Both tolerance and respect are empty virtues until we actually understand whatever it is we are supposed to be tolerating or respecting.
Interpretation
Understanding is essential to true tolerance and respect.
This quote by Stephen Prothero highlights that true tolerance and respect are not merely passive feelings but require a deeper understanding of the beliefs, practices, and backgrounds of others. Without comprehension, these virtues lack substance, and we risk merely going through the motions without genuine engagement or appreciation of diversity.
In practice
In a speech about promoting cultural awareness, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of understanding different backgrounds.
Pretending that the worldβs religions are the same does not make our world safer. Like all forms of ignorance, it makes our world more dangerous. What we need on this furiously religious planet is a realistic view of where religious rivals clash and where they can cooperate.
You learn emotional experiences as much as you learn cognitive experiences, except that they are more unconscious. Sometimes one represses the cognitive component of it, but it's often more difficult to repress the emotional component.
The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast, and you miss all you are traveling for.
In the company of friends, writers can discuss their books, economists the state of the economy, lawyers their latest cases, and businessmen their latest acquisitions, but mathematicians cannot discuss their mathematics at all. And the more profound their work, the less understandable it is.
Put a bridle on thy tongue; set a guard before thy lips, lest the words of thine own mouth destroy thy peace... on much speaking cometh repentance, but in silence is safety.
You must not only learn to live with tension, you must seek it out. You must learn to thrive on stress.
Thyself shall see the act; For, as thou urgest justice, be assured Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desir'st.
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