What Would You Pay for Tolerance?
June 4, 2013
I was reminded recently--this time by a statistic dealing with college commencement addresses--of the relentless homogenization of culture and ideas in the name of diversity by today's movers-and-shakers. Apparently, the "uni-" is still stretching its lead over the "-versity" on today's campuses, despite first glances to the contrary.
As is well known to readers of Ref21, today's idea of tolerance is just as relentless in its agenda and, at least for Christians caught in its path, its hard edge just as sharp. What some may not realize is just how pricey such tolerance has become. I refer here to the $28.5 million gift to Rice University in Houston, TX, by a single donor, to establish the "Boniuk Institute for the Study and Advance of Religious Tolerance." The news release for the Institute advertises future "cutting-edge" technology for "assess[ing] and catalog[ing] hate speech"; ground breaking research for establishing "codes of conduct for interfaith dialogues"; and new ways of "nurturing tolerance among people of all and no faiths." For those seeking to explore the deeper causal structures of religious conflict, and consistent with its unwavering commitment to an allegedly atheological approach to theological realities, the Institute will "try to understand the neurological, psychological and sociological causes of religious intolerance and violence."
To be sure, aspects of this work are worthy of appreciation. But one would think that the Boniuks could have saved a penny by first exploring Matthew 10:34...
