Notes From Day Seven: World Religion Day: A waste of digital capacity?

In case you missed it, as I nearly did, World Religion Day has come and gone. People observe it on the third Sunday of every January. Not to worry, though. The organization has a website with loads of information.

World Religion Day tries to help people understand more about the major faiths such as Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism and Islam, and about the smaller players such as Scientology and Animism. And more understanding can't be a bad thing. In fact, agnosticism and atheism should be included in the range of religions. They are not as easy to defend as fundamentalist atheists such as Richard Dawkins say they are (actually, if I remember correctly, he disdains agnosticism). They require faith. Come to think of it, so do ideologies like Capitalism, Socialism, and just about every ism — including patriotism and NHLism — that you can think of. More on that maybe at some later date.

At the same time, the WRD website reveals some assumptions that can be misleading. The first is that a religious approach to life is a shade inferior to the non-religious. The non-religious is the "normal" approach that remains once you cut away superstition, religious biases, fear of judgement in the afterlife, the authority of fanatics who founded religions and uphold them, and childish dependency on a god. It's taken a long time for large segments of humanity to get to this point, but, thank goodness that time is here. We can now move on, leaving behind a world of religious intolerance, terror, misled (though lovable for other reasons) ancestors and relatives, and warfare.

According to this view, religion is a personal choice. It's not a highly intelligent one, or one that can be easily defended in public, but it's one that you or I can respect if we see another person making that choice — even if it is a little abnormal.

A second assumption is that the world's "religions" are somehow fundamentally the same. If the commonalities of the religions can be exposed, and if we can get them to work together, then religion will have earned an honourable role in our world where, after all, the main thing is that we should all get along and cease viewing anyone as the "other", as the enemy. An inclusivity that will embrace all healthy diversities is what the world desperately needs, and religions must serve this goal or perish.

About the first assumption: I will not pretend to speak for any other faith except the one I know well, and that is Christianity. Christians have maintained that the Christian understanding of life and the world is normal — and also intelligent and worthy of public endorsement. It is not meant merely for the inside of church facilities but is meant for the whole world.

It offers a view of the world that pays adequate attention to the persistence of evil in international politics, family life, and the human heart, including mine.

At the same time, it is a signpost directing people to see God as the creator who made the universe (whatever its age and physical properties) to be an arena of profuse life and heart-stopping gladness. It is not based on fear (although some Christians are fearful), nor is it based on ignorance (though some Christians are not well educated). Desmond Tutu, Bono, Pope Benedict, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, Henri Nouwen, Bach, St. Augustine, C. S. Lewis, professors at King's College are, if anything, not ignorant, to say nothing of the 300-plus pastors, chaplains, priests, ministers and Christian community workers swarming London and region.

Christianity is for all people. It is beyond normal. It is a portal to meaning, hope, great joy (as the Christmas hymns say), and a lot of fun too — for all people. Jesus Christ is for all people.

About the second assumption that all religions can be brought together: This seems to work very well for people who don't adhere to any particular religion. But I doubt that members of the Buddhist community in Halifax, Nova Scotia, near where I live at the moment, would want to be merged with the Christian church at the next intersection. Muhammad, the founder of Islam, provided his followers with a Quran that in a number of places condemns people for believing that God is three persons, which is foundational to Christian faith. (Actually, it appears he had a bizarre understanding of which three persons make up God, an understanding that would be tossed out by any Christian. So, in a strange way, Muhammad and Christians agree that the tri-unity of God — as Muhammad understood it — isn't worth the time of day. The only thing is, he appears to have misunderstood it.) And there are foundational differences between Hinduism and Islam, between aboriginal traditions and Catholicism. And so on.

Nevertheless, is there value in WRD promoting greater awareness of religious difference? I think so, and I think this from what I see as a Christian take on the question.

All persons should strive to bring a greater degree of justice, healing, and peace to our world. God created all of us for a just and peaceful planet. And creating awareness of differences is key to this work.

Differences between religious faiths will persist (apparently). But that's okay. God has given us some ability at least to dialogue and sort out religious truth claims, even allowing that many disagreements will persist. We may, with justification, worry that the different truth claims will lead to violence. But they don't have to. Often they do not, and that should give us some courage in trying to deal with them.

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