Dictionary.com defines tolerance as the following:

1. a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own; freedom from bigotry.

2. a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one's own.

3. interest in and concern for ideas, opinions, practices, etc., foreign to one's own; a liberal, undogmatic viewpoint.

Although there are other definitions for tolerance, they don't relate to what I'm about to say.

I live in the United States of the Offended. It seems like every time you turn around somebody is whining about being offended or having his/her rights violated. Often these are rights they really don't possess.

I believe that everyone has the right to believe whatever they want. However, no right is absolute. It doesn't mean you have the right to say whatever you want, or to act on those beliefs.

An example in America is racism. Racism simply means that you think your race is superior to everyone else's. I'm sure there are people who believe that. So what?

Far more dangerous is prejudice and discrimination. Holding prejudiced beliefs and then acting on them leads to discrimination against others for a lot of different reasons.

I don't believe Christians are any more intolerant than anyone else. I don't believe our faith is a religion of intolerance.

Anyone who wants to become a Christian can certainly do so. The real problem is when Christians begin to embrace sin. When we say that it's OK to engage in any kind of behavior as long as it makes you happy.

This is where we need to draw the line. The bottom line is that Christians will always be accused of being bigots. However, as long as we respect the rights of others, even when we disagree, we're not bigots at all. We are simply trying to follow Christ, and He never had a problem with confronting another person about his/her sin.

One fundamental right we all need to recognize is the right to free choice. It is a right that God has given to all of us. We can choose to love Him or not. We can choose to be sinners, or not. We can choose to walk the path Christ has created for us, or not.

Just as I don't want to see my faith banned, or outlawed, I would see no one else's right to practice his or her faith outlawed. I may not agree with it, but as long as it does no harm to others, I see no point in telling others what to think, believe, or how to act.

America is at a crossroads; we can choose to respect the rights of others without agreeing with them. This also means that sometimes we will have to stand up for what is right when the acts of others are harmful.

The late Reggie White, Greenbay Packer, and one of the greatest pro football players of the NFL, was called the "Minister of Defense". He earned this title not only because he was the greatest defensive player who played the game, but he was also an ordained minister. He said that Christians should be "meek, not weak".

Meek doesn't mean being a doormat. It means being patient. It's time to stop being doormats. It's time to stop getting our feelings hurt every time someone calls us a name, or disrespects our faith.

Jesus called us to love. Judgement belongs to Him. It doesn't mean we shouldn't be discerning about our relationships and who we choose to associate with. Hang out in a bar long enough, and you'll be drinking.

However, in your daily contact with non believers, you need to love them. You don't have to agree with them, and it isn't your place to judge them.

Let Jesus heal your life. Lead by example. How you live will be a far more shining example of what Jesus can do than your words.

The Bible says that what's impossible with man is possible with God. God can do anything as long as you get your free will out of the way and allow Him to bless you. Only by allowing God to bless you, can you be a blessing to others.

There are so many broken, hurting, people in the world today, and you have the power, and the great Physician to help you do it.

Show others your respect. Demonstrate the true meaning of tolerance. Show them your love, and you will change the world in a way that is only possible with God

By: Jinger Jarrett
Jinger Jarrett wants to show you how to live the life you've always dreamed of. You can read her blog, The Science of Getting Rich for Christians. Get her best free resources on changing your life at Squidoo.

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Comment by David G. Hallstrom, Sr.
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In my opinion tolerance is a great idea but too much tolerance can be dangerous. There are too many people in this world that our out to destroy Christians, especially Athiests and Fundementalist Muslims. They want the complete surrender of everyone who does not believe in their ideals.

It is said that "God helps those who help themselves". Well, if you believe as Ms. Jarrett states

However, in your daily contact with non believers, you need to love them. You don't have to agree with them, and it isn't your place to judge them.

, eventually they will destroy you. Christians, like everyone else, have to defend themselves and sometimes that precludes tolerance.

On November 8th, the voters of who live in the Los Angeles schools district will be faced with their fourth proposition, called Measure Y. The $3.985 bond measure, which will be paid by property taxes, is for more planned expansion within the Los Angeles schools, allowing them to add another 25 elementary schools to the current list of 160 schools that are scheduled to be constructed by year 2012. Some of the money also is slated for other needs, such as new school buses, repairs and charter schools.

The other three bond measures were passed for Los Angeles schools new construction and repairs that were long overdue. Classrooms were literally falling apart, and classes were excessively overcrowded with year-round schedules for many schools. The previously passed measures underwrote the current 160 schools on the list for construction.

