What about other religions?
How do you hold together a sincere respect for other beliefs and what Christianity claims about Jesus?
A legitimate objection
Billions of people live by a faith other than the Christian one. Many with an integrity that commands respect. Claiming to be right against them can look arrogant — and sometimes it has been, with terrible consequences in history.
The question deserves to be taken seriously, not sidestepped.
What Christianity does not say
It does not say that other religions contain nothing true. The Bible acknowledges that God has left himself without witness nowhere (Acts 14:17) and that his reality is perceptible in the created world (Romans 1:20). Paul, in Athens, begins by quoting the Greek poets approvingly (Acts 17:28).
Nor does it say that Christians are better. The New Testament is hardest on religious people, and Jesus gives the hero’s part to a Samaritan — the resident heretic as far as his listeners were concerned (Luke 10:25-37).
What it does claim
That Jesus is not one teaching among others, but a person who comes looking for us. Where almost every religion describes a climb from the human towards God, Christianity describes a descent: God coming, in Jesus, all the way down to us.
Hence the sentence that is hardest for our age in the whole New Testament: “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
The mountain image, and its limit
People often say that all religions are paths climbing the same mountain. That is generous, but it does not survive examination: these paths do not describe the same summit. Is God personal or impersonal? Is there one life, or many? Did Jesus die on the cross — Christianity says yes, Islam says no? These answers cannot all be true at the same time.
Saying they all say the same thing actually means taking none of them seriously. Respect begins by admitting the real disagreement.
How to live together
A firm conviction requires no contempt. Jesus demanded of his followers that they love even their enemies (Matthew 5:44) — a far heavier demand than mere tolerance.
Concretely, in the Maritimes as anywhere:
- Listen before speaking, and listen to understand, not to prepare your reply.
- Recognize what is beautiful and true in the other person.
- Never confuse persuading someone with pressuring them.
- Own, without hedging, the wrongs done by Christians in the name of the faith.
And those who have never heard?
The Bible gives no detailed answer. It affirms two things: that salvation comes through Christ, and that the judge of all the earth will do what is right (Genesis 18:25). Honest Christians stop there.
If the subject interests you, write to us. It is the kind of conversation better had between two people than by reading a page.
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