What is tolerance?

“[While talking with students] I explained that the definition of tolerance I prefer comes from social critic Joshua Liebman: ‘Tolerance is the posture and the cordial effort to understand another’s beliefs, practices, and habits without necessarily accepting them or sharing them.’ We practice tolerance, I suggested, by promoting conversations in which each person is free to share his or her viewpoints and values. All of us—Christian and non-Christian—can benefit from considering other’s beliefs. But tolerance doesn’t obligate us to agree with each other. . . .

“I believe the greatest skill needed by Christians in a diverse culture is an ability to model genuine tolerance in our conversations. Such decorum is not what we’re known for.”

—Tim Muehlhoff in Discipleship Journal, issue 131, September/October 2002.

Classes Address Terrorism

History, social science and political science classes related to terrorism are appearing in course catalogs at colleges and universities around the country. For example, Georgetown University in Washington, DC, has added nine such courses, including “Homeland Security” and “The U.S., the Middle East, and the War on Terrorism.” Terrorism-related courses are also appearing in other disciplines, including the fine arts: for instance, the University of California–Berkeley’s music department has added “Come Woeful Orpheus: Music’s Voice in a Violent World” and “Poetry and Loss.”

—National On-Campus Report, February 1, 2002.

Worship as outreach

“God has moved powerfully through the worship of this generation. Vibrant worship has actually become an outreach opportunity for today’s students in that through worship, unbelievers see their friends engaging God and have their own longing for transcendence further awakened. . . . [Unbelievers] are pluralistic enough to not be offended, and open enough to seriously ponder the reality of what is happening during worship.”

—Evan Hunter in World Christian Magazine, quoted in The Ivy Jungle, Spring 2001.

Intellectuals have it tough, eh?

“The spirit world is an awkward subject for intellectuals. Those who are not religious have a hard time understanding faith of any flavor. . . . Those who are religious, on the other hand, tend to be sober in their faith, and do not accept the existence of ghosts, angels, evolved souls, spirit animals or other supernatural clutter. Yet the spirit world is real for many people. Something like 80 percent of Americans, for example, say that they believe in angels.”

—T.H. Luhrmann in the Times Literary Supplement, February 23, 2001.

Quotes

“It has the ability to leave wounds that never heal and scars that a person can carry for a lifetime. It can rip apart marriages, ravage friendships and split churches. What is the organ that can wreak this havoc on our lives? Our tongue.”

—Alecia Stephens, in 850 Words of Relevant, quoted in Current Thoughts & Trends, August 2002.

“In my darkest times, I have to walk, sometimes alone, in some green place.”

—Barbara Kingsolver, novelist, in Small Wonder.

Yoo-hoo! Here we are! Over here!

“For years I’ve been saying that America won’t see spiritual revival and renewal until we endure some persecution. It turns out I was wrong. We got the persecution [September 11], but we didn’t get spiritually healthier or wiser as a result. It’s not necessarily because churches have no answers. It’s because our answers aren’t as plentiful or persuasive as the answers that come from our media, relationships, laws and textbooks. . . . The sad truth is that the church simply doesn’t live ‘Christianly’ enough for anyone to notice that faith really makes a difference in life.”

—George Barna in Youthworker, May/June 2002 quoted in Discipleship Journal, issue 131, September/October 2002.

It’s the sex, duh!

A study reported in the Journal of Applied Psychology asserts that people who watch a sexual program are thinking about sex instead of about the ads. This interferes with advertisers’ ability to reach audiences with the commercials in such programs.

—The Denver Post, June 19, 2002, quoted in Current Thoughts & Trends, September 2002.