RELIGION AND TOLERANCE
Journal of the Center for Empirical Researches of Religion
Number 1

Prof. dr Đuro Šušnjić

Belgrade

Borders of Tolerance

Summary

As oxygen is for breathing, tolerance is a condition for development of personality. A man is tolerant only when he accepts something from another man who does not agree with him. Spiritual man, aware of different approaches to the world, is genial to his conversationalist, not because of his weakness, yet because of his strength and will to become acquainted with different attitudes of others. Tolerance does not claim that man gives up from his ideals, yet to widen, deepen and overcome them. Only the strong can be tolerant. In any case, it is better to be too tolerant than too intolerant. Tolerance is an attitude if it reffers to the thinking of another persons, and act if it reffers to the behavior of others: tolerance has no borders considering the thinking, but has borders when we take into account behavior. A true thinking and living through dialogue and tolerance would mean that, by consequence, there would be no dogmatics among thinkers, no fanatics among belivers and no tyrants among politicians.

Key words: dialogue, tolerance, experience of difference, extremes in thinking