Tolerance and Mutual Respect

gratitude.2 Each of us can help to make life in this world a more pleasant experience.

The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles issued a public statement from which I quote:

"It is morally wrong for any person or group to deny anyone his or her inalienable dignity on the tragic and abhorrent theory of racial or cultural superiority.

"We call upon all people everywhere to recommit themselves to the time-honored ideals of tolerance and mutual respect. We sincerely believe that as we acknowledge one another with consideration and compassion we will discover that we can all peacefully coexist despite our deepest differences."3

Together we may stand intolerant of transgression but tolerant of neighbors with differences they hold sacred. Our beloved brothers and sisters throughout the world are all children of God. He is our Father. His Son, Jesus, is the Christ. His Church has been restored to the earth in these latter days to bless all of God's children.

The Savior taught us that we need not tolerate evil. "Jesus went into the temple of God, … and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers."

Christ Cleansing the Temple, by Carl Heinrich Bloch, used by permission of the National Historic Museum at Frederiksborg in Hillerød, Denmark

Notes

1.

See 2 John 1:5.

2.

See Abraham 4:28.

3.

Statement of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Oct. 18, 1992; as quoted in "Church Exhorts Ethnic, Religious Tolerance," Church News, Oct. 24, 1992, 4.

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