Tolerance

To tolerate is to permit an evil that can be avoided, in order to attain a good. (The word permit sometimes signifies approval, but here it is used in the sense of not preventing).

- Tolerance is a correct attitude that must not be confused with other mindsets.

• For relativism, there are no objective truths, and no distinction is made between good and evil. Tolerance is completely different, because evil remains evil, and not good, even when it is permitted.
• Comfort or convenience is sometimes the motive for permitting evils. But in that case, evil is permitted out of human weakness or selfishness. In true tolerance, by contrast, evil is never permitted for such motives, but solely in pursuit of a genuine good.
• It is never morally permissible to do evil in order to achieve good. This is entirely different from tolerance, where one does not commit the evil oneself, but prudently permits others to do so.
• Cooperation in the evil of others is also distinct from tolerance. In cooperation, one contributes to evil by an action or omission. In tolerance, one contributes to the good, which in that specific situation requires permitting a lesser evil.

In any virtue, and likewise in tolerance, there are faults by excess and by defect. In the first case, one falls into weakness or permissiveness, where everything is conceded without boundaries. At the opposite extreme stands rigorism, where nothing is ever permitted or tolerated.

Tolerance falls within the realm of prudential decisions, such that concrete examples may or may not be valid depending upon circumstances. Sometimes the prudent course is to exercise tolerance, yet in an identical case under different circumstances it may be far better to halt the evil immediately. Let us examine several examples.

• In the family, parents must sometimes tolerate the mistakes and faults of their children, whereas on other occasions they must firmly correct them. In both instances they seek the true good of the children, who at times need fortitude and at other times kindness. Neither excessive severity nor lax permissiveness is good.
• Another family example: A mother may allow her child to play with empty cardboard boxes knowing they will tumble over him. She says nothing so that the child may learn by experience. By contrast, she will intervene immediately if the boxes are heavy or contain delicate objects. In one case there is tolerance; in the other, the danger is prevented.
• In the sporting arena, fans are tolerated when they shout insults at the referee or the opposing team. But they are not tolerated if they begin throwing stones.
• In the sphere of civil authority, there is usually tolerance toward certain youth behaviors (recreation, loud noise, minor disorder, littering...). But other behaviors must be strictly stopped—for instance, drugs or reckless driving.
• Nevertheless, those very actions that are tolerated on the street ought probably not to be permitted at home or in school, where the goal is precisely to educate the young. Even the very same action might be corrected one day and tolerated the next if the youth happens to be unusually troubled or upset. Evil remains evil, but sometimes charity requires permitting it. Tolerance is prudential.

In the Bible, the Lord acts at times with great firmness, and at other times with mildness and mercy. Perhaps the most frequently cited example of tolerance is the Parable of the Weeds and the Wheat (Mt 13:24), where the Lord does not root out the wicked immediately, but allows them to grow alongside the good until the end of the world. Here arises the great mystery of evil in the world.