On Tolerance:

Tolerance is a word expressing an assumption of power. A society as evolved as ours in these United Sates of America ought to understand this basic principle and understand why it is a poor word choice. A teacher or parent or employer may not tolerate certain behavior, language, or thought because they have power by the nature of their position. We citizens, however, must understand that when we speak about our neighbors, we cannot use this word. We should not tolerate our neighbors, we should respect them. Be they Muslim, Mormon, atheist, or Christian.
The foundation of this nation is based on the equal rights and dignity of each individual given not by the government, but by our creator - or to be politically correct, by the fact that we have been created. You may say, "This is just rhetoric, Rob. Don't get so hung up on it." But the unconscious statement we make when we say, "I can tolerate my gay neighbor next door," is that I am superior or somehow better because I am not gay.
When we look at this in the context of religion, we must say, there is no relative truth, one must be right, making the other wrong. Otherwise, we open ourselves up to the possibility of no Truth, and that is not an option. We live in an absolute and concrete world. People absolutely die. People absolutely love and hate. People absolutely break bones and no one lives in a relative state of gravity.
So what do we do with this feeling of power and superiority that comes from thinking that one has absolute Truth (not to say you haven't. I'm Roman Catholic and totally believe I have). We must remember at this moment that before you knew the Truth, you were powerless, an underling just like all the rest. You relied on someone else's respect for your dignity to remain intact. We must recognize this distinction, and its fitting that I pen this on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the chief founder of inter-religious dialogue, respecting someone's right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness comes not from your power, but from the Creator's. Mr. Locke and Mr. Jefferson figured this out long before our time and we have an obligation to remember it.