As Muslim chaplain for Harvard University, I'm always amazed at how the word tolerance divides the ranks on all sides. You'll find some who deem tolerance as an outdated term in need of a very specific reinterpretation, while others argue that entertaining anything more than tolerance begins to diminish one's own core beliefs. I don't believe tolerance extends deep enough. Tolerance simply stated, is the absence of physical violence against someone else. But it doesn't guarantee that laws and edicts won't be issued that undermine the spirit of coexistence. Remember, the Nuremburg Laws were at first a 'tolerance' of Jews. Look where that brand of tolerance led. The Black Codes and Jim Crow...
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