Why I'm an Intolerant Closed-Minded Bigot

We all know it's true. Christians are closed-minded intolerant bigots. They actually have the audacity to think that they're right about their religious beliefs and everyone else is wrong. From their self-built platform they then get off telling the world who they can marry and what they can do with their own bodies. If the world doesn't listen, then the Christians just tell them they're going to hell. It's too bad Christians can't be objective and open-minded with the rest of society.

Well, a lot of people think that's true. I don't. Here's why.

First, what does it mean to be closed-minded and intolerant? If it means that a person will never rationalize his way through another position and only pontificate on his own, then I might agree. That person is closed-minded as they refuse to see things from a different perspective. Are there Christians who are like this? Yes. However, are their people of all beliefs who are like this? Yes! I do not believe that the problem is with the Christian message, but with society in general. People are closed-minded, the Christian message is not.

Do you like logic? I like logic. Let's get logical.

If I ask two people to guess how tall my mother is and they both give me two different heights, then they cannot both be correct (unless one was meant to be with heels or some other qualification). They could, of course, both be wrong. To determine which, if either, is right, investigation must be pursued. This is true with religious beliefs as well. When the Christian claims that Jesus died on the cross, and the Muslim claims that Jesus did not die on the cross they cannot both be correct. Either Jesus died on the cross, or He did not die on the cross. The question becomes did Jesus die on a cross or did He not (or did He even exist at all?). If He did then Islam is false, if He did not, then Christianity is false. This is not being intolerant, this is simply being consistent with the nature of reality. Christianity is a belief about the nature of reality, and therefore follows the same logic as applied to determining if anyone was correct about my mother's height.

Logic: 'tis simple.

But what about all this nonsense about Jesus being the only way to salvation? Once again truth is exclusive. When Christ stated that He was 'the Way, the Truth, and the Life,' that no man comes to the Father but through Him, He was making a reasonable statement that reflected these simple nature of truth. Jesus could have been wrong, there might be more ways, but the mere exclusivity of the statement itself is not ground for saying that it's wrong or intolerant.

In fact, even the belief that all religions are true is exclusive. Religious pluralism is no less intolerant and dogmatic as Christianity. What's secretly being said is that every religion of the world is wrong. The pluralist is arguing that when a religion makes a claim about the nature of reality it's false. This is because once we predicate religious truth to reality it then becomes exclusive. Reality, as we have seen, is one way or the other. Either your dinner is poison, or it is not poison. Either that light is red or it's not red, you aren't going to speed through a red light arguing that it's really green for you and only red for other people. The only possible way to bunch all religions or world-views together would be to water them down to where they no longer reflect what they actually claim to be. Ironically, one would have to conform them to his own predetermined doctrine of beliefs, therefore, demonstrating what they are attempting to avoid: beliefs are exclusive.

So, then, in the name of truth and common-sense, I'll gladly continue being a closed-minded intolerant bigot. It's the only way to live. Besides, deep down you're one too. Admit it.