In the religious wars of the16th and 17th centuries, persecution, torture, and killing were widespread. Yet out of that ugliness we learned, morally, that tolerating others’ mistaken views is essential and, politically, that individuals must be free to think, learn, and act. We learned to live and let live in regular life, and we learned to separate church and state, i.e., to get religion out of politics and politics out of religion.
Now we’re in the midst of culture wars over other important issues. Which issues are on hot front-burner changes, but the principles of tolerance must be re-learned and re-applied to each. Well said by Josh Slocum:
