Religious toleration

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The cross of the war memorial and a menorah for Hanukkah coexist in Oxford.

Minerva as a symbol of enlightened wisdom protects the believers of all religions (Daniel Chodowiecki, 1791)

Religious toleration is the condition of accepting or permitting others' religious beliefs and practices which disagree with one's own.

In a country with a state religion, toleration means that the government permits religious practices of other sects besides the state religion, and does not persecute believers in other faiths. It is a partial status, and might still be accompanied by forms of religious discrimination. Religious toleration as a Government policy merely means the absence of religious persecution; unlike religious liberty it does not mean that religions are equal before the law. Toleration is a privilege granted by Government (which it may do by law or charter), not a right against it; governments have often tolerated some religions and not others.

Religious toleration "as a government-sanctioned practice — the sense on which most discussion of the phenomenon relies — is not attested before the sixteenth century", which makes it rather difficult to apply the concept to topics like Persecution of religion in ancient Rome.^[1]

Historically, toleration has been a contentious issue within many religions as well as between one religion and another. At issue is not merely whether other faiths should be permitted, but also whether a ruler who is a believer may be tolerant, or permit his subordinates to be.

In the Middle Ages, toleration of Judaism was a contentious issue throughout Christendom. Today, there are concerns about toleration of Christianity in Islamic states (see also dhimmi and Islam and other religions).

Proselytism can be a contentious issue; it can be regarded as an offence against the validity of others' religions, or as an expression of one's own faith.

The development of religious toleration

The concept of toleration has evolved in modern Europe, and changed during its development. For a contemporary reader there is a danger of confusing the modern connotation of words like "toleration", "religious freedom " and "liberty of conscience" with the historic meanings of these word.^[2] The use of these terms in John Stuart Mill's On Liberty or by 20th century philosophers like John Rawls and Ronald Dworkin is different from the concept of religious toleration in the 17th century.^[2]

To complicate matters further, the Latin tolerantia was a "highly-developed political and judicial concept in mediaeval scholastic theology and canon law."^[3] Tolerantia was used to "denote the self-restraint of a civil power in the face of" outsiders, like infidels, Muslims or Jews, but also in the face of social groups like prostitutes and lepers.^[3]

For individuals, religious toleration generally means an attitude of acceptance towards other people's religions. It does not mean that one views other religions as equally true; merely that others have the right to hold and practice their beliefs. This element of objection is important. People, who take these matters seriously, often experience distress when they are confronted with religious beliefs that they regard as idolatrous, superstitious, heretical or schismatic.

Contexts of religious tolerance

At least five contexts of religious tolerance can be distinguished. Religious tolerance as a state sanctioned practice can more precisely termed civil tolerance. Civil tolerance is concerned with "the policy of the state towards religious dissent".^[4] In contrast to this, ecclesiastical tolerance is concerned with the degree of diversity tolerated within a particular church.^[5] Without this distinction, the Christian debate on persecution and toleration in England could not be adequately understood. Furthermore, there is also a social and a polemical context of religious tolerance. The grand theme of divine tolerance is the emphasis on "the patience and longsuffering of God" as it is frequently portrayed in the Christian Bible; This image of God has been invoked by early Christian advocates of toleration.

Hinduism has earned a reputation of being highly tolerant of other religions. Rigveda says Ekam Sath Viprah Bahudha Vadanti which translates to "The truth is One, but sages call it by different Names"^[6]. This tradition is evident from the fact that India chose to be a secular country even though it was created after partitioning on religious lines.

The polemical context

Contemporary authors such as Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett have all challenged the tolerance of religion. In The End of Faith, Sam Harris asserts that we should be unwilling to tolerate unjustified beliefs about morality, spirituality, politics, and the origin of humanity. In his preface to The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins says, "If this book works as I intend, religious readers who open it will be atheists when they put it down."^[7]

