"Facing the World's Many Religions"

Religion in Daily Life C By the Rev. Edward Chinn, D.Min. Rector, All Saints' Church 9601 Frankford Ave. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19114 (215) 637-5225 Written 1 January 2002 http://www.allsaintstorresdale.org <http://www.allsaintstorresdale.org/>

Three religions are represented in the familiar story of the magi visiting the baby Jesus (Matthew 2). The magi (wise men) were priests of the Zoroastrian religion. Zoroaster, a Persian prophet, lived from 628 BC to 551 BC. The magi followed a star to Jerusalem to find the newborn King of the Jews. Worried about keeping his throne, King Herod consulted scholars who represented Judaism. Later, the magi found the child Jesus, the person at the center of Christianity. Both in Matthew's story and in our daily life, we face the world's many religions. During Lent, our congregation will study videos about Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. What attitude shall we take toward the many world religions we face?

I believe the first attitude we need is humility. In the New York Times, Thomas Friedman wrote about "religious totalitarianism." He meant the view of the world that holds that "my faith must reign supreme and can be affirmed and held passionately only if others are negated." It is the claim that a particular faith teaches absolute, exclusive faith (Terry Mattingly's column, December 26, 2001, Scripps Howard News Service). I find the Apostle Paul to be a model of the humility we need as we face the world's religions. On the one hand, Paul wrote to fellow-believers, "As his followers you were taught the truth that is in Jesus" (Ephesians 4:21). On the other hand, Paul was humble enough to admit, "Now I know a fragment of the truth" (1 Corinthians 13:12).

I believe the second attitude we need to cultivate today is respect for the various religions. Such respect means consideration and thoughtfulness toward other religious viewpoints. We recognize the worth of other human efforts to reach out to the world of Spirit. Again, the Apostle Paul shows us this attitude of respect. Paul said, "God has always given evidence of his existence by the good things he does" (Acts 14:17). Again, Paul said, "God's purpose in all this was that the nations should seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him - though he is not far from any of us. For in him we live and move and exist" (Acts 17:27).

Six years ago, a group of Christians met in South Carolina. From this meeting has come "The Center for Progressive Christianity." Its literature defines "progressive" to mean "we are Christians who: 1. proclaim Jesus Christ as our Gate to the realm of God; 2. recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the gateway to God's realm." The group's other six points can be found on its web site: http://www.tcpc.org