The Truth about Tolerance: Pluralism, Diversity and the Culture Wars

by Stetson, Brad

• ISBN13: 9780830827879
• ISBN10: 0830827870
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-04-30
• Publisher: INGRAM
• More Book Details

Summary

We all want to be tolerant.No one wants to beintolerant.But does that mean we have to accept all truth claims as true? Does this virtue rule out having any strongly held moral convictions?In this book Brad Stetson and Joseph G. Conti explore the use and misuse of this important value in academic circles and popular media. They note that the pursuit of truth and the pursuit of tolerance are often taken to be mutually exclusive, and it ends with truth having to give way to tolerance. Stetson and Conti argue just the opposite: that true tolerance requires the pursuit of truth. In the end they demonstrate that Christian conviction about religious truth provides the only secure basis for a tolerant society which promotes truth seeking. Christians can contribute to civil debate without compromising their moral and spiritual convictions.

Author Biography

Brad Stetson teaches at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	9	(2)
Preface	11	(2)
PART I: FLASHPOINTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF TOLERANCE	13	(48)
1 Two Preliminary Observations	15	(7)
2 Pre-Christian Contributions	22	(16)
3 Christian Contributions	38	(12)
4 The Enlightenment and Beyond	50	(11)
PART II: TRUTH AND THE CULTURE WARS	61	(50)
5 The Truth About Truth	63	(12)
6 Truth and Tolerance	75	(11)
7 American Secularism	86	(12)
8 Evangelical Christianity	98	(13)
PART III: THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLERANCE	111	(63)
9 Twisted Tolerance and Double Standards	113	(13)
10 Christianity in the Crosshairs	126	(13)
11 Ten Truths of Tolerance 1	139	(22)
12 Ten Truths of Tolerance 2	161	(13)
Epilogue: Reflections on Evangelical Christian Witness Today	174	(10)
Select Bibliography	184	(2)
Notes	186	(17)
Index	203