Quote:
Yes, is it allowable to be intolerant of radically intolerants?
This questions depends on how you define "intolerant". In today's world this word, tolerance tends to mean "value all beliefs equally", in which case you create a paradox. Under this definition, those who don't value tolerance have a lesser belief to those who do, and so to be truly tolerent you must be intolerent.

However, if you define tolerence as "valuing people equally, regardless of their ideas", then it is a different question. If people are mistreating others who disagree with them and you do not tolerate this, you are not being intolerent of their beliefs, but rather their actions, which is perfectly acceptable. When someone has a different idea from yourself, you are free to think it foolish and silly, as long as you respect the person.

Though most people who use the word "intolerant" use the first definition, more often than not on this BBS it seems people adhere to the second (which you might gather that I favor). In fact, based on his own clarifications, it seemed to me that Dylan only considers people intolerent when they are taking actions of mistreating others- a violation of the second definition of tolerance. So I think he is being consistent, at least in his perceptions.

Where I disagree is that I think that the issue of homosexual marriage is not a simple question of Christians trying to impose their beliefs on others in a hurtful way (which would be intolerant). Rather, Christians are trying to defend a closely held belief from being re-defined by the state, which is an over stepping of the state's boundries. Later Dylan admitted that given this difficult (and basically unresolvabale) issue, he'd vote his values- which is all that the Christians accused of bigotry are doing. They are not (unless I am mistaken), calling homosexuals names, spaking ill of them, or driving around looking for homosexuals that they can beat up. There is plenty of that in and out of the church, and it is completely reprehensible (and the very definition of bigotry), but these are not the actions of the ones he is calling bigots.
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-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.