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Everywhere you look you see Christians bemoaning the fact that other religions exist and are tolerated in our nations. In America, any attempt to change things like the motto "One Nation Under God" to reflect the more pluralistic composition of the country is fiercely contested. Laws enshrining rights for other religions, the use of chaplains for other religions in the armed services and the attendance by political leaders at multi-religious services cause intense controversy.
Many Christians find it extremely disconcerting that there are so many reliigons in our countries, and new religions and sects appear all the time. Since Jonestown, people are frightened of unknown faiths, in case they turn out to be cults. That it is the young - from roughly 14 to 25, who are most likely to join strange religions causes both fear and defensiveness. As with the Pied Piper, the idea that "they're taking our children" is one of the greatest fears there is.
In response to these fears many have become very hostile to other faiths. Much of this hostility has fallen on Wicca, due partly to its status as a new religion, its popularity (however short-term) with the young, and because the use of the word "witch" frightens many Christians. In part, this has led to an increased emphasis on apologetics, but not just its use in defending and explaining Christianity but extending it to attack other religions. Some examples of this new form of apologetics can be found at Islam Review; The Forerunner (on Witchcraft) and Two by Two (on Buddhism). Regrettable, there are less benign manifestations. In an effort to sway people to Christ, lies are sometimes told about other religions. Naturally this does not endear Christianity to the followers of these other religions. Some of the most heinous lies are told - such as the Satanic Ritual Abuse hoax, or the idea that Neo-pagans sacrifice babies to Satan, or other rehashings of the paranoid fantasies of Inquisitors during the great Witch Mania (for example, see this site). Even when proven false (and much credit goes to Cornerstone Magazine for their work in this field) the lies are still repeated. This brings no glory to God.
There have also been attempts to prevent other religions having the same status as Christianity. Thus days in honour of Jesus are applauded, but if any other religion is so honoured, there is a great outcry. There were objections to the status of Wicca as a legal religion. Yet our faith is neither the tool or master of the state - we Christians are citizens of another Kingdom, not this one. We should not depend on the state to honour Christ, and remember that there are members of many different faiths in our countries, who deserve the same rights as we do.
For some reason, those who grumble about religious diversity seem to be stuck in an Old Testament mindset. Prior to the Babylonian exile there was only one faith permitted in Israel - the worship of Yahweh. Other faiths were known, and many Israelites came into contact with them through war and trade with neighbouring countries. The Bible tells of the many times that those foreign religions infiltrated Israel, and also gives the remedy: idols were destroyed, altars and holy places torn down, and people executed for following a different religion. Religious leaders administrated the Laws, and faith and society were inseparable. The world of Old Testament Israel was a theocratic one, not a democracy or republican one. The only theocracies today are in Islamic fundamentalist states. At the time of Christ, and throughout the New Testament, there were many different religions - even in Israel. Christianity remained one religion among many until the conversion of the Emperor Constantine in the 4th century AD. From the 6th Century BC to the 4th Century AD the people of God lived among members of other religions. That is an awful long time! After Constantine, while other religions were known of, in the West Christianity became the only faith - there were Jews, but by and large they were persecuted (interestingly, using the same charges that are now levelled against Pagans) for not being Christian. This state of affairs, notwithstanding the Reformation, persisted until the 19th Century, when a wave of new religious movements shattered Christianity's hegemony. This, followed by cheaper travel and increased immigration in the 20th Century meant that a multitude of religions in one state is no longer uncommon.
For all that some people weep and wail over the tolerance of other religions in the West, we have actually been blessed by it. Surprised? Well, we can now know that people who profess themselves to be Christians are likely to be so, not calling themselves such to gain respect, money, or because they have been brought up to it and know no other faith.
We are also closer to the world Jesus knew. When He taught and when His apostles taught, they did so in a world of religious diversity. They had to fight for Christ, to know what they believed and why they believed it. They could not simply say "your fathers' believed this, so should you," but had to understand and to show others their God. A world of other religions proved to be a great help to Paul, when he taught the Athenians that their Unknown God was who he worshipped, and then proceeded to explain about God.
"Some also of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers met him. And some said, "What would this babbler say?" Others said, "He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities"-because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. And they took hold of him and brought him to the Are-opagus, saying, "May we know what this new teaching is which you present? For you bring some strange things to our ears; we wish to know therefore what these things mean." Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. So Paul, standing in the middle of the Are-opagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, "To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you." (Acts 17:18-23 RSV)
Religious diversity presents us with no easy way out. It ensures we understand our own beliefs before telling others about them. Our God is almighty - it is not threat to Him for other "gods" to be present.
Instead of reacting in fear, being unjust to other religions, let us welcome their inclusion, for they help us to talk to the lost. Someone whose sense of the spiritual has taken them to Hinduism is closer to God than someone who is an atheist. Paul knew this, and used it. So should we. Let us thank God for this blessing, to stop us becoming stagnant in our faith but instead ensuring that we believe in truth.
© Dubhóc MacEògainn, 2005.