Lady Gaga once said, “I think tolerance and acceptance and love is something that feeds every community.” A civilization’s success is shaped by their tolerance of other religions and lifestyles, as stated by Lady Gaga and proved by global history. Defined as letting different peoples continue to practice their religion and cultures, tolerance has occurred throughout both ancient and modern countries. On the other hand, intolerance is the disallowance of certain practices, which deteriorates civilizations and causes people to rebel. From the Mongolian Empire to Christian civilizations, tolerance usually occurs between a civilization’s leader and the civilians, as does intolerance shown in modern Iran. Allowing people to feel welcomed and accepted …show more content…
The Christians supported the Islamic religion, shown through the Pact of Umar, which was an agreement made between the Muslims and Christians of Syria after Muslims conquered much of the Middle East. Through the Pact of Umar, the Christians stated that they “will not strike any Muslim,” “will honor the Muslims and rise up in [their] assemblies when they wish to take their seats,” and “will not refuse the Muslims entry into [their] churches” (Document 3). Like the Mongols, the Christians greatly benefitted the Muslim conquerors, since they were accepting and tolerating the Islamic religion. Without this tolerance, war may have been fought and bring much havoc to the people of the Middle East, due to two different religions clashing and disagreeing. However, because of the tolerance shown in the Christians, Christianity and Islam coexisted and both thrived as religions. On the other hand, the Christians do state that if the Muslims don’t protect them in return, then the Christians “forfeit [Muslim] protection and [Muslims] are at liberty to treat [Christians] as enemies and rebels” (Document 3). Through stating this, the Christians prove that intolerance leads to devastation of a civilization. If a civilization was to oppose another’s religion, conflict and rebellion may wreak and the peoples would be negatively affected. Hence, tolerance is necessary for a civilization to succeed, since it allows people to live peacefully. Also shown by the Christians, tolerance creates peace in many civilizations and greatly benefits many