Intimidated by the New Intolerance
WASHINGTON — Christians should not cower to the "new intolerance," in which certain liberals have used government, social and economic power to bully and censor people who disagree with them, because doing so will only undermine the Church, Mary Eberstadt argued Tuesday for a lecture hosted by First Things.
The new intolerance is unlike previous challenges Christians have faced, she explained, because it's not rooted in a deep philosophical debate, such as debates over theodicy, or the challenges to the Church presented by Pelagianism or Arianism.
The new intolerance "is not an intellectual or philosophical force. In fact, it's hardly about ideas at all. It is instead something very specific, taken from playbooks that nobody should be proud of studying. It's about using intimidation, humiliation, censorship, and self-censorship to punish those who think differently," she said.
