THE END OF TOLERANCE?

Original Contributions from
Jeffrey Abramson, Muhammad Ali, Nigel Barley, Ian Buruma, Liz Coffey, Seamus Dunn, Peter C Goldmark, Robert Kaplan, Hans Küng, Harriet Mandel, Viviane Senna, Bassam Tibi, Wole Soyinka, DJ WestBam and many others

What are the limits to tolerance now?

A distinguished and diverse spectrum of authors have pondered the origins of tolerance and traced them back to the world religions, an African tribal faith, literature, edicts, decrees and constitutions. In their rich and varied essays, they tell us how the principle of tolerance is practised - or not practised, as the case may be - in our daily relations with our peers, in our religions, in our cultures, in the context of our political and economic systems.

They examine the uneasy relationship between diversity and identity; how crucifixes and headscarves are dealt with in our classrooms; what tolerance means on the streets of Armagh, London,New York or São Paulo; how tolerance can be applied in the natural sciences and in the realms of faith.

The writers of these essays have not shied away from defining the limits to tolerance. In the worst case, tolerance borders on blindness, indifference, ignorance. All of these 'negative tolerances' - as well as the tolerance that seeks to deprive others of everything that makes them different - are not in keeping with the times. Can we afford them any longer?

The End of Tolerance was compiled by The Alfred Herrhausen Society for International Dialogue. Set up in 1992 by Deutsche Bank, the Herrhausen Society provides a forum for examining socially relevant issues, identifying the problems and discussing their probable solutions; it commemorates the life and work of Alfred Herrhausen.

The Contributors: Nigel Barley, Director of the Museum of Mankind; Ian Buruma, well-known writer; Liz Coffey, author; Seamus Dunn, Director of the Centre for Conflict Research, University of Ulster; Peter C Goldmark, Chairman and CEO of the International Herald Tribune; Rabbi Robert Kaplan, founder of the New York Center for Community and Coalition Building; Hans Küng, famous Catholic theologian and founder of the Foundation of Global Ethos; Viviane Senna, President of the Ayrton Senna Foundation; Wole Soyinka, Nobel prizewinning author; Bassam Tibi, Professor of International Relations, Gottingen University; DJ WestBam, cofounder of Berlin's Love Parade, producer and writer; and many others...