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While I was on holiday, I heard the news of the double massacre in Norway.  The perpetrator’s lawyer said he thought his client was insane.  What sort of insanity would lead a man to commit such barbaric acts?  Barbaric acts, unfortunately, are all too common in the world today, but this one was different.  Although the attacks were motivated by hatred of Muslims, the victims, for the most part, were non-Muslims.  One exception was a young Kurdish woman who had come to Norway to escape the violence in her homeland in Iraq.

Breivik was attacking Norwegian society for permitting Muslims to immigrate and be granted equality.  He was attacking the principle of tolerance, which is the basis for any democratic society, our own included.

We Anglicans like to think of ourselves as a tolerant church, but in 1985, when General Synod approved a modern service book, tolerance was in short supply for those who preferred the traditional service which they had used all their lives.  For many rectors, it was “My way or the highway.”  Today it’s hard to see much tolerance in the debate over homosexuality.  Archbishop Johnson’s attempt at moderation is seen by some as going too far and by others as not going far enough. 

Tolerance doesn’t mean “Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.”  There are things in our church which may offend the consciences of individual Anglicans, and the voice of conscience must always be respected.  But if our church is to survive, the principle of diversity, which has been characteristic of the Anglican way, needs to be supported and encouraged. 

Anglican bickering is small potatoes compared to the horror in Norway, but there is one issue the two have in common, and that is the principle of tolerance.

July 31, 2011

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