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USS Utah
02-22-2013, 01:28 PM
An excellent talk by Elder Dalin H. Oaks;

https://www.lds.org/liahona/2013/02/balancing-truth-and-tolerance?lang=eng

Highlights:

"Our tolerance and respect for others and their beliefs does not cause us to abandon our commitment to the truths we understand and the covenants we have made. That is a third absolute truth. We are cast as combatants in the war between truth and error. There is no middle ground. We must stand up for truth, even while we practice tolerance and respect for beliefs and ideas different from our own and for the people who hold them."

"Our obligation to tolerance means that none of these behaviors—or others we consider deviations from the truth—should ever cause us to react with hateful communications or unkind actions. But our obligation to truth has its own set of requirements and its own set of blessings."

"[W]hen believers promote their positions in the public square, they should always be tolerant of the opinions and positions of those who do not share their beliefs. Believers must always speak with love and show patience, understanding, and compassion toward their adversaries."

Ma'ake
02-22-2013, 03:04 PM
While tolerance can be promoted, within an ideology of truth claims, it almost always boils down to extrapolating social effects of divergent truth and value systems.

The gay marriage debate is a perfect example. My next door neighbor maintains that the emergence of gay marriage is a clear signal that the very last days are upon us, that gay marriage will cause great harm to the institution of marriage.

My take is that marriage was taking a brutal beating before the issue of gay marriage came about, and that the greatest threat to the nuclear family institution is really economic in nature. We have highly redistributive taxes to encourage young couples to have children by committing public tax money to educating children, even of parents who don't have the economic means to pay for their childrens' educations.

By the same token, after the recent economic downturn, the birthrate is falling precipitously, because employment security is perceived to be very precarious. If you want more heterosexuals to get married and have children, give them a greater sense of economic security. It will happen naturally.