Before this lesson, my understanding of the word ‘intolerance’ was its basic definition of unwillingness to accept certain views, beliefs, or behavior that is different from an individual’s own, but in the academic study of religion, not only does it hold true but it also bears a more extensive significance. In Jakobsen and Pellegrini’s argument, they mentioned how the history of tolerance is inseparable from the history of religion because it all ties together. They also highlight how religious tolerance has affected America in our contemporary world and lead to the construct of racism and secular divisions which was extremely interesting to me because the idea of ‘tolerance’ is what we were taught even if we do not hold the same values as another person and when thinking broadly it can create controversial issues. Tolerance is not the same as freedom. Rather than expressing disagreement and discrimination and lashing out in acts of violence, people learn to tolerate (a reluctant acceptance) of other’s views, and Jacobsen and Pellegrini emphasize that tolerance reinforces “structural inequality,” this formation of hierarchy and that tolerance itself does not address the corruption that is targeted towards people who are likely to be murdered because of their association or views such as, those in the LGBT community.
#IntroRelsUH