A Call for Tolerance
And what of the world’s other religions? How do we see those around us who are committed to Buddhism, Islam, and Hinduism? It is good for us to ensure frequently that, indwelt by Christ, we are looking at the world and its various peoples his love as our eye. Many cannot fail to see blasphemy, deception, and even spiritual blindness in so many followers of other faiths. Yet we must allow Christ’s love, in the form of his holy spirit, to permeate our judgements. Instead of mounting disapproval and flurries of angry judgments, we should feel Christ’s presence softening our attitude towards them. All men and women, including each and every Christian, is inherently sinful-such is the state of fallen mankind. Who are we then to be judges of what is sinful? We would be hypocrites because we are sinners ourselves. Indeed, by our very words of rebuke we would be sinning for it is blasphemous to assume a right which is God’s alone and only the Lord can judge. It is because God is all loving and forgiving that he does not exercise the right. We can stop our flow of worthless condemnations and cheap judgements and by remembering this thought. The challenge of a Christian life is to act towards others in ways that are similar to the way God has acted towards us. As we receive mercy form him, so we should give mercy to others; we are forgiven instead of judged so we should not judge, but rather forgive. Seen in this light to judge others is to reject the forgiveness and love of God and so our judgements on others can only bring judgements upon ourselves. Hence Matthew 7:1–2, “Do not judge; or you too will judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
If we are not to judge followers of other faiths, how, then, are we to respond to them? In Luke’s gospel Jesus is reported saying that to inherit eternal life each person must obey what has become the two great commandments, “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind”, and “love your neighbour as yourself”. To love our neighbours as ourselves requires us to give them equal value and equal rights, to do nothing to them which we would not want done to ourselves, and to do to them only those deeds which we would like done to us. Our neighbours are not the various individuals to whom we choose to be neighbourly. God sends us our neighbours-they are just the people we find ourselves next to at the moment, the people with whom business has brought us into contact.
People of different faiths are our neighbours. They are, as George Appleton has said, “our spiritual neighbours in the journey of life and in the search for spiritual dimensions and values.” Christian missions, communication, and the development of travel and trade has brought them to our countries and so they are now physical as well as spiritual neighbours. We therefore have to apply the second great commandment to our relationship with them. This requires us to begin with analyzing our own psychological attitudes. We must accept our neighbours for what they are. In essence, we must let them be themselves. To impose our opinions on them is not an act of neighbourliness, instead we should try to understand and accept them.
It could be argued that this ethical application of the second commandment contradicts the first. In Exodus 20:3–5 when God is giving Moses the commandments to give to the people. We read, “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…” This has been the foundation of criticisms of Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and the followers of other world religions; who are seen to worship different and therefore false gods.
Yet is this really the case? Is it not closer to the truth to say that they do not worship different gods, but that they worship the same god in different ways? At the heart of all religions, whether found in Buddhist enlightenments, Hindu worship, or Christian and Muslim dedication, lies a common morality. The essence of the Christian character outlined in the “fruits of the spirit”, is remarkably similar to the Buddhist and Muslim notions of good character found in the “ten perfections”, and the Koran. We worship our god as the all powerful source of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.” If the humble Hindu on the Ganges and the pilgrim Muslim travelling to Mecca does too, how can we say that our god is not our god? Their gods have the same characteristics as ours does. Their gods are the embodiment and the source of all goodness and virtue and so is ours.
They pray in much the same way as we do and the very fact that they do pray shows that they share with their Christian brothers and sisters a desire to humble the self, a craving for grace and forgiveness and the recognition of God as all powerful. Their religion like ours forbids murder, stealing, sexual immorality, lying, greed, and injustice. The world’s religions have a great deal in common and much to share. Their intolerance prevents this unity. Claims that Christian beliefs require intolerance of other faiths are unfounded. Christians believe God is the creator. Therefore we must surely think of him as wanting to make an impact on all men and women he has created through their history, their experience, and their lives. Christians believe that God is the source of all truth, goodness, and love, so when we see signs of these things in the Hindus and Muslims, we must surely believe that he is active there. Those people who believe tat he is only active in Christians must ask themselves some very important questions concerning those of other faiths: What has he been doing in them all these centuries? Is God absent from them? Can God not be recognized at work in their laughter, in their love, in the coming to terms with their suffering, and in their prayers? Do their little acts of compassion and forgiveness keep them from God?
When considering the “other faiths” issue a distraction between religion and the faith should be made. Faith is the inner trust in God, a spiritual understanding comes from within. It is the feelings we have for our Lord, our relationship, and so many devoted followers experience great ecstasy because of it. Mother Teresa once said, “I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts then there is no hurt, but only more love.” This state of rapture can only be brought about by a faith and one which wears well, holds its colours in all weathers, and is woven by experience. For faith is built through life experience and is therefore just like personality and character, being distinctive and unique to each individual. A particular religion presents to us a way of expressing our faith and channelling our energies into worship of God.
Every devoted Christian quite rightly hold their faith as the most beautiful and important part of their lives. We are in no position, however, to say that the followers of other religions have a faith any less beautiful than our own. To do so would be to guard our faith suspiciously, with jealousy and intolerance. Quite clearly the devoted Muslim’s faith is as important to him/her as ours is to us. For this reason, and because we know and have experienced how precious a faith is, how we destroy someone else’s faith simply because it finds expression in a different religion?
The answer to this question, many would suggest, can be found in the various biblical verses which have been interpreted to mean that other faiths are false. I do not believe that the Bible should be used as a weapon and it should not have its verses quoted randomly and given meanings which were clearly not intended when originally spoken or written. John 14:6 is particularly used to justify an onslaught on other faiths. Jesus is reported as saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” Although at first this seems to suggest that the followers of Christ alone will find eternal life, consideration of the nature of Jesus shows that this cannot be the case. In the form of the Holy Spirit, Jesus touches and dwells in all who sacrifice themselves to God, thereby giving them eternal life.
Yet is Jesus and his holy spirit confined to just Christianity? I think not. As parts of the godhead they are the source of all love, goodness, and virtue. When we see a Muslim or Buddhist we these things we know Christ dwells in them in the form of the holy spirit. In every person we meet in whom we see something to love we are see something of Christ. For what we recognize as Christ-like in them is the Holy Spirit in them and the power to recognize it is the Holy Spirit in ourselves. God is love and his spirit is the power to love and attract love. The life of the Hindu Gandhi shows that men — and women — of other faiths can conduct themselves just as Christian-like as Christians. Gandhi himself said, “Jesus Christ and everything he stands for crosses the borders of all religions. He belongs not just to Christianity, but to the entire world, to all races and to all people.” It is no coincidence that the teachings, morality, and character ideal in each of the world’s main religions are very similar.
It is proof enough when we consider the world with all the different religions that there is no one way of worship, and no one way of understanding God. Even within Christianity there are different denominations which, even with the Bible as their common source, have different beliefs. We are wasting time debating and criticizing personal beliefs. This is time which we should use in trying to change ourselves, rather than others. Mother Teresa once said, “to keep a lamp burning we have to keep putting oil into it.” Is your oil being poured onto the flame that burns within you or is it being used to fuel the fire for the burning of “heretics and infidel?”