There was a day when I would have felt adversarial to the notion of coming to the table with people of other faiths. In my youthful zeal I would have approached such an encounter as an opportunity to magically present a Christian witness that would cause them to see Jesus in a new light and be converted.
Or, if I believed that I would be outnumbered and outsmarted I would imagine that I needed to learn more to defeat their arguments against my faith.
Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Wiccans, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Unitarians were all frighteningly mysterious to me and frankly… I did not know people of other faiths.
In my college years I briefly knew a Mormon named Paul, but he was not practicing his faith. So, basically I mostly knew people that were just like me.
From the lofty tower of ignorance and separation I lacked trust and respect for people who believed in another god. I think I was afraid that a deliberate involvement with others would somehow compromise my faith. I wanted to be true to God and avoid syncretism of any kind.
But then I was hired as a chaplain.
In approaching ministry to a diversity of belief and non-belief, I have learned to listen more, judge less and rest securely in my faith. Is it possible that my recognition as a follower of Jesus might be greater by learning to listen and be kind to people with whom I have less in common with?
Some of the flowery rhetoric around multi-faith would suggest that all religions are basically paths to the same god and we should agree that everyone is right in their own way. Let’s put all the religions in a giant blender and make a spirit-smoothie! (Yuck!). It reminds me of the time I tried to be creative at the stove and put pickles in a casserole. Some things do not belong together. They may both serve purposes and be appealing on their own, but don’t put gravy on your ice-cream.
The mature view in multi-faith relationships tends to focus not on syncretism (blending of religious ideas) but on having a respectful understanding of differences. I do not have to become a pagan to have understanding and cooperate with pagans around just causes. We can both agree that picking up litter in a park is a good thing. Or feeding the hungry… or advocating for the underdog.
As a Pentecostal, I believe that the Holy Spirit of God dwells within and reveal the heart of God to my daily life. Today, God’s Spirit reminds me that my Savior did not come to condemn the world but to save. Jesus functioned in a multi-faith environment and encouraged his followers to love neighbors with the same strength applied to loving God.
I cannot love neighbors that I have decided to be offended by. I cannot love neighbors who I have avoided over the property rights of their faith.
