On the April 18, 2009 Battle Lines broadcast, while Don was out, Steven and Rabbi Glenn Harris discussed religious diversity. In our culture and in our world, there are billions of people with, what seems like, just as many different ideas about God and faith. You probably know Muslims, Jews, atheists, maybe a Hindu or a Wiccan. And we all know of Tom Cruise and Scientology, Madonna and Kabbalah, and Mitt Romney and Mormonism. Just in Bloomfield we have huge Jewish, Muslim, and Christian populations. We first discussed what our culture thinks about the relationship between all these different people with very different religions.

1. Your way is right for you, my way is right for me.
2. All these religions are basically the same thing, just different ways to God. All religions worship the same God, He/she/it just has different names.
3. We shouldn’t worry about our differences, but instead focus on what we have in common. All religions teach us to love each other. That’s what’s important.
But there’s a problem with these ideas… Christianity and Islam, for example, are mutually exclusive. They make contrasting truth claims. Saying Jesus is God and Jesus is not God, but just a prophet, is nonsense. It’s like saying 1+1=2 and 1+1≠2. These ideas are basically different expressions of pluralism and relativism. Relativism: denying objective, universal truth or morality; meaning and truth vary from person to person and culture to culture. Pluralism: there is more than one truth, more than one reality. Opposing truths can both be true. All the religions contribute to some ultimate reality. The way in which our culture understands religious diversity is inadequate.
We then discussed the Christian explanation of all these different ways of believing. What should be the Christian’s relationship to other faiths? How should a Christian react to the religious diversity in our culture? In order to answer that question, we first discussed Christian theologian Richard Niebuhr’s description of the several different ways that Christians have historically understood the Church’s relationship to culture.
1. Christ against Culture. Christians should reject culture, as basically bad, totally sinful. Christ and culture are in opposition, so Christians must separate and isolate themselves.
2. Christ of Culture. Christians should assimilate the culture as basically good. Christ and the highest expressions of culture, other religions, are in agreement.
3. Christ Transforming Culture. Culture is corrupted by sin but can be redeemed for Christ’s purposes. Christians should be involved in culture, not being changed by it, but being change-agents in it.
Christ against Culture. This model would tell us to respond to religious diversity running away and hiding. Have no conversation, no relationship, with people of other faiths. But this is not the right response to religious diversity. Don’t run away and hide from religious diversity. If you have friends or family, coworkers or neighbors, of other faiths, don’t avoid conversations about faith. Don’t be afraid to have your faith challenged… Dig into your Bible, know your God, and then mix it up with people.
Christ of Culture. This model would have us agree with our culture’s response – to agree that the diversity is good. That we have common ground; that we’re all really just the same. Is religious diversity a good thing?
1. Yes, as a reflection of the freedom people have to make their own choices. People made in the image of God, who make choices, and are responsible for those choices.
2. Yes, because it means that we have freedom to dialogue with different people.
3. No, because choices have consequences and if you choose wrong you will be damned. You are free to choose, but you are not free to choose the consequences of your choice.
4. No, because there is such a thing as truth and falsehood, and falsehood is a result of sin and is destructive and deceptive. The origin of false religions is the deception of Satan and the self-deception of sin. “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel” (II Cor. 4:4). “They are darkened in their understanding… because of the ignorance that is in them” (Eph. 4:18).
5. No, because if they’re all true, then really none of them are true.

We can’t just bury our heads in the sand, isolate, separate; and we cannot fully embrace the diversity. Instead we need to be engaged in the culture in order to be used by God to transform the culture.

Christ Transforming Culture. Culture is corrupted by sin but can be redeemed for Christ’s purposes. Christians should be involved in culture, not being changed by it, but being change-agents in it. We’ve got to strike a balance between isolation on one hand and assimilation on the other. Here’s how we do it… We need to be both exclusive and inclusive.

We must be exclusive in our theology. We must be limited, narrow, in our belief. There is such a thing as truth and it is singular. It has a name: Jesus Christ. “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” There is only one way. Jesus is the exclusive way to God. Jesus is the only truth, the only reality. There is no Allah. There is no hope in Buddha. People are saved only through faith in Christ. The only hope is in Christ. Only He can restore this broken world.

We must be inclusive in our relationships. “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people” (Gal 6:10). Be inclusive of all people in your love and kindness. The Muslim gas station clerk. The Hindi down the street – invite them over. Be open-armed. People are created in the image of God and therefore have value, regardless of what they believe. Treat them well. Engage people in conversation.

“…always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (I Pet. 3:15-16). Be indiscriminate in your love for people, but very narrow in your worship – worship only Christ as Lord. Give people a reason for your faith, talk about your faith. But do it with love, gentleness, respect. Which might mean listening to people explain their faith too. (In fact, that’s a great way to begin a conversation – ask about what they believe.)

“Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (Col. 4:5-6).

“…in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life” (Phil 2:14-15). Religious diversity is really an expression of darkness, it is Satan and sin deceiving people. But you, with the truth, can, with love and grace, shine a little light into the darkness.