ONE GOD, MANY RELIGIONS
ROMANS 1.18-20; 2.12-16
SEPTEMBER 16, 2007
WESLEY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Douglas Norris
If there is one God, why are there so many religions? A Minnesota friend and former colleague,
Delton Krueger, has written a very useful book, Portable Guide to World
Religions. Here are statistics:
Christianity,
33% of the world’s population (2.1 billion people)
Islam, 19%
(1.3 billion)
Hindu,
14% (900 million)
Buddhist,
5.8% (376 million)
Judaism,
.022% (14 million)
In the early pages of the Bible, the Hebrews believed in
monolatry, which means many gods. The first commandment is, “You shall have no
other gods before me.” They believed
that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who led them out of Egyptian
slavery was the most powerful of all the gods, and thereby deserving of worship
and loyalty.
Belief in the most powerful God led ultimately to the belief
in monotheism--only one God. The
prophets preached that Israel’s God is the sovereign Lord of the nations. There is one God of the universe. There is
one Creator. All nations and peoples
are subjects of this one God.
Therefore, because there is one God, why are there so many
religions? Have you noticed how people
can have the same experience but give different explanations and
descriptions? Eyewitness accounts of a
traffic accident can leave you wondering if they were all describing the same
accident. Even spouses see things
differently! Factor in cultural,
language, climate and historical differences, it is no wonder that there are
many ways of understanding the divine reality we call God. Human beings in different places have come
up with different solutions to the puzzle of religious experience. Especially understandable are the
differences when we admit that God is far beyond our human comprehension. All our language about God ultimately
fails. We do not have the logical
categories or the mental capability necessary to comprehend all there is to
know about God. Certainly, no one
religion can claim to have an exclusive understanding of God.
Some of you may be thinking about Jesus’ exclusive claim, “I
am the way, the truth and the life. No
one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14.6) Jesus is far bigger than our
understanding. Jesus is far bigger than
our version of Christianity. No one can
put Jesus in a box and say, “Jesus is mine!"
If one worships God under any name, one worships the one
God, for there is but one God. There
are many ways of perceiving God, of experiencing God, of naming God, of
worshiping God, but they all point to the one God. For example, the Golden Rule appears in all the major
religions. Most of the religions teach,
“Don’t do to others what you don’t want done to you,” but Jesus made it proactive, “Do to others as you would have them
do to you.” There are many deeply
spiritual non-Christians. Mahatma
Gandhi was a spiritual giant, and Gandhi was a Hindu.
In the passage from Romans read this morning, Paul wrote
that ever since the creation of the world, God’s eternal power and divine
nature have been understood and experienced through what God has made. People throughout history have similar
consciences, and instinctively know right from wrong.
There are also differences among the religions, and we need
to recognize that development and growth occur in understanding God. Some of the earlier religions practiced
sacrifice—animals, and in some places, humans.
Early in the Bible, human sacrifice was repudiated. Some wonder why God would ask Abraham to
sacrifice his son, Isaac. But, the
point of the incident is that God stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, and
human sacrifice was never part of the Jewish or Christian religions.
How should Christians relate to other religions? The traditional stance of Christians towards
other religions has been adversarial.
Pope Alexander VI told the Spanish and Portuguese to convert natives
and, if they refused to be converted, conquer, enslave, or exterminate them. Pioneers treated the American Indians in the
same way. Protestant missionaries
treated people of other religions as objects to be converted, believing that
Christians are superior, and that God only has room for Christians. A young man I’ve known since he was a child
wrote me. His mother had recently
remarried and was now a Buddhist. The
minister of a large student group at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, told the young
man that his mother was now going to hell.
I wrote back and told him, “Tell that minister to go to hell, and you go
find a church that preaches the love of Jesus!” What arrogance to think Christians have an exclusive claim on
God, sending 2/3 of the world to hell.
An opposite stance is what I call Melt-Down Mush. You’ve probably heard it. “There are many
roads that lead to God. Christianity is
one of the roads. As long as you are
sincere and live a good life, one religion is as good as another.” This stance melts all religions down into
inoffensive mush, with sincerity as the criterion of a true worshiper. But, what about those who are sincerely
wrong? I suspect Hitler was quite
sincere!
Let me suggest an alternative stance to Adversarial and
Melt-Down Mush. I call it the Partner
stance. The global problems that face
humankind—climate change, moral decay, injustice, AIDS, hunger, war, fighting
between religions and fighting within religions —take more than just Christians
to solve. We need each other. Let’s enter into partnership, beginning by
appreciating what the other religions can bring to the table, what they can
teach us, and working together solve some problems. I understand and observe that we have a good relationship with
the Buddhist Church. We borrow items
from each other, and our jazz band is going to play at a dance. Both of our churches are active in
Japantown.
I visited with Dale Merrithew a few days ago. He has been transferred from Good Samaritan
Hospital to a rehabilitation center.
There has been a tremendous improvement in his condition. He was two hours from death when he entered
the hospital. He credits his miraculous
progress, in part, to spiritual experiences, beginning with a visit from Rev.
Motoe. She listened, prayed and then
sang “Amazing Grace.” He said he could
feel angels in the room. He had nurses
who prayed with him, and one of his doctors sat by his bed, held his hand, and
prayed out loud. The doctor! The doctor told Dale that he had a team of
spiritual doctors who were concerned and who prayed, three in particular—a Hindu,
a Muslim and a Christian! Why can’t we
get along with other religions? Why can’t
we appreciate one another? Why can’t we
partner and save human lives? Of
course, there are extremists---violent, fundamentalist radicals, even in
Christianity; but let’s learn how to appreciate and cooperate with other
religions.
Partner—appreciate, cooperate and share. As Christians, we share our faith, not in
judgment, not from a superior to inferior position, but humbly and
respectfully. We go in the name of
Christ to build buildings, heal the sick, feed the hungry, teach the
children. As we minister in Jesus’
name, we tell our story. We tell them
about Jesus. We tell them how we know
God through Jesus, how we have experienced the love of God through Jesus. As partners, we don’t hide our faith. We gladly share, and we gladly listen to
their stories.
A young man here in San Jose told how some
Christians—evangelical Christians—witnessed to him. They told them their stories, shared their faith. Then, when he thought it was his turn to
tell his story and share his faith, they weren’t interested. They left.
The sharing was only one way. To
their credit, however, they did witness.
Unlike too many Methodists, they did tell their stories. When we share, let’s also listen.
One God, many religions.
Let’s partner—appreciate, cooperate and share.