Dealing With Diversity

Our world is shrinking!

There are so many religions, lifestyles, and philosophies to choose from nowdays, what’s a person to do? Can one religion say to all the rest, you don’t count, yours isn’t the right approach, you’re not following the truth? Who has a market on the truth? There may be only a dozen or so major religions in the world; however, there are thousands of smaller ones. Do we discount a religion because it’s not in the top ten numbers-wise? Does a religion have to have a half billion followers before it’s credible? One billion? How do we deal with such divseristy?

Let’s lay all other religions aside and focus only on Christianity!

So, what can Protestants learn from Catholics? What can Catholics learn from Protestants? We in the West got our roots from the same place as those in the East did- when it comes to Christianity. After the Roman Empire made Christianity the state religion, and even earlier, things were going in different directions. The Byzantine part of the Roman empire (East) focused on the divinity of humans. They were more into the spirit and spirituality of our life. Those that took the religion West focused on two enirely different things: sin and forgiveness.

I am glad I’m forgiven, but I can’t but think how much we’ve missed the spirit of man.

Unfortunately the West has focused most on sin! Forgiveness seems like a one time thing, or maybe here and there, while sin is what hounds us every hour of every day. We can’t forget our sins because we’re reminded of them every Sunday. What happened to the Good News?

But in the midst of such diverse religions, what can we learn of our own various shades of Christianity? Consider the social driven nature of liberation theology along side the quiet mysticism of Asian Christian mystics. Christian mystics who embrace Hindu and Buddhist methods. If your theology is that of the fundamentalist pursuasion I just lost you on that last sentence. Did he say Christian mystics?

What can North American Christians learn from Latin American Christians?

Worse yet is this question posed by Bradley P. Holt, “Has God given wisdom to other religious traditions? If so, how can Christians value and learn from them without diluting the integrity of their own traditions.?

How do you answer that?

And can you do so in love, humility, compassion, understanding, and esteeming others more than yourself? Dealing with the diversity of the worlds religions will test yours: test your love and true compassion. And then when you think you have it down, take it out for a test drive. Engage a New Ager on spirituality. Talk to a Hindu about reincarnation. Discuss peace and serenity with a Buddhist. Talk about light and darkness with a Zorastrian. Ask a Muslim why they pray as they do.

Then you can tell others how to deal with diversity.