Tolerance is an American virtue. 

But it is a tough one to maintain. People with unpopular views cry for it, but once their views become ascendant, all of a sudden tolerance isn’t so important. So it seems in the matter of Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov.

This nation was founded on Enlightenment principles, including the idea that a person’s own search for the right way to live should not be dictated by an established church or intrusive government. You couldn’t require another person to live life your way, and he couldn’t tell you to live it his way. All you had to do was, as the old phrase goes, “live and let live.” Leave each other alone. Tolerate disagreement among neighbors.

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That makes life harder, in a way — each person or family has to figure out right and wrong for themselves (or at least choose to whom they’ll listen on the point). That’s more work than being told what to believe, but it is more satisfying and more likely to let us all figure out what is really right and wrong.

For nearly as long as there was such a thing as a “liberal,” tolerance was one of their values. In time, at least in America, it became a value for conservatives, too, since “conservatism” in this country draws on virtues that were called liberal in other places — freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and so on. These freedoms had broad support here and freedom required toleration of other people’s freedoms.

But now that many left-wing ideas see themselves as triumphant, that tolerance is weakening. On their way up, the counterculture of the mid-20th century wanted just to be left alone, to do their own thing without conservatives telling them they’re wrong. Now that counterculture dominates boardrooms, legislatures, faculty lounges, and Hollywood.

The gay rights movement wanted tolerance from those who believed their lifestyle to be sinful or wrong. Increasingly, they have won those battles. Intolerance is not completely vanquished, but people are massively more tolerant than they were even a generation ago. An overwhelming majority of Americans — 93 percent — oppose workplace discrimination against gay people. Gay marriage has the support of 71 percent, and the number is climbing all the time.

You don’t have to agree with Provorov’s religion or his politics, and he doesn’t have to agree with yours. But the Russian immigrant has surely learned the lessons of American tolerance better than the native-born, narrow-minded scolds who are calling for his firing.

Corporate America, as always, has jumped on the bandwagon, and there is no place more corporate in its thinking than the major sports leagues. So when the Flyers proposed a gay pride night with rainbow-infused warmup jerseys, I doubt anyone in the front office batted an eye. But Ivan Provorov did bat an eye, and then some. Citing religious objections, he refused to wear the jersey and did not warm up with the team.

By the next day, people who had never heard of Provorov — or had even ever watched a single Flyers game — had very hard opinions about the man.

“I respect everyone. I respect everybody’s choices. My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion,” Provorov said after the Jan. 17 game. 

Sounds like old-fashioned American tolerance, but you wouldn’t know it from the howls of outrage from the corporate press. Provorov didn’t insult gay people or even say anything about them. He didn’t burn his jersey or defile it. He just declined to endorse his employer’s opinions when they conflicted with his religion. 

To those of us of a certain age, this calls to mind the Seinfeld episode where Kramer participates in an AIDS walk fundraiser but declines to wear the red ribbon associated with the event. The event’s organizers and participants are all outraged and pressure Kramer to conform, eventually beating him in an alley when he refuses.

You see, back in 1995, people who tried to force their viewpoints on others were the bad guys. The left, in those days, valued the idea of tolerance. Kramer was not bothering anyone — he was even marching for a cause they all support. He’s just eccentric, leave him alone!

Some of the same people who laughed at Cedric and Bob (Kramer’s persecutors) are now on their side. One reporter on the NHL network shockingly suggested that if Provorov didn’t endorse his bosses’ political views, he should just go back to Russia. The triumph of the counterculture has rendered it indistinguishable from the traditionalist culture against which it once rebelled.

You don’t have to agree with Provorov’s religion or his politics, and he doesn’t have to agree with yours. But the Russian immigrant has surely learned the lessons of American tolerance better than the native-born, narrow-minded scolds who are calling for his firing.

Live and let live. It’s the American way.

Kyle Sammin is Broad + Liberty’s editor at large.