More Multi-faith Musings

Martin Luther King wrote:

This is the great new problem of mankind. We have inherited a large house, a great ‘world house’ in which we have to live together– black and white, Easterner and Westerner, Gentile and Jew, Catholic and Protestant, Muslim and Hindu– a family unduly separated in ideas, culture and interest, who, because we can never again live apart, must learn somehow to live with each other in peace.

How do I, a committed Christian, work this out?

• Care not Confusion

Many great people don’t share my form of faith. Mother Teresa was a Roman Catholic, Mahatma Gandhi a Hindu, Albert Einstein a Jew. I see good people who aren’t Christians; I see Christians who dishonour their faith.

I don’t have all of the answers, but I take one careful, humble step at a time.

• Compassion not Confrontation

I am God’s creation, made in the image of God. Other God-created humans require respect, dignity and compassion.

Many atrocities have been committed in the name of religion, abusing power, creating enemies and arrogantly promoting selves at the expense of others.

I am made to love God and love my neighbour. This is positive, practical active love. There are no exceptions.

• Cooperation not Competition

God made us to live and work with each other in mutual dependency. In recent weeks we have seen great examples people working together in and for their local communities.

Faith in humanity and Jesus requires more. We redress imbalances, rehabilitate both victims and perpetrators, restore broken relationships, reconcile enemies…

• Commitment not Compromise

I embrace diversity without compromising my own faith.

A bland compromise, characterless religion where everybody is right and nobody is wrong is not the answer.

I respect many good people who choose to follow a different path: I remain wholly committed to Jesus as ‘The Way, the Truth and the Life’.