I don’t use the word tolerant anymore, because tolerating sounds to me like putting up with something unpleasant. I tolerate my medicine well. I tolerate the loud noise from my neighbors apartment if he only plays the loud music between 9:00 and 9:00. I don’t tolerate people who are different than me, I just see them as having differing views, and that’s just fine for the most part.
I grew up with my parents sometimes differing on their political views, so it’s normal to me that people sometimes disagree.
One of the biggest things that gave me better understanding of right wing conservatives was living in the Bible Belt. Most of my college friends are Republicans (I went to school in Michigan) but not what I consider right wing. They don’t just follow the party on every topic.
Fluther has answered a lot of my questions about Christianity, which I really appreciate. I feel like I better understand their beliefs, and the variety within the religion. I think Christianity and politics are very tied together among many Christians. I don’t feel like I “tolerate” Christians more, I’ve always been friends with Christians, my husband was raised Catholic. Although, the Catholics tend to remember better we have a diverse country, and the population is constantly changing in it’s diversity. I theorize it’s partly because a lot of Catholics are newer immigrants than the Protestants, and live in more diverse areas for more generations.