Last week I quoted Rabbi Schmuley Boteach, who said something on Larry King Live a few years back which I believe accurately describes the climate of religious tolerance in which we live today:

“I am absolutely against any religion that says that one faith is superior to another. I don ‘t see how that is anything different than spiritual racism. It ’s a way of saying that we are closer to God than you, and that ’s what leads to hatred.”

According to Rabbi Boteach and many others, it is okay to believe whatever you want, as long as you don ‘t claim that it ’s true or better than any other belief system. If you do that, it is on par with racism, a prejudiced, superior view that will inevitably lead to hatred and violence. These are definitely strong assertions. Last week I dealt with his last line, that believing your religion is true necessarily leads to hatred. I disagreed, because Jesus and the Bible teach that his followers are his followers completely by grace, not because they are wiser, superior, more moral, or anything else of their own doing. And since faith in Jesus is a gift freely given, like finding a winning lottery ticket on your front doorstep, it would be wrong and stupid to look down on someone else who has not been given such a gift. The true follower of Jesus will never look down on anyone else. It is possible to believe Jesus is the truth and not hate others.

What about the first part of the Rabbi ’s assertion? Is it wrong for one faith or belief system to declare itself superior to another? The problem with the Rabbi ’s assertion as I see it is that he is guilty of the very thing he is railing against. Listen closely to what he is saying:

“I am absolutely against any religion that says that one faith is superior to another. ��

In other words, the Rabbi is saying that to believe that all religions are of equal value and equal truth is superior to holding to any belief system that declares itself to be true. Again �the Rabbi is saying that you can believe anything you want �as long as you don ‘t believe it to be true. By making this value statement, of course, Rabbi Boteach is declaring that there is a belief system that is better than another; namely, the belief that all religions are of equal value and truth is superior to the belief system that there is one true way and that the others, while they may have elements of truth and beauty, are ultimately wrong.

As you can see, it may be impossible to be completely tolerant. At some level, even the most tolerant person has to draw a line somewhere of what they will not tolerate. For Rabbi Boteach, he is intolerant of religions that believe themselves to be superior to other religions. I would argue that most people in the world are intolerant at some point, no matter how loudly they declare themselves to be tolerant. Take Hitler, for example. As I listened to the other world religion panelists at Manchester High, one test by which I judged their belief systems was what I would call “the Hitler test.” Would the speaker ’s belief system say that Hitler was wrong for the mass genocide he visited on the world? And if so, on what ground are they making that moral claim? Who are they to say that his belief system �Aryan supremacy �is inferior to theirs? If they truly want to be tolerant, how can they say Hitler was wrong? If someone ’s belief system teaches them that it is right to kill those who are holding back your race from reaching its pinnacle, then what moral authority do you have to tell him he ’s wrong?

Who are you, O tolerant one,
to say that Hitler was wrong?

Obviously, most Americans would say unequivocally that Hitler was wrong. Furthermore, most would declare that just about any religion or belief system is superior to that of Hitler. The point is that as tolerant as people claim to be, most people have a limit to tolerance. It ’s not “tolerant vs. intolerant, �� but a question of degree of tolerance �at what point are you willing to say “this is right and this is wrong. �� While it may be culturally offensive to suggest that some religions and belief systems, even with all their rich history, important contributions to the world, and millions of adherents, are ultimately wrong, I would suggest that to declare all religions as being of equal value and truth is naïve and a product of careless thinking. Reincarnation and heaven and hell can ‘t both be right; monotheism and pantheism can ‘t both be right. Someone (if not both parties) has to be wrong. Either all religions are ultimately wrong �misguided human attempts to explain the unknown �or one is right and the rest are wrong. Although truth has become in many ways a dirty word in our postmodern world, I would say that the pursuit of truth matters. The ability to declare some things “right �� and other things “wrong �� is crucial, because lives are depending on it. Read the following examples and decide whether you would rather be tolerant (let people believe whatever they wish to believe without making value judgments on their belief) or intolerant (declaring some things right and other things wrong):

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