Tolerance? What is Tolerance?

Archbishop Alfred Hughes or the Archdiocese of New Orleans offers a perspective worth reading:

Tolerance is a “new” virtue in the history of civilization. Neither Plato nor Aristotle named it in Greek moral thought. Seneca failed to include it when he summarized the Roman treatment of virtue. One would search in vain to find the virtue of tolerance in Sacred Scripture or in the rich Christian tradition through most of the centuries.
. . .
It was the 18th century Enlightenment that introduced tolerance as a virtue. Thus Locke, Voltaire and Lessing promoted tolerance as the virtue to move people beyond the religious conflicts that had troubled Europe in the wake of the Reformation.

These philosophers were convinced that the aggressive promotion of religious doctrines was the cause of the endless conflicts. Interestingly, they were convinced that it was possible to realize a consensus on moral truths to form the basis for society and public policy. This understanding undergirded the development of the founding documents of our country.

There can be a particular problem when tolerance is applied to religion. It works in countries that have an established religion. It is desirable that Christian countries be tolerant of Jews; the Jewish state of Muslims; Muslim states of Christians and Jews. But the tolerance of religion in a country such as our own that has no established religion can imply that religion is an evil which must be allowed to exist. Then, we can find ourselves urged in the name of tolerance to accept a permissive society which grants to immoral behavior the same status as moral virtue. This opens the door to moral relativism and the acceptance of all diversity, constructive or destructive, as a positive value.
(my emphasis)