Kulshan Middle School students recently completed a unit on Religion and Beliefs in Colleen Carpenter’s 7th grade Social Studies classes. “Students were asked to write an editorial on the topic of religious tolerance, explaining why it’s important and why it’s needed in today’s world,” Carpenter says. “After sharing their editorials with each other, students voted on the top editorials – the ones that made them feel a certain way, think a certain way and/or had some exceptional writing or phrasing.”
These editorials are included below. “I believe that you will be much impressed by these writers’ critical thinking, compassion and belief that tolerance is not only necessary in today’s world, but possible. They really give you hope for the future.”
Autumn Shawver
Religious tolerance is defined as the act of accepting someone, even though you may not agree with their religious views. It is the non-judgmental way of thinking that is the driving force behind many long-lasting friendships and peaceful communities. Our societies need religious tolerance because many of the biggest wars in history have begun as a result of religious intolerance. Being intolerant in general has set humans as a species farther back than would be preferred. To be tolerant of other people’s beliefs would mean keeping yourself focused inward as opposed to turning your criticism toward what others believe. Most people haven’t even explored the possibilities of each religion, and it’s unfair to judge someone for something you know nothing about.
Religious intolerance, however, is discriminating against somebody or a group of people because they do not share your views. One example of intolerance in ancient history is the Crusades. Many religiously stifling events happened during these journeys, but one of the most shocking is the massacre of Jewish people. This is an example of religious intolerance because the Crusaders were such strong believers in their religion, that they felt the need to eradicate anyone with a different viewpoint (although some may say that killing millions of people for such a trifle insignificance actually goes against Christianity – commandment VI: “thou shalt not kill.”) This event caused many unnecessary deaths that could have been avoided simply by being tolerant.
Another example of intolerance is Hindu militants suppressing Christian and Muslim beliefs by forcing them to convert to Hinduism. This is religiously intolerant because the Hindu militants are so afraid of the minority, that they use their power to make less of them. The people who have the most authority should be using it to make sure that there is little to no bias. It may be an unrealistic goal, but the first step to achieving any aspiration is to make an effort. Religious intolerance is one of the most impactful problems in society, both in the modern day and ancient times. Everybody, no matter their religion, should try their best to accept any and all diversity.
One of the ways we can increase religious tolerance in our world is being indifferent when it comes to religion. As a race of intelligent creatures, we should be banding together for the greater good as opposed to being torn apart and turning on each other. Humans are mentally capable of astounding things, and if we all worked as a team to fight bigger issues, the world would be a much better place.
Annabelle Drake
“Religious – r??lij?s – relating to or believing in a religion.”
“Tolerance – ?täl(?)r?ns – the ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with.”
That’s right, I just introduced an editorial by copy-and-pasting Google definitions. In case you couldn’t already tell, today I’m talking about religious tolerance. Religious tolerance is something that throughout history, humans in general have never seemed to have much of. Various crimes have been committed due to religious intolerance; people have been slaughtered for their beliefs, entire wars have been fought over religion and many religions are incredibly similar. Needless to say, we certainly have a reputation for religious intolerance. This editorial is meant to show you why we need religious tolerance and how it would help our society if we had more of it. Please note; this is not meant to say that no one tolerates religion – many people do – but there is still a large portion of the population (including countries) that are very intolerant to others’ beliefs. This will focus on the latter, despite my recognition of the opposite.
First and foremost, religious intolerance has been a problem in the past, present and the future if we don’t do anything about it. An example of intolerance is Hindu militants forcing Muslims and Christians to convert. This example is very straight-forward; it shows religious intolerance because people are literally being forced to give up their own beliefs. You can see here that religious tolerance is very important, as intolerance causes happiness and freedom to believe what you believe to be ripped away from you in an instant. It is a disgusting tactic, forcing people to give up what is truth to them, all to get someone to agree with you. Another example of intolerance is the crusades of medieval Europe – Jews were massacred for their beliefs. It seems unfair because it is; Judaism and Christianity are two very similar belief systems that are clashing head-to-head in a fit of violence, all because they don’t agree with each other. It was a despicable waste of life, and this shows the importance of tolerance because it would bring more peace and happiness, even basic freedom to an otherwise cruel society.
In conclusion, I hope this editorial has shown you the importance of religious tolerance. Intolerance has led to violence and crime. People believe what they believe and I, for one, believe it is a basic right that should be allowed. We, as humans, should be able to celebrate what we view as truth. Intolerance is a relevant and serious issue that should be addressed; more tolerance would lead to a safer and more peaceful society. I recognize that dealing with issues such as this is easier said than done, but there are some things we can do, such as; not “condemning” someone for their beliefs. We can also work on, when someone is sharing their religion, not offering our opinions or commentary but just listening and being respectful to their personal beliefs. And finally, just being there for each other. Don’t say you don’t like someone for their beliefs, don’t exclude them, just accept that they believe different things and leave it alone. It’s not the end of the world if someone doesn’t agree with you; we need to stop acting like it is.