Many people, however, are asking if this fourth measure is truly needed. According to the Los Angeles Daily News, the traditional Los Angeles schools are slowly but steadily losing students from their rolls. Since the 2002-2003 school year, the traditional Los Angeles schools have lost 4,471 students. According to Los Angeles schools officials, they expect another 4,304 to be dropped this year. There are several reasons for these drops in enrollment.

First, one in every 20 students is choosing to attend a charter or private school, rather than attend traditional Los Angeles schools. The 88 charter schools within the state now enroll about three percent (about 200,000) of the public school students. About 35,000 of these students attend charter schools within the Los Angeles schools. The number of charter schools within the state continues to increase, with another 20 new charter schools planned for this fall.

The California Charter Schools Association predicts that ten percent of public school students within the state will attend charter schools by the year 2014, with perhaps an even higher percentage in the Los Angeles schools area. They cite that the number of charter schools would need to triple in order to accommodate all of the students currently on waiting lists. With the smaller size and flexibility of charter schools, they can be created and implemented in a very short time, as compared to the large, traditional Los Angeles schools that take years to construct.

The second reason for the drastic drop in enrollment at the Los Angeles schools is birth and lifestyle trends:

* Los Angeles County statistics have shown that hundreds of fewer babies are being born in the county each year. The trend is expected to continue through to the end of the decade.

* Upper income singles and couples with few children have replaced neighborhoods that were once inhabited by large immigrant families. With the rising housing prices in the Los Angeles schools area, most young families or families with many children can no longer afford to live there, opting to move to areas with lower costs of living.

* Additionally, according to researchers at the Public Policy Institute of California, another trend is smaller immigrant families. In their 2002 report, they show that after the first generation, immigrant families successively have smaller families.

Glenn Gritzner, special assistant to the Los Angeles schools, says that the Los Angeles schools have taken the changes in demographics into consideration, but they are not critical enough to change the school building plans. Gritzner states that, if school plans and trends/statistics remain on course through 2012, there still will be 200,000 Los Angeles schools students in portable classrooms and plenty of overcrowded Los Angeles schools remaining. Plus, trends are only current patterns that are subject to change. Measure Y definitely is warranted.

By: Patricia Hawke
Patricia Hawke is a staff writer for Schools K-12, providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools. For more information please visit Los Angeles Schools.

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Comment from David G. Hallstrom, Sr.
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I strongly disagree with Ms. Hawke's statement that "Measure Y definitely is warranted.".

The $3.985 she mentions is actually $3.985 billion which will actually cost the taxpayers of Los Angeles over $8 billion to repay. That's $8 billion dollars for 25 elementary schools, or $320 million for each school. $320 million for one school, that is a ridiculous waste of money that Los Angeles does not have. Additionally, due to lack of proper oversight and cost overruns, the $8 billion dollars will probably only pay for the building of 10 to 15 schools and then the School District will come back for more money to finish the 25 schools. The total cost could end up being two or three times the projected $8 billion.

I'll make this quick, but I just read an article on-line that I can't help but comment on. It seems that singer Sheryl Crow has been touring the country with "An Inconvenient Truth" producer Laurie David in a biodiesel bus. Now I don't know exactly what the chemical make-up of biodiesel fuel is, but after reading an excerpt from Ms. Crow's blog entry of April 19th, one would have to assume that the emissions from this type of fuel can cause severe brain damage. And, again, judging from this particular blog entry, I don't think Sheryl has just been casually exposed to these emissions; rather, I think she's been smoking the tail pipe.

It seems that Ms. Crow has devised a couple of ways for all of us to chip in and be a part of the solution to "global warming". Are you ready for this? OK, first of all, she proposes a limitation be put on the number of squares of toilet paper that an individual would be allowed to use per "sitting". And she has quite a bit of confidence in us too, folks. She thinks we can get it done on just one square. Yes that's right. ONE! Oh, except she does allow for up to three squares on those "pesky occasions" that require it. I got news for you, Ms. Crow, a couple of months ago, when my entire family was stricken with the flu, we went through enough TP to have mowed down a National Forrest. I can't wait to see her plans for inspection and control.

Her second idea addresses the way we clean up our faces. Sheryl claims to have designed a line of clothing that incorporates a detachable "dining sleeve". It's purpose? You guessed it. No more napkins. We all just sit at the table wiping our mouths on our sleeves. Get this. She wants us to use these sleeves in lieu of tissues as well. I'm just glad she's still allowing me my one square, as opposed to taking this "dining sleeve" idea to the next level.

