Is religion fundamentally intolerant?

Question

Getting away from the Islam issue and widening it becasue all religions seek to define 'truth' and reality aren't they all basically disagreeing and isnt that the basis for disagreement and intolerance?
If you cant agree on whether God, Allah, Buddha created this posting then can you really agree on anything??

Answer 1

People who answer no to this obviously don't know the bible very well. The Isrealites fought EVERYONE. They were told by god who to hate, who to kill - the most intolerant person in the bible was God. If you did something he didn't like, like sacrifice a female goat instead of a male, he'd send the Isrealites off to kill you. And look at all the Mosaic Laws. And ALL of Leviticus.

To answer the question - yes. Religion creates intolerance, becuase you believe one thing, and the other guy believes something else entirely, so you automatically dislike the other guy. "My god says that he created the earth," says religion A. "No no, that was my god," says religion B. It's a p*ssing contest over who's god is better, and who's right. The Crusades, the issues with Isreal and Palestine, the current conflict in Iraq - all holy wars. All fought on the basic principle that "my god is right and yours is wrong." Excellent question. Thanks.

Answer 2

Any scripture not only is educational but also tells what the nature of human kind constitutes of. The problem is, there are always people who think they know it better and the more closely related a subject is to power or to God, the stronger the reaction. Same goes for the subject of money. Personally i dont believe intolerant/fundamental behaviour has anything to do with the degree of faith in a Holy entity. Far from. Things like radicalism/disagreement comes from ignorance while the answer is simply within us. There are enough religions under the umbrella of the bible alone to say that each one of us could start his own religion (and cause havoc too). I do believe there's a plan and a "God" but i'm not so sure about the religious interpretations. Perhaps once there was a perfect communication with God...
I do believe those religious wars like in Ireland, Irak, etc... are just human disagreements and the "funny" thing is people got killed for it, what a joke... The fact that Hitler was able to convince an entire nation of his lies should tell you what people are capable of and this has nothing to do with religion nor a god... I guess you and I will have to accept and live with our lack of perfect knowledge because spiritually we're not there yet, most of us anyway.....

Answer 3

Many religions are indeed very intolerant at their core,such as Judaism,Christianity and Islam all have rules in one form or another that forbid conversion away from the faith,marriage to someone of another faith etc. It's not really worth going into here,religious people just deny it anyway,but the fact is they are all very separatist,their is very little acceptance of other religions. Their is more acceptance I would say in the religions like Buddhism or Hindus,they seem to be much more in inclined to pass on the message and let you do with it what you will while others try to force their religions upon you and ostracize or even attack those of other faiths.

Answer 4

If you take away the extremists - most religions have more in COMMON than they realize - especially when it comes to many moral and social issues.

True religion involves humility, help and compassion to our fellow humans.

That noted - I think the extremists in their respective religions are intolerant. BUT - I think many are just honestly believing they are trying to help someone else see a better way. Most of the time it's the Newbies to a religion that are trying hard to convert people because of their exuberance about what they've discovered. People most comfortable in their beliefs don't PUSH their beliefs so much as they live a good example of what they believe - or "walk the talk" as the saying goes.

Answer 5

There are aspects of MOST religions which when taken literally leave no room for alternative ideologies or dogmas. This does not preclude followers from practicing tolerance, but it does leave room for exploitation. Those who believe this is not possible for christianity should read about the history of the crusades ...and there are many other examples from many religions.

This is a complex issue, but ultimately it is up to the individual to practice common ethics and tolerance along with their religion and not allow extremist views to influence them. Fortunately, this is largely the case. Unfortunately, it only requires a few to cause a lot of problems to other members of their own faith, and damage to everyone else.

Answer 6

Your implication is that one cannot disagree without being intolerant. It's mistaken.

I am a devout Christian (and a priest). When I was a Navy chaplain, a large part of my role was to ensure that every Sailor and Marine had the opportunity to practice his or her faith-- at one time or another, I supervised Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Islamic, Mormon, and Wiccan lay readers (and defended, when necessary, their right to conduct services at sea).

I didn't agree with all of their beliefs-- in fact, I think that some of them were flat-out wrong-- but that didn't mean that I had to be intolerant of them, and there were certainly lots of things, outside of theology, about which we could agree.

Answer 7

My question would be, is intolerance always a bad thing...specifically, I would say if something in fact is the truth, should there still be tolerance for opposing teachings? Don't get me wrong, nothing I am saying is meant to imply oppressin of anyone's ideas or religious practice according to the dictate's of their own conscience. I am merely saying that we seem to oddly criticize teachings, and teachers (or preachers), merely for believing something to be true. But what if it is true? And what if the teachings that are diametrically opposed to it are false? Is this intolerance? Is the view that the earth is round intolerant to other such viewpoints?

Answer 8

Absolutely not. Religion teaches negative and positive pionts and it is your choice select heaven or hell.
By the way only Allah is the God. Mentioned in almost all scriptures.Allah: Allah is the proper name in Arabic for The One and Only God, The Creator and Sustainer of the universe. It is used by the Arab Christians and Jews for the God (Eloh-im in Hebrew; Allaha in Aramaic, the mother tongue of Jesus, pbuh). The word Allah does not have a plural or gender. Allah does not have any associate or partner, and He does not beget nor was He begotten. SWT is an abbreviation of Arabic words that mean 'Glory Be To Him.'

Answer 9

It is fundamental to my religious beliefs that I be tolerant of other people's religions. I believe that religions are paths to the Divine, and what works for me may not work for you. I respect other religions. It does bother me, however, when some religions are intolerant.

It's ok to disagree on issues. But I think we need to abandon any "us versus them" mentality where we think that only we ourselves are good, and all who disagree with us are bad.

Answer 10

No they can't agree on anything. People can have very evil nature, so many people use religion for their corrupt motives. Religion is only going to be as holy as people are.