Tolerance gone wild

You may have heard about the controversy surrounding the construction of a pagan worship site on top of the hill behind the Cadet Chapel at the Air Force Academy.
Of course, the stone circle constructed by the civil engineers goes by the more politically correct name of Earth-Centered Worship. The superintendent, Lieutenant General Michael C. Gould, defends the decision as supporting religious rights outlined in the U.S. Constitution.

The general is mistaken.  The portion of the First Amendment of the Constitution regarding freedom of religion states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

Which phrase supports the erection of the stone circle?  Establishment of religion means exactly that: establishing a religion or a denomination of a religion as the official state religion like Islam in Iran or the Church of England in the United Kingdom.  Building someone their own worship circle does not “establish” religion; it does lend government support to that religion—in effect, legitimizing it.  That has been ruled unconstitutional and so this act the general claims is constitutional may well be the exact opposite.

The second phrase is clear enough.  If the Academy had not erected this special worship place, would they have been prohibiting the free exercise of religion?  Since 1970, when mandatory chapel attendance was ruled unconstitutional, cadets have been free to worship or not as they choose.

I’m afraid the general is on the wrong side of the Constitution.  But it does not matter:  the issue is really all about a misplaced sense of toleration. It’s not really about the Constitution at all.

According to Lt Gen Gould, it’s about toleration of and respect for all beliefs. Cadets are taught that to be a leader of integrity they must have complete toleration for all beliefs.  To act otherwise would not be fair.  In other words—ironically—in order to lead they must give up their own beliefs and impartially support all belief systems.

That’s asking too much.  It is a position that is the result of fuzzy thinking and a lack of historical knowledge.  Edmund Burke wrote regarding the leaders of Revolutionary France:

We hear these new teachers continually boasting of their spirit of toleration. That those persons should tolerate all opinions, who think none to be of estimation, is a matter of small merit.

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the revolution in France, 1790

A proper spirit of toleration may allow us to tolerate activities and beliefs we don’t approve of, but we still have a right to our opinions about those beliefs.  We should not be forced to approve or support those beliefs, as the general and the Academy seem to think.

This misplaced spirit of toleration is indeed toleration gone wild.  As classmate Robert Marsh wrote to me:

There’s a battle for ideas, and those without intellectual rigor are winning.  I don’t care that this silly circle exists, but let’s use it as a springboard to emphasize how important the big ideas really are – those ideas that form the foundation of the constitutional republic we all enjoy.  The foundational belief behind western culture is a belief in the primacy of reason over authority and superstition.  The religions behind the circle, at their core, do not really celebrate reason.

By building a stone circle the Academy is not merely acceding to the demands if a fringe group; they are not just being tolerant.  They are actively approving and promoting pagan worship.

This article originally appeared at reclaimtheblue.us and is automatically syndicated here with permission.

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