And, lastly, I can't help but notice, for a group of people who are constantly saying the government tries to squash our personal freedoms, Sheryl Crow wants legislation to dictate how each of us is allowed to wipe all of our orifices. I can't think of a deeper personal infringement. I can just picture it too, while I'm in the restroom struggling mightily to pull off the task at hand with my one square, Al Gore in the adjacent stall, having purchased his carbon credits, wiping his butt and blowing his nose to his heart's content.

By: Jack Graham
Jack Graham has been verbally arguing politics for more that 20 years. I have just recently started posting my views on a daily basis at http://www.righttothecore.com. I love comments and never shy away from a good debate.

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In Part I of this series, the tragic state of 9 key indicators of African-American progress since the "Civil Rights Movement" were identified. This is only the tip of the iceberg of failed leadership in the African-American community. The prison population has nearly tripled, the high school drop out rate is increasing, college enrollment is declining, the African-American business community is vanishing and the intellectual gulf between African-Americans and the rest of the Free world is wider now than it was in 1965. Yet...this is what African-American leaders call progress.

Worst still, African-American leaders have led their people to the economic slaughterhouses in mass. Billions flow out of African-American communities every year with little or no tangible return. Yet, their leaders have consistently failed to address this issue..why do they keep pressing the social and political agenda..instead of an economic agenda that can resurrect their neighborhoods, communities and improve the lives of their people?

To any casual observer, the socio-economic thrust of the African-American community seems bent on self destruction.. rather than self determination. Why should African-American leaders expect other ethnic groups to do more for their people than they are willing to do for themselves?

The debt to asset ratio of the average African-American worker is near 0% which means... African- Americans communities will suffer the most during federal cutbacks, corporate downsizing or any recession. The "so called" leaders that exist in the African-American business community seem preoccupied with proving to African-Americans that they have arrived.

Such African-American publications like Ebony and Jet seemingly insist on perpetuating these surface images of "so called" African-American progress. Frankly, they need these images to sell ad space to corporate America. There is nothing wrong with this. Glitz and glamour have sold products for years. After all it is the American way. It is precisely these images that every Presidential Administration parades before America that perpetuates the myth of African-American progress. Unfortuantely, this myth keeps African-Americans in a perpetual leadership crisis.

African-Americans do not control a single major financial institution or industry in America, neither has their leadership devised a plan to access the billions America controls. Practically all the "so called" gains their leaders keep pointing to...are short term at best. What else can they be...since African-Americans are not sitting at the industrial and economic table?

Until African-Americans find men of courage and conviction to take the mantle of true leadership and move them...as a group...toward understanding the sciences and applying the LAWS OF ECONOMICS, they will continue to be a colonialized people existing solely...for the purpose of economic exploitation. Where else can you find over 27 million thoroughly conditioned consumers? Where else in the industrialized world can you find over 27 million people satisfied with symbolic wealth and economic crumbs?

Yet every African-American leader of note has failed to address these issues to any meaningful degree. To further complicate matters, Federal, State, and Local governments are showing increasing signs of foot dragging on "Affirmative Action Programs". Since most high profile African-Americans got their positions because of "EE0C Guidelines", further relaxation could devastate the middle class financially.

Foreign investors are gaining increasing power and influence as America's trade and balance of payment deficits worsen. This development along with millions of illegal immigrants could mean EEOC is on the way out or severely curtailed. With all these realities and more staring African-Americans in the face, African-American leaders do not stick their heads in the sand like the Ostrich to hide from danger, they would rather hide between the pages of the King James Bible. African-American churches are bursting at the seams with name-it-and-claim-it Christians.

Many African-American church leaders seem bent on teaching their congregations to replace reason with emotion, true knowledge with mysticism and substitute salvation for science. It seems the direction the African-American leadership has taken their people is to nowhere, toward nothing and away from their true selves and their true destiny as a people. Being "Saved" in African-America denotes inefficiency, backwardness, intellectual stagnation, non-productvity and scientific ignorance. Is this the future Dr. Martin Luther King envisioned for America and his people? Hardly...

Maybe it is time African-Americans distance themselves from their current leaders and uplift themselves, enlightened themselves, discover their true selves and do for themselves without the Jessie Jacksons, Al Sharptons, James Clyburns, Harold Fords and Barack Obamas. Current African-American leaders are seemingly insisting on leading their people toward economic servitude and social deterioration and not toward growth, self development and life.

By: George Sistrunk

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