If someone stands on a street corner and keeps shouting ‘The Bible says we must kill homosexuals’, should he be stopped? The statement is, after all, true. The Bible does say homosexuals must be put to death (Leviticus 20.13).

This is not an imaginary scenario. In recent years some street preachers have been arrested for inciting violence by preaching that text. They naturally protested that they were only teaching the Bible, and that their own right to practise their religion was being infringed by ‘political correctness’.

Two issues are relevant. First, do all parts of the Bible have authority for Christians? For most Christians the answer is no. The Bible says many different, sometimes contradictory things.

Parts of the Old Testament encourage acts of violent retribution which are clearly opposed to Christ’s law of love. Simply saying ‘The Bible says’ won’t do. We have to consider such texts in the light of Christ.

Secondly, true tolerance cannot mean that all views are acceptable – especially inherently intolerant views which, like a cuckoo in the nest, threaten and ultimately destroy all others. As the philosopher Karl Popper put it:

"Unlimited tolerance leads to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we do not defend the tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them."

So yes, there must be limits to tolerance, including the tolerance of religious intolerance - whether Christian, Muslim or any other.

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