It Is Now No More That Toleration Is Spoken Of, President George Washington Wrote To The Hebrew Congregation Of Newport, Rhode Island, In 1790, As If It Was By The Indulgence Of One Class Of People, That Another Enjoyed The Exercise Of Their Inherent Natural Rights. Despite Washington's Confident Assertion That The Young Nation Had Moved Beyond Toleration, However - To Say Nothing Of The Countless Americans Who, Even As He Wrote, Had Yet To Enjoy The Exercise Of Their Inherent Natural Rights - Toleration Is Still Spoken Of. Celebrated By Some, Excoriated By Others; Praised As A Noble Aspiration In Some Settings, Lamented As A Half-hearted Half-measure In Others, Toleration Continues To Evoke Roughly Equal Parts Admiration And Condemnation In A Polarized World Riven By Religious Discord And Cultural Conflict. Depending On One's Perspective, It Represents A Cardinal Achievement Of Modern Political Regimes, A Grudging And Insufficient Measure Of Civil Respect, Or A Set Of Practices Hopelessly Tainted By Their Association With Imperialism, Colonialism, And Eurocentrism. Or, Perhaps, A Bit Of All Three-- Provided By Publisher.