Making sense of religious tolerance<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
 
Do all religions lead to God? The answer should be obvious. Yet when the subject of religion comes up, I am both surprised and alarmed by the number of people who think all religions are basically the same. Many people actually believe that the religions of the world are simply different paths to the same God. People even say that the various names for deity are just different titles for this God.
 
Are <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Krishna, Mohammed, and Jesus really identical? Can we equate the Buddha, Allah, and Jehovah? No! Nothing could be further from the truth! To suggest that all religions and the deities they claim are the same is naïve and misleading. It is true that different religions will have overlapping ideas, but to think that Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, and Christians share the same major beliefs is simply wrong.
 
When facing religiously inspired terrorism, it is tempting to downplay differences in religious perspectives. Such an effort, however, could result in a trivializing of serious matters. Respect for the diverse religions of society is important. Insistence that all religions representing this diversity be treated as equally true is dangerous. Yet this is the direction we are headed.
 
Consider how quickly people will condemn a person who claims that Jesus Christ is the only way to eternal life. Announce this belief  and you'll be considered an arrogant religious bigot. It doesn't matter if you're basing your conclusions on defensible facts because you've violated the absolute social creed declaring (ironically) that there are no absolute creeds. Even Jesus, who said, "no one comes to the Father but through me" (John 14:6), would be rejected today.
 
Perhaps people fear that allowing any group to claim the truth and try to convert others could lead to religious imperialism and jihad. But is the alternative to be found in a type of tolerance which does not allow rational debate? Why isn't it possible to maintain each other's freedom to follow, express, and defend our beliefs without considering each belief system equally true? Isn't it possible to tolerate (as we should) two opposing religious opinions without viewing both as correct?
 
We may like to believe we are showing respect for our fellow humans by telling them that their religion is as true as anyone else's, but this is cruel if we are wrong. It could be compared to telling a blind man standing on the edge of a cliff that any way he walks will be equally safe. Why did Jesus speak of a narrow gate that leads to life and a broad road leading to destruction?
 
Are all religions the same? Does toleration of all religions demand that each be
considered equally true? Is it arrogant for one religion to proclaim itself true and others false? The words of Bishop Leslie Newbigin summarize well the Christian concern. "If, in fact, it is true that Almighty God, creator and sustainer of all that exists in heaven and on earth, has at a known time and place in human history so humbled himself as to become part of our sinful humanity, and to suffer and die a shameful death to take away our sin, and to rise from the dead as the first fruit of a new creation, if this is a fact, then to affirm it is not arrogance. To remain quiet about it is treason to our fellow human beings. If it is really true, as it is, that 'the Son of God loved me and gave himself up for me', how can I agree that this amazing act of matchless grace should merely become part of a syllabus for the 'comparative study of religions'?"
 
 
Steve Cornell,
Senior Pastor
Millersville Bible Church