DANGER OF INTOLERANCE.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVIII, Issue 1053, 12 May 1910, Page 22

DANGER OF INTOLERANCE.

“There seems to be growing up in this country just a little danger that men will not be allowed the liberty of their opinions,” remarked the Rev. Dr. Bevan at his farewell gathering in Melbourne. In this sentence the rev. gentleman raises an important question. If it be true —and now and |a,gain there are distinct indication# that it is so —that we are becoming an intolerant people, then we require very carefully to examine our views. For a tendency to intolerance is mischievous. There is usually a deplorable ignorance at the bottom of such a trend. Sweet tolerance is the mark of intellectual man and woman. Every man in our midst should be free to have and hold his opinion on all and every phase of human thought. Any other condition of this makes for stagnation. “Surely,” says Carlyle, “it is good for each of us to be as tolerant as possible. . . . Tolerance has to be noble, measured, just in its very wrath., when it can no longer tolerate.” When a man shows respect for another’s views he does not, as some shallow people think, • display any weakness. On the contrary, he has given an evidence of his strength of will, and of the freedom and tenacity W’ith which he holds his own opinions. So long as a man’s views are honest, and are in accord with. the common standards of decency, all others should respect them and him. No one is asked to endorse -them against his own convictions, and tolerance does not mean endorsement, any more than intolerance means refutation. Dr. Bevan.-has- : hinted .very gently- at an evil, and it is the duty of every intelligent citizen to examine the facts, with

a view to ascertaining what degree he or she is affected by it. It would be fatal to all progress in Victoria if intolerance became a permanent habit with us. —“Weekly News and L.V. Gazette.