A corollary of postmodernism, which is the most rigorous philosophical expression of absolute relativism ever put forward in the modern world, is tolerance. This has now become an absolute cultural value. It underpins the swirling mess of pottage we call "political correctness"--that is, officially demanded tolerance. But it pays to keep in mind the philosophical foundation of militant tolerance and political correctness is post-modernism.
We have seen this noxious plant flower everywhere in the West. One fruit has been the turning of a blind eye by officials, bureaucrats and police to gangs of Pakistani immigrant men serially raping young girls in the UK. The officials "heard no evil, saw no evil, and spoke no evil" because they did not want to be charged with racism or cultural intolerance towards Islamic, Pakistani men. In US campuses one form it has taken is to raise the siren cry to "check one's privilege" by which is meant the privileged position of being white is a de facto assault upon accepting (tolerating) non-white cultures and backgrounds. Being white is to be guilty of suppressing other, equally valid cultures, practices and beliefs. Back down. Back off. Shut up. Let others assume their honoured, rightful place. And so on . . .
One common feature of the postmodern "form" of tolerance is that it ends up endorsing and tolerating particular forms of oppression and intolerance.
Take, for example, the rabid intolerance shown by the politically correct against the Christian religion. Vern Poythress explains why postmodernism ends up being militantly intolerant when it comes to Jesus Christ and His Kingdom.
Postmodernism might say that traditional religions have a place. According to its viewpoint, they are one colorful aspect of culture. We learn to "tolerate' them by seeing them as expressing the commitments and customs belonging to the own particular culture. This kind of approach provides a place for religion. But it forbids religion from "getting out of hand" by making a universal or intolerant claim that would apply to other cultures. Religions are thereby tamed. [Vern Poythress, In the Beginning Was the Word (Wheaton: Crossway, 2009) p. 144. Emphasis, author's.]This explains the West's ambivalence towards Islam. On the one hand, it remains remarkably tolerant and indulgent towards entrenched Islamic "cultural" practices--such as child brides, honour killings, female genital mutilation, martyrdom, female degradation, and so forth. "It's just what these people have always done. They are commitments and practices belonging to a particular ancient culture, which must be respected and accepted on its own terms." But when Islam militantly insists upon these "values" for everyone, the lion is no longer tamed. Suddenly Islam becomes an evil--but only because of the energy attending its claims, not the cultural values themselves, you understand.
Postmodern indulgence towards all religions is itself undergirded by an absolute claim--namely, that religions are merely culturally ingrained beliefs and practices, without metaphysical reality of any sort. Religious beliefs and practices amount to nothing more than sending birthday cards to a loved one--just something that is done because of cultural conditioning.
But [religions] can be tamed only by a strong claim, namely that religions are merely cultural preferences, since no one can know religious truth. That claim is itself a kind of religious claim, since it claims to see deeper than the adherents to any one religion. It is a godlike claim to godlike insight. [Ibid.]It is at just this point that the intolerance and oppression of Western "tolerance" comes into the frame. A "politically correct" newspaper rails against Christianity, implacably opposing a Bible study group using state school buildings. It is thereby acting like a demi-god, with godlike claims and insights. It is a false, competing religion.
So the postmodernist recipe for cultural peace is a counterfeit for the peace and reconciliation offered in the Christian gospel. Both postmodernism and Christian faith want to promote reconciliation among diverse cultures. One, the Christian form, finds reconciliation through the work of God in Christ and the spiritual power to love and to crucify pride. The other, the postmodern form, finds reconciliation in a self-achieved godlike vision of the nature of religion and language and knowledge. [Ibid]When the local pollies or members of the Chattering Class, or the secular elites move, not just to tolerate, but enforce diversity by oppressing some, they have become the Knights Templar of postmodernism. Their intolerance, their persecution, and their oppression are real. As are their godlike nature of the claims. As is their underlying religion of postmodernism. All real enough, but thoroughly bogus, nonetheless.
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