Tolerance of Difference Is a British Virtue

Queen Elizabeth made tolerance of difference a British virtue. Charles II tried to impose one set of rituals and practices on Britain. The Church of England expelled two thousand priests in what became known as the Great Ejection, because they wouldn't sign up to orthodoxy. By the end of the 19th century worshippers could choose from dozens of groups whose main role was to stick two fingers up to the official state church. Some people think that the way to eliminate inequality is to pretend that human differences don't exist. For example, it's now fashionable to say that race is a social construct and that we're all the same under the skin. To families like mine that carry the sickle cell gene,