“All faiths are a gift of God, but partake of human imperfection, as they pass through the medium of humanity. God-given religion is beyond all speech. Imperfect men put it into such language as they can command, and their words are interpreted by other men equally imperfect. Whose interpretation must be held to be the right one ? Every one is right from his own standpoint, but it is not impossible that every one is wrong. Hence the necessity for tolerance, which does not mean indifference towards one's own faith, but a more intelligent and purer love for it. Tolerance gives us spiritual insight, which is as far from fanaticism as the north pole is from the south. True knowledge of religion breaks down the barriers between faith and faith and gives rise to tolerance. Cultivation of tolerance for other faiths will impart to us a truer understanding of our own.”
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Source: Young India (Bulletin), 2 October 1930, p. 2; also in My God (1962), ch. 13.
About this quote
Every account of the sacred passes through fallible human hands, which is reason for humility rather than certainty. Taking other beliefs seriously doesn't weaken your own; wrestling with them tends to sharpen it. The tolerance meant here is active study, the opposite of a shrugging indifference.
When to use it
- A reader studies a rival political viewpoint closely and finds their own position clearer for it.
- A household of mixed beliefs shares meals and holidays without anyone pretending to convert.
- In a debate, each side opens by naming where it might be wrong.

