The Tolerance Pledge and the We Are Family Foundation

Here is the tolerance pledge at the We Are Family Foundation:

Tolerance is a personal decision that comes from a belief that every person is a treasure. I believe that America's diversity is its strength. I also recognize that ignorance, insensitivity and bigotry can turn that diversity into a source of prejudice and discrimination.
To help keep diversity a wellspring of strength and make America a better place for all, I pledge to have respect for people whose abilities, beliefs, culture, race, sexual identity or other characteristics are different from my own.

Comments

[JoeG]

Sounds pretty darn tolerant to me...some might even say biblical! I would love to hear from anyone who can tell us what exactly is wrong with this pledge, and how it actually promotes acceptance of homosexuality (as opposed to tolerance of homosexuals as people...a vast difference as I pointed out in the other thread on Spongebob).

To top it off, the conservative right is also lashing out at "No Name-Calling Week", calling it "less an exercise in tolerance than a platform for liberal groups to promote their pan-sexual agenda". Are you kidding me?? Look, I get that the concept came from "Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network". The initiative is aimed at name calling and bullying of all kinds. However, the fact remains that gay children are the ones who bear the brunt of the name calling, and calling someone "gay" or "faggot" remains the most common put-down. So I believe that justifies the tilt. But how anyone can object to such an initiative, regardless of the source, is beyond me. It's a basic Christian tenet, touted by Christ throughout the gospels. It is the ultimate irony that christian groups are the ones objecting to this and the We Are Family pledge the loudest.
I said it before, I'll say it again. If Jesus could break bread with lepers and prostitutes, no Christian can deny he would do the same with a homosexual were he on earth today. To do otherwise would be to deny Christ. "Whatsoever you do to the least of my brethren...."

[dlw]

I like the Social Gospel today's take that liberals fall short in using tolerance when they really mean ecumenicism.

dlw

[dlw]

I wrote my own commentary on their post here.

dlw

[Carlos]

In response to this tolerance pledge, someone wrote:

++++++But, the tolerance pledge is obviously (almost humorously) laden with the
hidden agenda of promoting the acceptance of EVERYTHING (men marrying men;
women marrying their dogs, cousins marrying and birthing babies at age 14,
etc.). So no, I would not sign it, because it's too vague and leaves too
much room to have to tolerate ANYTHING.

Why doesn't someone write a pledge that says, "I promise to tolerate
everything except intolerance." That's really where our culture is now.+++++++++++++++

[The Atheist]

If a person is really dumb enough to want to marry their dog, I say, let them. I don't understand how people can seriously think that what gay mariage advocates really want is for people to be able to group-marry an entire petting zoo of like-gendered animals, possibly post mortem and whilst on fire. It's interesting to me that all the "pure souls" who speak out against tolerance have such extensive knowledge of things that only happen on farmsex.com.

[JoeG]

Hehe ... that's a great point Atheist, I've noticed that myself quite often. It seems that the only ones reading anything sexual into other seemingly innocuous (sp?) pledges, actions, etc. are the Christian conservatives. Maybe too much sex on the brain since they're only supposed to have sex when they are trying to procreate...a rule I'm sure each and every one of them adhere to religiously (pun intended).

[dlw]

I still think the cause of the heat is the mixed associations made with the word "tolerance".

dlw

[RZebro]

The issue is not so much the pledge itself but all the other content that was on the We Are Family Foundations website.

On the website is the Teachers lesson plans. Here are some of the topics:

Section 1.1 - Help students examine assumptions about the "natural order" in gender relationships.
- Write the first sentence in a description of the term "lesbian"
Section 1.2 - Specify the characteristics that learners think define a person as homosexual.
Section 1.3 - Explore the frequency with which students engage in behaviours that challenge or perpetuate "-isms"
Section 1.4 - Talking About Being "Out"
Section 1.5 - Uncovering Attitudes About Sexual Orientation
- Introduce the concepts of homophobia and compulsory heterosexuality

This is a web site for parents, teachers and kids. So kids can learn to "reject the idea that women are 'naturally' or innately drawn sexually and emotionally toward men, and men toward women" or "heterosexuality leads to the notion of women as inherently 'weak' and the institutionalized inequality of power." This is We Are Family.

It goes on and on.

What I found worse is that the WaFF website provides links to tolerance.org and alternet.org - even the "kids" section. There you can find tons of pro-homosexual material along with articles such as:

You Sexy Animal, You - Bestiality is back, and its hotter than ever, now that famed bioethicist Peter Singer has taken up "the love that dare not bark its name."

The World's Weirdest Sex Machines - What do you get when you cross a bicycle rim, three pairs of used women's shoes, and a metal chain gear? Why, the best masturbation device available in 1920s Germany, of course. Such curious inventions dot the landscape of the little-known history of sexual machinery.

Of course, since the controversy erupted, they removed all the questionable content. You can still find some of it doing a Google search and then reading the "cached" copy that Google keeps. For example, use this search:

site:www.wearefamilyfoundation.org "section i"

The "We Are Family Foundation" (WAFF) is set to distribute a video and lesson plans to all 61,000 grade schools across the country. SpongeBob, Barney and over 100 other character "have united to re-record the smash hit "We Are Family" in an unprecedented music video to promote tolerance and diversity to America's children." This video will also be broadcast on PBS, Nicolodean, Disney and other networks.