obtain children from traditional marriage partners or from people who engage in the behaviors that belong in marriage without themselves being married. Only traditional marriage rightly looks after the marriage partners. It protects women who surrender their opportunity to excel to raise offspring and encourages men to take responsibility for the children they sire. In turn, these two prior conditions mean that only traditional marriage has the associated reductions in government spending that come from law-abiding, industrious, cooperative family units. Even people who do not marry or multiply benefit from that arrangement. Alternative marriage is inherently selfish. Rather than raising children to become good citizens, alternative marriage only validates sexual relationships. Marriage is about more than intercourse.
Likewise, Faith treats all people the same while it prescribes and proscribes acceptable behaviors. A homosexual friend of mine once asked me if he could join my faith. I told him that the Law of Chastity requires that I only have sexual relationships with my legal and lawful partner. If he agrees to that law, he ceases to behave as a homosexual and becomes compliant with the requirements, just like, when you travel to Great Britain, you cease to drive on the right and drive on the left like Britains, because that's civil society. It is not acceptable in any way to force your beliefs on others, and yet that is precisely what they propose to do to me. I invite and entice. As soon as you compel you lose the high ground.
The behaviors we advocate are behaviors that support and sustain the civil society. We tolerate behaviors that do not affect the livelihood of the society, and we forbid those that undermine its foundations. I have no argument with the man, only with his behavior, and that is consistent with my beliefs, values, norms, and dogma. Just because you believe a thing does not make it true, and even if it's true that does not make it right. We concern ourselves far too much with what we would like to be rather than with what ought to be.
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