Philosophy, Religion, and the Question of Intolerance is a diverse collection of essays united by a common starting point and theme—the awareness that intolerance is a phenomenon encountered in diverse places and circumstances and often handled with limited success. The question of toleration, together with its cultural, social, religious, and philosophical implications, is addressed by leading authorities who offer insights from an interdisciplinary perspective. The book begins with essays by three distinguished scholars, Robert Cummings Neville, J. B. Schneewind, and John McCumber. They assess the origins of intolerance, the genesis of our concept of toleration, and the outlook for the practice of tolerance in contemporary society. Beyond the opening essays, the collection is divided into three sections. The first concentrates on the relationship of religious faith and practice to toleration and inquires how religion might either impede or promote toleration. The second section deals primarily with questions regarding tolerance in the face of modern political realities. The final section discusses ethics, namely the philosophical analysis and definition of toleration as a virtue.

What impulse prompted some newspapers to attribute the murder of 77 Norwegians to Islamic extremists, until it became evident that a right-wing Norwegian terrorist was the perpetrator? Why did Switzerland, a country of four minarets, vote to ban those structures? How did a proposed Muslim cultural center in lower Manhattan ignite a fevered political debate across the United States? In The New Religious Intolerance, Martha C. Nussbaum surveys such developments and identifies the fear behind these reactions. Drawing inspiration from philosophy, history, and literature, she suggests a route past this limiting response and toward a more equitable, imaginative, and free society. Fear, Nussbaum writes, is "more narcissistic than other emotions." Legitimate anxieties become distorted and displaced, driving laws and policies biased against those different from us. Overcoming intolerance requires consistent application of universal principles of respect for conscience. Just as important, it requires greater understanding. Nussbaum challenges us to embrace freedom of religious observance for all, extending to others what we demand for ourselves. She encourages us to expand our capacity for empathetic imagination by cultivating our curiosity, seeking friendship across religious lines, and establishing a consistent ethic of decency and civility. With this greater understanding and respect, Nussbaum argues, we can rise above the politics of fear and toward a more open and inclusive future.

The relationship between religion, intolerance and conflict is the subject of intense discussion, particularly in the context of the ongoing threat of terrorism. This book contains papers written by scholars in anthropology, psychology, philosophy, and theology exploring the scientific and conceptual dimensions of religion and human conflict.

Addressing the question of what kind of theoretical foundations are required if we wish to have a constructive attitude towards different religions, this book scrutinizes aspects of the human condition, personhood and notions of (exclusive) truth and tolerance. In the book, Wolterstorff suggests that persons have hermeneutic and related competences that account for their special dignity, and that this dignity implies the right to practice religion freely. Margolis emphasizes the contingent character of all religious pursuits – being products of a unique form of evolution, humans need to create convincing purposes in an otherwise purposeless world. Respondents criticize both views with an eye on the question of whether those views promote religious tolerance. Grube criticizes the tendency for interreligious dialogue to be pursued under the parameters of an exclusive, bivalent notion of truth according to which something is necessarily false if it is not true. Under those parameters, religions that differ from the (one) true religion must be false. This explains why religious pluralists attempt to minimize the differences between religions at all costs and why others suggest implausibly strong concepts of tolerance. As an alternative, Grube proposes to drop exclusive concepts of truth and to conduct interreligious dialogue under the parameters of the concept of justification which allows for pluralisation. The following discussion takes up this criticism of bivalence and its consequences for dealing with religious otherness. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Philosophy and Theology.

Philosophy, Religion, and the Question off Intolerance is a diverse collection of essays united by a common starting point and theme -- the awareness that intolerance is a phenomenon encountered in diverse places and circumstances and often handled with limited success. The question of toleration, together with its cultural, social, religious, and philosophical implications, are addressed by leading authorities who offer insights from an interdisciplinary perspective. The book begins with essays by three distinguished scholars, Robert Cummings Neville, J. B. Schneewind, and John McCumber. They assess the origins of intolerance, the genesis of our concept of toleration, and the outlook for the practice of tolerance in contemporary society. Beyond the opening essays, the collection is divided into three sections. The first concentrates on the relationship of religious faith and practice to toleration and inquires how religion might either impede or promote toleration. The second section deals primarily with questions regarding tolerance in the face of modern political realities. The final section discusses ethics, namely the philosophical analysis and definition of toleration as a virtue.

This book focuses on religious tolerance and intolerance in terms of practices, institutions, and intellectual habits. It brings together an array of historical and anthropological studies and philosophical, cognitive, and psychological explorations by established scholars from a range of disciplines. The contributions feature modern and historic instances of tolerance and intolerance across a variety of geographies, societies, and religious traditions. They help readers to gain an understanding of the notion of tolerance and the historical consequences of intolerance from the perspective of different cultures, religions, and philosophies. The volume highlights tolerance’s potential to be a means to build bridges and at the same time determine limits. Whilst the challenge of promoting tolerance has mostly been treated as a value or practice of demographic or religious majorities, this book offers a broader take and pays attention to minority perspectives. It is a valuable reference for scholars of religious studies, the sociology of religion, and the history of religion.

It seems more urgent than ever before to fend off the rising wave of intolerance and at the same time determine the nature of tolerance and its limits. As Ricoeur says in his Foreword: "Tolerance is a tricky subject: too easy or too difficult. It is indeed too easy to deplore intolerance, without putting oneself into question, oneself and the different allegiances with which each person identifies." In order to explore these complexities, he has gathered together a number of prominent thinkers from various parts of the world and areas of activity and invited them to reflect on the "obstacles and limits to tolerance." The Declaration of Principles on Tolerance, issued by the United Nations in 1995, rounds up this remarkable collection of essays. Contributors: Norberto Bobbio, Vaclav Havel, Jeanne Hersch, Bernard Williams, Octavio Paz, Ghislain Waterlot, Antoine Garapon, Mario Bettati, Yehudi Menuhin, Ramin Jahanbegloo, Abdelwahab Bouhdiba, Hans Küng, Wole Soyinka, Ionna Kuçuradi, Monique Canto-Sperber, Paul Ricoeur, Desmond Tutu. DIOGENES LIBRARY