"Every society must lay out where the limits to toleration lie," or so claimed Maria Jose Villaverde, professor within the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology at the Complutense University of Madrid, at an international conference organized by the Religion and Civil Society project of the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) at the University of Navarra.

For Professor Villaverde, although generally citizens recognize themselves as tolerant, "no society has absolute tolerance" since there are groups that are not accepted, such as the Nazis, fundamentalists or pedophiles. The expert wondered if, for example, spreading extremist ideas in books or marches "when it doesn't harm anyone" can be tolerated and noted, "the degree of tolerance will vary depending on the answer given to this question."

The Complutense professor stressed that there must be consensus among states about what is tolerable so that the rights of individuals are guaranteed regardless of the cultural tradition to which they belong.

As she argued, reaching agreements of this sort is essential for eradicating traditions like female genital mutilation or arranged marriages of young girls, which some societies defend as "cultural rights" but that "remain highly questionable in terms of their acceptance as such," she noted.

As for the religious persecution that still exists in certain countries, such as Christians in Iraq, Egypt and Nigeria, Maria Jose Villaverde stressed that "Western democratic societies cannot allow that. Not only can penalties be enacted on these countries, such economic sanctions; other measures, such as cultural dissemination, should also be implemented."

Enlightenment: intolerance at the origin of toleration

The professor, who gave a lecture at the conference entitled, "The long road to tolerance: Emeric Cruce," referred to the lessons that history offers: "Tolerance levels and issues that are not tolerated have changed over the centuries. For example, originally, in the seventeenth century, tolerance was not thought of from the point of view of equality, but from superiority; it consisted in accepting a set of beliefs that were considered erroneous."

"The very Enlightenment originators of tolerance had intolerant aspects. Even those who wrote texts on tolerance, such as John Locke, did not tolerate Catholics or atheists."

There was even "great intolerance" in the most tolerant country in Europe, the Netherlands, where it was so for a pragmatic reason: to unite the forces of the various divided religious groups in the country to win unity in support of the war with the Spanish crown. This is seen in the fact that thinkers like Hugo Grotius and Baruch Spinoza had trouble with the law for their dissenting views against religion.

Maria Jose Villaverde gave remarks on this matter as a presenter within the ICS International Conference on Religious Toleration in the Age of Enlightenment (1650-1800): Historical Perspectives on Current Debates.

Experts from universities in Bulgaria, Chile, the United States, Spain, Hungary, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom presented topics related to religious peace, religious violence, the formation of tolerant mentality and Islam, among other topics.

The conference focused on two main themes. The first consisted in tracing the many legacies of the Enlightenment present in dominant discourses on religion and freedom. The second consisted in reconsidering existing narrations on the Enlightenment's place in the history of toleration. This approach aims to more critically examine the assumptions that underlie recent debates on religious freedom and contribute to a more rigorous and honest dialogue on this issue.