Quote:The very backbone of liberalism is being tolerant of other people's views and beliefs.

Liberals, who stress this, are often guilty of being intolerant of disagreements in views and beliefs.

 

I'm not saying that anybodies right to believe what in what they want to believe in is being compromised. I'm saying that being intolerant of those beliefs goes against the essential core of liberalism.

Being tolerant of intolerance is not a requirement of liberalism (at least as I view liberalism), and your perceived backbone of liberalism is wrong because it doesn't extend to all beliefs. It extends only so far as those beliefs don't hinder others ability to live their life. Not viewing same sex marriage as "moral" is fine as far as I'm concerned, so long as you don't hinder their ability to live their life. The problem starts when somebody tries to deny same sex couples the ability to marry or to prevent them from doing something that heterosexual couples would have no problems doing.


The idea that liberals are somehow required to be a-okay with intolerant beliefs is a twisting of the intentions of liberalism. Liberalism - like conservatism - is a complex category rather than a strictly defined belief set.

---