Charlie Adams
Religious tolerance is accepting that there are more religions you could explore. Another example of religious tolerance is say you’re Catholic and you want to switch to Judaism, since we’re showing tolerance, they would accept you into their religion. Our society needs religious tolerance because we would probably be back at square one having wars against each other and if we wanted to switch you would probably be executed. Another reason we need religious tolerance is there probably wouldn’t be cars, computers or any technology because we would not be working with smart people of other religions. To be tolerant of other people’s beliefs would mean you should ask questions, be interested and supportive of other religions. Another reason to be tolerant of other people’s beliefs would mean you could come to holidays of their religions or you could go to church with them or where they go to practice their religion.
Religious tolerance is accepting all religions and being respectful of all religions. There was intolerance when Hitler led the Holocaust but there was also religious tolerance with the Maryland Toleration Act, also known as the Act Concerning Religion, which was a law mandating religious tolerance. It was passed on April 21, 1649 by the assembly of the Maryland Colony. This shows that some people will kill because of their intolerance of other people’s religions but this also shows that there are safe places to be safe and have a place where you can have whatever thoughts you want about your religion. This proves that if you do something bad it follows you forever. But this also proves that if you do something good it means you are a hero forever. You can see how this affects people’s families forever on both sides. It could have affected it in a good or bad way. So that shows that religious tolerance is important because you could offend or hurt someone and you don’t want enemies in this world, you want allies.
One thing I could do to show religious tolerance is if someone is talking about their religion, I could join the conversation and share what I know and one thing other people could do is to just get out and see what other religions have to offer. One more thing that I could do is to go to church or where they go to practice their religion with a friend. Another thing that other people could do is go on the internet and do some research on other religions and why some people practice them. And finally I could go to some holy places and I could learn something there. One thing other people could do is talk to someone who is educated about it and ask them some questions.
Madison Knapp
Religious tolerance is when people have a certain limit for people of different religion. Having a low religious tolerance means that you don’t enjoy talking about or being with a person of a different religion. Having a high religious tolerance means that you can/are willing to talk to a person of a different religion. Our societies need more religious tolerance because we would be kinder to people of another religion. This would also help those people by having them feel safer in our community. Another reason why we need more religious tolerance in our society is because it would help the people feel accepted, and they won’t have to worry so much about danger. To be tolerant of other people’s beliefs would include the following reasons, one being that we would not judge them just because of what they believe in and a lot more. Another reason is that we would be able to help them without being worried about our own safety as well as their own. The last reason of what being tolerant for other people’s beliefs would mean is that we would be accepting to them and help them feel comfortable in our community.
One example of intolerance in history was when the Crusades would kill Jewish people because it wasn’t their religion even if they weren’t planning on killing them. This shows intolerance by stating that they had a very strong opinion about other religions when they are not the same religion. This proves that during the Crusades the knights would kill innocent people even if that was not their intention when they went on their journey. You can see how these people have very low tolerance for different religions. One example of tolerance today is that my church accepts gay marriage and we accept multiple different religions. This shows that my church understands and uses religious tolerance to make the church more approachable. This proves that my church believes that they can use this to help the church seem more welcoming to other people. We use this saying, “No matter who you are or where you are, you are welcome here,” every Sunday. This is more inviting to others.
When religious tolerance is very low in our society it makes me want to help the un-represented. One of the actions I can take includes helping people of other religions if they need to, say, find a certain place in the city (Bellingham) I can tell them if I know the information or help them find the information. Another situation can include if someone is not being very kind to people of a different religion I will ask them to stop and help the person of another religion. Yet another thing that helps me help others includes putting the religious barriers aside and doing what’s right. The last thing I want other people to do includes helping them if they have a question rather than ignoring them.
Anna P.
Religious tolerance is the ability to accept and have an open mind to other religions no matter how different they are from your own beliefs. It is nonjudgmental and kind to those who have different beliefs. Currently in our societies this practice is essential for many reasons. One being that the absence of it can lead to violent controversy and non-civil societies. Another is we can learn new ideas and concepts by being open minded. You only get certain opinions if you have one group of people. This leads to a successful democracy where all people have a say. Ways to express religious tolerance is to start by accepting everyone no matter where they worship or what they believe. You can go a step further to listen and interact with different groups and to fight for their beliefs if they are not represented in this society.
When religious tolerance and acceptance is ignored or not a part of the society the society strays from being successful, an example of this is in WWII when the Germans thought they were the superior race and all others were not important. The Nazis strongly practiced religious intolerance; this was demonstrated when they persecuted the Jews to inhumane points. Germany lost the war and after that Jewish people were protected to further measures. This shows an unsuccessful society because they were divided and they did not have the insight of different races or religions because of their idea of the superior race. Another example of religious intolerance is in the Crusades in Medieval Europe. This shows religious intolerance because the Christians were not accepting to any other religions. When you look at this example in history you can see how it affects the city of Jerusalem today; it is still divided. People are fighting for their right to have Jerusalem as their religious capital although it is important to many religions. Also the Crusades led to many deaths that were not just and they still occur, in lesser numbers, today.
