Tolerance Based on What?

Once upon a time "tolerance" was based on truth. Specifically the truth that if I am able to coerce you (by manipulation or force) to adopt my position/belief/faith, I have not truly converted you; I have simply driven your convictions below the surface because of my superior force or intellect or threat of retribution. Conversion by force is no true conversion. This kind of "truth-based tolerance" used to be "the power that kept lovers of competing faiths from killing each other" (Piper). When practiced (and of course it was not always practiced!), such tolerance allowed those with competing truth claims to live peaceably, but also encouraged healthy dialogue regarding those truth claims.

Of course, "once upon a time" seems oh so long ago, for the prevailing sense of tolerance is no longer based on truth, but (I would argue) on "peace." Especially when it comes to matters of religious faith, the prevalent view is that the various faiths do not compete with one another, but rather complement each other. It takes the "truth-based tolerance" beyond the truth that we cannot seek to bring about conversions by force, adding the idea that attempts to convert others should not be practiced, since they are unnecessary because there are no superior truth claims with all being equally valid. This is (supposedly) the path to peace. This is the solution to, "Why can't we all just get along?!"

I am compelled to ask:  How can it not be readily seen that truth claims that are mutually exclusive do not and can not "complement" each other? How is it that all it takes for someone's beliefs to be "true for them" is their level of sincerity of those beliefs (or perhaps how widely held or respected those beliefs are by others)?

Much can be/needs to be/has been written about this, so I will simply - for now! - conclude with this longing for the Church of Jesus Christ. I hope followers of Jesus will quickly see that such "peace-based tolerance" is no tolerance at all, but rather a strategy of our enemy to silence the Church! Peace (or "love," or "unity," etc. - or the world's view of these things) cannot and will not come at the expense of Truth! Truth trumps this kind of peace all the time.

Speak the Truth, friends! But do so in love!