I believe those are the words of George Washington, who recognized that our democracy would not survive on tolerance only, that we needed liberty. We cannot tolerate the intolerant, which appears on a shallow level to be an oxymoron, but on a deeper level is a fundamental and self-evident truth. Fear is a mind-killer. Fear paralyzes progress and sometimes even the quest for survival. We cannot allow the intolerant to spread their bigotry and fear, we must, if we value our democracy, challenge the intolerant and the fear mongering wherever it starts.
The United States of America is not, and never has been a theocracy. We cannot allow that to happen. Faith is not faith if it is the only choice. For people to be free to have faith, they also need to be free to have no faith or a different faith. Without that freedom, it is not faith at all.
Huge hat tip to The Group News Blog (in honor of the amazing Steve Gilliard). Very interesting reading on a regular basis.
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