When I think about religious tolerance I think that in our society we are relatively successful; however when you dig deeper there are many ignored ideas that do not prove us to be a successful society. One of the things that I can do is get past the barrier of my religion is right and everyone else’s are wrong. I think if we as a whole can learn to listen and learn from all people we will be of a higher function. If we push ourselves to include rather than divide we can help and not hurt those who feel like they don’t belong. Then strive to have all religions rather than just being protected by law, being protected by the people that interact with them like their equal.
Carter Merritt
Religious tolerance is being able to accept others’ religion and beliefs and to be flexible with others’ ideas about religion. An example of religious tolerance is being in a country with hundreds and hundreds of religions and feeling like you are all one which you obviously are. Our societies need religious tolerance because without that everyone is going to feel like we are so much different and then some will treat others differently because of others beliefs about religion which is why we need religious tolerance. An example of why we need religious tolerance in our society is without it imagine we have a leader in our society who isn’t tolerant and treats people terribly because he or she thinks differently than someone and he or she thinks that person should be punished for not believing what they do. To be tolerant of other people’s beliefs would mean to be willing to listen to how they believe things and to be ok with it even if you do not believe in that you just have to accept that they have their own opinion on religion. You can also accept religions that maybe have a bad history or religions that you think are weird. This would be showing that you are tolerant with religion.
Religious tolerance is a way of treating others’ beliefs with positivity and being fine if they believe in other things than you do. You would treat others nicely even if you think their beliefs are bad and not very similar to your beliefs. One example of religious intolerance in history was when during the Crusades of Medieval Europe the Christians that were on a journey to Jerusalem stopped at a city that had a lot of Jewish people living in it and the Christians massacred many Jews. You can see how this might affect the daily lives of Jewish people. After that they were most likely living in fear of another massacre from people of another religion. This attack probably made these people feel insecure and scared. This is why we need tolerance for religion or else people are going to be living like these people did, insecure and afraid.
Another example of why we need religious tolerance is Hitler’s Holocaust because that caused many deaths of people around the globe and this attack was controlled by one religiously intolerant man, Adolf Hitler. This proves that we need everyone to be tolerant about others’ religion and beliefs because that one person who was intolerant about that caused millions of people to die because of their beliefs.
Here are some actions you can take to be religiously tolerant. You can talk to others about their religion in order to understand more about it and you will make the other person feel like you are engaged and that you understand their beliefs. Another way you can be religiously tolerant is to show support if anyone you know is being picked on for their beliefs and show they are not alone. To be religiously tolerant can change lives. Try it out.
Tiger Lily Brim
Religious tolerance is a big problem in the world. But the question is what is religious tolerance? Religious tolerance is a willingness to accept feelings, habits or beliefs that are different from your own. Our societies need religious tolerance because we would and we are falling apart without it. We also need religious tolerance because our society would be more peaceful and it would be more put together and fair to each other if we had religious tolerance. To be tolerant of other people’s beliefs would mean that we would have to not kick certain people out and that we would have to let people in. Another way to be tolerant of other people’s beliefs would mean to trust people and love your neighbors as yourself.
Religious tolerance is a big problem in the world today and in history. If we do not have religious tolerance and we have intolerance we are going end up in a war and we all want peace so we need to have religious tolerance. An example of intolerance in history was when the Crusades happened and they had a whole war for 20 years for the religion. This proves that religious tolerance is important in the world and it gives us peace and it helps us to stay together as a country. You can see how since they did not have religious tolerance and they ended up killing each other. This shows that if we do not have religious tolerance that we could end up in a whole war not with just one group but maybe the world. That is why religious tolerance is important to the world and why we need to accept different things in the world.
One way to show tolerance is you can trust other religions also you could host a community dinner and invite people from your church and other churches. You can also not stare or act weird or uncomfortable because it will make them feel left out or weird and like you wish they were not in their presence. You can also talk to them and hang out with them and just be nice to your neighbors as yourself.
Keira Woolman
Religious tolerance is being able to accept the beliefs of others and not judging people, for it is being ok with the fact that you might not have the same beliefs as others. Our society in this point in time needs religious tolerance because there are a lot of religions and without being able to tolerate it there would be a lot of violence. And how long do you think we would last? To be tolerant of other people’s beliefs would mean to accept them for who they are not what they beliefs in.
Religious tolerance is maybe not agreeing with someone but being ok with what they think. Having religious tolerance is important because it can make it so things are more peaceful. An example of religious intolerance is when the knights fought with the Jewish in the first Crusade. That shows religious intolerance because it led to a lot of deaths and violence that did not need to happen. This proves that they did not have religious tolerance because they did not accept the Jews for who they were; they just killed them for what they believed in. You can see how it is important to have religious tolerance because without it there would be much more violence.
One thing you can do to become more tolerant to different religions is talk to someone with a different religion than you and try and understand it a little bit more even if you don’t agree. And one thing I want to do to become more religiously tolerant is research questions I have about religion and get a better understanding of how religions are similar. By understanding more about religion you are showing that you care even if you don’t agree with everything.
