Recently, in conversation with a friend, he said that when he was talking with people who were serious p-practitioners of other religions, he found it impossible to say to them that as a Christian he was right and they were wrong. I sympathised with him, and I daresay many of my readers would feel the same. So what are we to make of the claim of Jesus, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no-one comes to Father except by Me”?
The problem is made worse when we become aware that there are Buddhists who display a peace of mind that few Christians we know seem to enjoy, and Moslems who seek to obey Allah single heartedly, and Jews whose sense of God’s presence arouses our envy. Every religion has its failures and hypocrites of course, and Christianity is no exception. Some would say it is worse - because it makes such arrogant claims to superiority. But still the apostles did insist that “there is no other Name given under heaven whereby we must be saved...” This issue is becoming increasingly important as followers of other faiths become more numerous among us, bringing with them their distinctive lifestyles and cultures. Most of us do not want to lose the good things of our cultural inheritance, but we certainly don’t want to suppress or stigmatize others. Brits above all value tolerance and polite respect. But these folk won’t go away, so what do we do?
- Be clear about some distinctions - religion, and faith.
- The Christian rule to respect all. We are ‘disciples’ - so learn from all
- The anonymous Christ, analogy of the Spirit in the world. The call to the covenant
- We are all ‘wrong’ nothing is ‘better’ or ‘worse’ ‘One beggar telling another...’
John Peck