"Absolutism in any field can be frightening, and never more so than religious absolutism. There is a critical difference between Christian absolutism and Christian certainty. Absolutism claims that an assertion is absolutely true. Absolute truth leaves no room for doubt or dissent; you disagree at peril of suffering at the hands of true believers.
Religious absolutists have been found in every tradition, even Buddhism has experienced the same kind of violent adherents that Islam now suffers from, and so has Christianity.
But Christian certainty is different. Christian certainty makes room for doubt or dissent, if for no other reason than we have Thomas’ example in John 20.
The Christian call is not to claim an absolute truth. To say one knows an absolute truth is an astonishingly arrogant claim. It says much more about what one thinks about oneself than what one knows about truth. Can any of us really claim, 'I and I alone know what is true. The rest of you are in darkness'? Surely not!"
-Donald Sensing