It seems to me that the word "tolerance" has been kicked around in public arenas lately with fevered relish. Politically correct gurus are constantly marching through our private and public lives throwing out the word tolerance like free birth control at a nymphomaniac's convention. But what is tolerance? Is it calling your fellow human beings by their new PC label? Is it being wary of your speech around others for fear the PC police is out scouting around for their next perceived offender? Is it passing out tracts espousing love and brotherhood while at the same time condemning groups of people because of their failure to adhere to a certain dogma? What exactly is tolerance?

Being a woman who is member of a group of people who are considered pariahs of every community (Atheists, Agnostics, Freethinkers, Humanists), and being held responsible for the ills of the world and the downfall of morality, I know what discrimination is. I know what it's like to be called dirty, foul names by members of the community who spout off about tolerance of others and the ideology of "love thy neighbor". I know what it's like when my right to parent my children the way I feel is right is threatened. I know what it's like to read the Constitution and to read about the noble vision our forefathers had for this great nation and see that we are being denied our part of America. I know what it's like to be physically threatened and denied jobs because of my belief or my gender. And yet, when I speak about the ills and the horrifying treatment I have received (as well as my fellow humans), I have been called intolerant, anti-Christian, anti-life.

Every minority group in history and in present who has fought for their human rights and freedoms have been called radicals, rabble rousers, and corrupters of morality. Every time there has been a small voice crying out from the dark, dank dungeon of enslavement and inequality has had to endure the backlash of the majority population who fears change and diversity. We, the small voices of history have changed the course of human events with our suffering and our perseverance at being heard over the loud cacophonous roar of discrimination. Who is better to understand the word tolerance than those who have experienced intolerance first hand?

It always makes me laugh to hear Christians roar about discrimination perpetrated against their own kind. I do not deny that there are some Christian individuals out there that may have been discriminated against for their religious views. But it is laughable, when this group compares themselves on the whole to Jews, Indians, Blacks, women, Atheists, Homosexuals, and a multitude of other minority groups with the degree of discrimination these particular groups have experienced. Disallowing little Johnny from preaching his religion out loud in class pales when compared to the mother crying out in pain while her flesh is being burned from her body, to the Jewish child fighting for breath in the gas ovens of Germany, or to the Matthew Shepards being beaten, tied, and left to die out in the wilderness like a common dog because of the conditions of his birth (since when do we "choose" heterosexuality?). Christianity as a whole has enjoyed over 2,000 years of power and control over the Western World and to think that these people consider themselves discriminated against and the victims of intolerance is ludicrous and unsubstantiated. Many Christians contend that religion (specifically theirs) opposes intolerance and cruelty. I think Bertrand Russell's thought on intolerance is an appropriate and truthful rebuttal:

I find no evidence in history that religion has opposed these passions. On the contrary, it has sanctified them, and enabled people to indulge them without remorse. Cruel persecutions have been commoner in Christendom than anywhere else. What appears to justify persecution is dogmatic belief. Kindliness and tolerance only prevail in proportion as dogmatic belief decays…The spirit of tolerance which some modern Christians regard as essentially Christian is, in fact, a product of the temper which allows doubt and is suspicious of absolute certainties. I think that anybody who surveys past history in an impartial manner will be driven to the conclusion that religion has caused more suffering than it has prevented.

Saint Augustine, the much touted and revered Christian philosopher, seems to support Bertrand Russell's point on Christian intolerance by extolling the virtues of torture and persecution of nonbelievers:

It is indeed better (as no one even could deny) that men should be led to worship God by teaching, than that they should be driven to it by fear of punishment or pain; but it does not follow that because the former course produces the better men, therefore those who do not yield to it should be neglected. For many have found advantage (as we have proved, and are daily proving by actual experiment), in being first compelled by fear or pain, so that they might afterwards be influenced by teaching, or might follow out in act what they had already learned in word.

What Augustine was basically saying is that while it makes a better Christian when one believes and has faith of his own free will rather than through pain or fear of punishment; it is practical and proven that torture and pain are instruments that can and should be used to force the will of an unbeliever. Where, as a result, the faith will follow afterwards while the pain and punishment is still in the minds of the victim. The ends justify the means for Augustine and Christianity. Get conversions at what ever cost, because the more people who are compelled to follow Christ outweigh the methods that are used. Of course, this by no means applies strictly to Christianity-for other religions and dogmatic belief systems have used this justification of persecution to disseminate their philosophy. I focus on Christianity mainly because it has had the most influence on Western Civilization. So, when I hear Christians complain about discrimination by our government when they're not allowed to preach to captive audiences or to infringe upon another's civil rights, I am reminded of their treacherous and cruel history as well as their present attacks against others for the sake of their own beliefs.

So what is tolerance? Tolerance is not keeping your mouth shut so as not to offend someone's sensitivities. Tolerance is not slapping a new and improved label with which to identify yourself. Tolerance is not lying down and allowing others to take away from you what you are humanly entitled to without so much as a squeaky protest. Tolerance is, in fact, the realization that while you enjoy freedoms of speech, religion, and the pursuit of happiness-others are entitled to the same freedoms as you are without being subjugated and enslaved by the force of a majority belief system. Tolerance is when ideas and differences can be met with an open mind and allowed to exist on their own merits without forcing others to bend their will to yours. A very influential and most passionate teacher of philosophy once told me, "An idea is only valuable and meaningful if it is shared with and reflected upon by others. Only then can it grow in a meaningful and practical way." The key to this statement, in my opinion, is "reflected upon by others." You must be tolerant to be able to reflect upon another's philosophy or belief system for it (philosophies and ideas) to grow in a meaningful way. It must first be allowed in the public area before it can be questioned and discussed. This cannot happen if one group in the world has set itself up to be the moral barometer for all humanity and the one true voice of wisdom while disallowing any other thought to shine. It cannot happen while one group is in power and refuses to see the individual's right to pursue their own path to truth without physical, mental, or civic harm.

So am I being intolerant when I criticize and question another's belief and demand logical explanation of their outrageous claims? Am I to be considered intolerant when my questions and ideas make others uncomfortable and squirm in their seats? Am I intolerant because I speak out against injustice and loathe those actions that inhibit human freedom? I can only say that I thank all those small voices that have spoken out with ferocity against the injustices of the majority that has produced a voice of reason and tolerance of others. It is because of them that the majority is no longer allowed to burn, torture, and imprison those with different ideas. I am one of those small voices and if I were to be silenced there would be thousands in my wake to take my place.