Catholic Scientists

Deceptive Tolerance

All of this is being done in the name of “tolerance.” But it is a perverted tolerance. It is a subtle ploy of Satan to corrupt the Church from within. The deception sounds so appealing: “Why draw lines of fellowship over doctrinal differences? The only thing that’s important is sincerity. Reach out and embrace all those who profess to believe in God, regardless of who their god may be. Ignore doctrinal differences. Do it in the name of Christian love. Do it for the sake of religious unity.”

This type of thinking has led Earl Paulk of Atlanta to call for the Evangelical Christian world to embrace even the Mormons! It has motivated mainline liberal spokesmen to advocate that Christians show tolerance toward Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and other pagan faiths by restraining ourselves from sharing the Gospel with them. Consider, for example, the following words of Episcopal Bishop John Spong of New Jersey:11

In the fall of 1988, I worshipped God in a Buddhist temple. As the smell of incense filled the air, I knelt before three images of Buddha, feeling that the smoke could carry my prayers heavenward. It was for me a holy moment for I was certain that I was kneeling on holy ground…

I will not make any further attempt to convert the Buddhist, the Jew, the Hindu or the Moslem. I am content to learn from them and to walk with them side by side toward the God who lives, I believe, beyond the images that bind and blind us.

Again, it all sounds so wonderful, so soothing, so tolerant! Tragically, it makes a liar of the very person they profess as Lord, for Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me” (John 14:6). Those are not tolerant words.