Toleration in an Intolerant Time

John Locke was one of the great minds of the Enlightenment period. Locke was a philosopher who touched on many topics, but potentially the most important topic he dove into, especially for us today,  is that of tolerance. In Locke's day, religious diversity was a divisive factor. Because of the reformation new churches were popping up everywhere and causing divides in the populace. Belief is something that can bring people together when shared, but can tear people apart when beliefs are different. And so it was in this time period, the people were often divided based on belief.

John Locke posed the notion of religious tolerance. His theory on this had three main points, first of which is that mankind doesn't possess the power to know what the true doctrine and true religion is. Second, even if it were possible, you cannot force a belief in anything. And third, forcing a belief in one set of doctrines would cause more discord than letting people follow their own path to Jesus. John wanted to lower the social tensions at the time through tolerance.

This theory is very poignant and was a wonderful thing at that time period. I think it is also vital for us to remember today. If we take religion out of this theory, and just put in beliefs whether political or social, we can apply it to America today. The climate in America has become very divisive because of vastly different views among the parties and people in our country. Locke's theories can help our country immensely. If we could not claim that we have it right and our way is the right way, if we could stop trying to force others to follow our way, if we could just let each other live out life in a way they want, within reason and law, there would be much less contention in our country today.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Locke#Theories_of_religious_tolerance