Timeline

• 364-332 BC, Ashoka the Great declares religious freedom in the Edicts of Ashoka
• 311 AD, The Roman Emperor Galerius issues a general edict of toleration in his own name and in those of Licinius and Constantine.^[8]
• 313, The Edict of Milan issued by the Emperors Constantine I and Licinius proclaiming religious toleration in the Roman Empire.^[9]
• 622, Muhammad declares religious freedom in the Constitution of Medina
• 1190, Genghis Khan composes his code of law, the Yassa, in which there is religious freedom for all who were under his rule.^{[citation needed]}
• 1264, The Statute of Kalisz guaranteed safety, personal liberties, freedom of religion, trade, and travel to Jews in Poland.
• 1554, Castellio writes the pamphlet "De haereticis, an sint persequendi" (Whether heretics should be persecuted), the first modern appeal for toleration.^[10]
• 1568, the Edict of Turda
• 1571 January 11 - Maximilian II declares religious toleration towards the nobles of Lower Austria, their families and workers;^[11]
• 1573 January 28 - Warsaw Confederation granting religious toleration.^[12]
• 1598 April 13 - King Henry IV of France issued the Edict of Nantes, allowing religious toleration of the Huguenots.^[13]
• 1609 July 6 - Rudolph II grants religious toleration in Bohemia.^[14]
• 1657 April 20 - New Amsterdam granted religious toleration to Jews;^[15]
• 1689, English Act of Toleration passed, granting toleration to Protestant dissenters.
• 1829 April 13 - British Parliament granted Catholic Emancipation in the spirit of religious toleration;
• 1900 Robert G. Ingersoll publishes his plea for religious liberty.[13]
• 1948 December 10 The United Nations General Assembly issues the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 18 declares that everyone has the right to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, and to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.^[16]
• 1965 December 7 The Roman Catholic Church Vatican II Council issues the decree Dignitatis Humanae (Religious Freedom) that states that all people must have the right to religious freedom.^[17]
• 1986 October 7 The first World Day of Prayer for Peace is held in Assisi when representatives of one hundred and twenty different religions came together for prayer to their God or gods.^[18]
• 1988 April 29 - in the spirit of Glasnost, Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev promised increased religious toleration.^[19]
• 2007 July 12 - First Hindu opening prayer by Hindu leader Rajan Zed in the history of United States Senate in Washington DC was protested.

See also

• Anekantavada
• Conversational intolerance
• Freedom of religion
• Islam and other religions
• National church
• Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
• Religious intolerance
• Religious pluralism
• Secular state
• Separation of church and state
• State atheism
• State religion
• Status of religious freedom by country
• Toleration

References

Referred literature

• Coffey, John (2000). Persecution and Toleration in Protestant England, 1558-1689. Longman Publishing Group. ISBN 0-582-30465-2. 
• Walsham, Alexandra (September 2006). Charitable Hatred: Tolerance and Intolerance in England, 1500-1700. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0719052394. 

Further reading

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (November 2009)

• Barzilai, Gad (2007). Law and Religion. Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-2494-3. 
• Beneke, Chris (September 2006). Beyond Toleration: The Religious Origins of American Pluralism. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 0-19-530555-8. 
• Curry, Thomas J. (1989-12-19). Church and State in America to the Passage of the First Amendment. Oxford University Press; Reprint edition (December 19, 1989). ISBN 0-19-505181-5. 
• Grell, Ole Peter, and Roy Porter, ed (2000). Toleration in Enlightenment Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521651967. 
• Hamilton, Marci A. (2005-06-17). God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law. Edward R. Becker (Foreword. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-85304-4. 
• Hanson, Charles P. (1998). Necessary Virtue: The Pragmatic Origins of Religious Liberty in New England. University Press of Virginia. ISBN 0813917948. 
• Kaplan, Benjamin J. (2007). Divided by Faith: Religious Conflict and the Practice of Toleration in Early Modern Europe. Belknap Press. ISBN 0674024303. 
• Laursen, John Christian and Nederman, Cary, ed (December 1997). Beyond the Persecuting Society: Religious Toleration Before the Enlightenment. University of Pennsylvania Press (December 1997). ISBN 0-8122-3331-X. 
• Murphy, Andrew R. (July 2001). Conscience and Community: Revisiting Toleration and Religious Dissent in Early Modern England and America. Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 0-271-02105-5. 
• Zagorin, Perez (2003). How the Idea of Religious Toleration Came to the West. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-12142-7. 

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Religious toleration

• Background to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• Text of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• Jehovah's witnesses: European Court of Human rights, Freedom of Religion, Speech, and Association in Europe
• "Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance". Various information on sensible religious topics. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. http://www.religioustolerance.org/. 
• Religious Tolerance at the Open Directory Project
• History of Religious Tolerance
• The Foundation against Intolerance of Religious Minorities