Twenty years ago, if you were to ask the question "what is the greatest barrier to world peace?" the response would have been a resounding - "Political Idealism." In other words - communism vs. democracy/capitalism - this conflict was the most eminent threat to world peace, and to human life in general!
Today, if you ask the same question, most people will respond with "religion." They may not immediately boil it down to that; they may talk about terrorism, radical fundamentalism, middle eastern land conflict, or even (in America) social concerns (ecology, abortion.) But, at the heart all of these major national and world conflicts lies religion and beyond religion an exclusive claim to absolute truth. Every major religious organization and philosophical system has one (or two, or three, or four).
The problem with absolute truth claims is that they can create a spiral slide into some pretty bad places. If you accept a truth claim then you must reject all others. The statement goes: "My truth is the only and supreme truth, therefore your truth is inaccurate, inferior, or just plain wrong." This sets you up for feeling superior to other religions or belief systems. Superiority leads to a separation from community with other faiths. Separation leads to lack of knowledge (we cease to know them), and lack of knowledge leads to stereotypes and dehumanization. Once you have been able to see them as "enemies," "fundamentalists," or "dangerous" it is an easy step toward violence - whether passive or active.
But if this is true, how should we Christians live? We are not silly people who want the wars and terror attacks to continue. We really do "just want everyone to get along!" But, how can we all "just get along" as long as the major world religions continue to assert their own spiritual superiority to the exclusion of others?
At this point, many of you are saying, "wait a minute here - is he going to pull one of those inclusive, unitarian, 'I'm ok -your ok' arguments? Be at ease my friend!
I face the same problem that every Christ follower in our world today faces. Absolute truth claims which exclude people from salvation/heaven are the main cause of violence and injustice in our world- and yet I desperately believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation/heaven.
What do I do with this? How do I hold true to my beliefs without contributing to the problem?
I believe that there is a way, but I'm not going to post it here. Rather, I'd like to leave the problem as a topic for discussion.
What do you think?
It is against the World’s interests to have religious exclusivity supersede its own, so it tries to negate religion’s influence by;
ReplyDelete1. Actively seeking to weaken religion.
2. Requires religion to be practiced privately.
This is Rome all over again. Worship your gods, but you must bend the knee to the Emperor (in the name of “peace”).
I recall reading an islamophobic email noting that the Muslims won’t assimilate into the greater American body. I don’t know which is worse; that the Muslims won’t assimilate or that the Christians already did?
This leads to my next point, which is that the examples you gave for the state actively seeks to weaken religion all were based on active steps to eradicate religion. There are multiple strategies out there – what is working in America is our affluence: “I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. (Revelation 3:17).”
Food for thought….
There is a way that is radical and dangerous to religious authorities as Jesus was himself in his day. It is to love God with all your heart, mind soul and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself as Jesus said. Religion that is man made has the tell tale sign of laying burdens upon people that they cannot bear creating all manner of negative reactions. Jesus said come to me all you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest
ReplyDeleteMike - I agree in a sense we do have "Rome all over again" - without having a specific location to focus our kneeling (ie. no Emperor,) only a concept - Peace. If you read Revelation without an eye for when and where things will happen (ie "Left Behind") you will see that God's end goal is the restoration and Peace of all things!
ReplyDeleteWhat gets in the way of that is our own personal power, gain, superiority - (we are the emperor to who we bow).
It's interesting (thanks for your post Jeff) that the teachings of Jesus (supposedly thus also Christianity) always turn us toward others, seeing others better than our selves, serving others, loving our neighbor - without condition of their belief first. Yet the world is in just as bad of shape, and no closer to peace, than it was when no Christians existed.
Seems to me that the Church has spent far too much time wandering away from the core, radical teachings of Jesus. It's time to get back to them!