Christianity and the Other Religions of the World

March 1, 1959
Akron

THE POSITIVE TEACHINGS OF THE UNIVERSALIST CHURCH -
VII - Christianity and the Other Religions of the World

"Jesus shall reign where'er the sun doth his successive journeys run." This line from the rousing Christian missionary hymn typifies one major strain of Christian thought. Many Christians believe their faith is the only true religion and that their obligation is to convert the world.

Because beliefs commonly held among religious liberals are considered heretical by Christians, and because the Universalist Church affirms its position without requiring creedal tests, there is difference of opinion whether Universalists are Christians at all.

Many people find that intolerance is an easy emotion to arouse when attempting to discuss religion. Perhaps it is because feelings stir if the ultimate basis of security seems threatened. Some persons feel their religion threatened when the searching light of historical analysis and comparison is directed toward the story of world religion. Seldom is intolerance reasonable.

The nineteenth-century Moslem sultan and reformer, Mahmud II, encountered violent religious objections when he ordered his soldiers to wear suspenders with their trousers. The suspenders formed a cross at the back, which was the symbol of infidel Chrisitans (see Muller LOOM OF HISTORY, p. 331).

Every religion can discover frequent instances of prejudice, some merely amusing, some tragically brutal.

Recognizing, then, that we are dealing with issues which provoke anxiety, let us reason together, consider Christian definitions and see whether Universalists can, or should, qualify. Then two questions can be posed, a) "Is Christianity the only true religion?" B) "Is there any possibility of a religion inclusive enough for all members of the human family?"

What is Christianity? When we need enlightenment about the definition of words, it is conventional to turn to standard dictionaries. THe popular dictionaries, supposedly written for adults, seem either to avoid the question or indulge in a type of circular definition which a self-respecting elementary Sunday-school teacher would disavow. For example, WEBSTER'S COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY defines Christianity as "1) The body of Christian believers. 2) The religion of Christians. 3) The state or fact of being a Christian. 4) A particular Christian religious system."

The Columbia Encyclopedia only appears to present a clearer definition: "All doctrines and religious groups based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. Those who subscribe to any such group are called Christian." If one recognizes that many Christian doctrines were not taught by Jesus, then the difficultiess only begin to accumulate on this matter of clarifying the nature of Christianity.

HASTINGS ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION AND ETHICS carries this definition, "Christianity (is) the ethical, historical, universal, monotheistic, redemptive religion in which the relation of God and man is mediated through the person and work of Jesus Christ."

The eminent Christian scholar, Professor H. Richard Niebuhr discusses the difficulty of definition (CHRIST AND CULTURE, p. 11ff.) "(A Christian) might more adequately be described as one who counts himself as belonging to that community of men for whom Jesus Christ -- his life, words, deeds, and destiny -- is of supreme importance as the key to understanding of themselves and their world, the main source of knowledge of God and man, good and evil, the constant companion of the conscience and the expected deliverer from evil." Professor Niebuhr recognizes the variety of interpretations, but concludes, "However great the variations among Christians in experiencing and describing the authority Jeuss Christ has over them, they have this in common: that Jesus Christ is their authority, and that the one who exercises these various kinds of authority is the same Christ."

The confusion begins to clear therefore when we recognize that theologically at least, Jesus Christ has special authority for the Christian. More than a member of the great family of prophets, more than a teacher of noble ways of living, more than a magnetic person with great healing powers, Jesus, to the average Christian, is a redeemer with unique power to save man from sin. Man himself is powerless to effect this redemption in the eyes of the Christian believer. The Christian believes that the words of John 14/6 are a divinely-revealed truth, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man comes to the Father, but by me."

It is also fair to say that most Christians would testify that Paul avows divine truth in the tenth chapter of the letter to the Romans (9th vs.), "For if with your lips you acknowledge the message that Jesus is Lord, and with your mind you believe that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Dr. L.P. Jacks commented about this passage, "saved, that is from the complete destruction awaiting non-believers at the expected second coming of the Christ in glory ... that was the gospel."

Recognizing that Christians believe that Jesus is Lord in some special way, are Universalists Christians? On the basis of creedal or theological tests, the answer would be, "No. Universalists are not Christians." We have no creedal tests.

The prevailing climate of belief in our fellowship is that Jesus was human. Mankind is not saved by Gods born to virgins, but by the redemptive efforts of the human community. We affirm that if any man is to be saved, then all are to be saved, or God is not God.

There are ancient references which lend some precedent to an ethical basis for Christianity, rather than doctrinal. In the book of Acts, (10th chapter), Cornelius the Roman officer sends for Peter for instruction and baptism in the new, appealing faith of the followers of Jesus.

Peter did not seem sure that the gospel was for Romans, or for anyone but the Jews. This seems to have been a serious controversy between Peter and Paul. Paul was the champion of a universal Christianity. He wanted the whole world to be enlisted. In the story of Peter and Cornelius, however, we are told that peter was moved by the "holy spirit" to baptize Cornelius. Peter says, "Now I really understand that God shows no partiality, but welcomes the man of any nation who reveres him and does what is right."

If this is the test of Christianity, the doing of right, then Universalists would qualify, just as well as most other Christian groups. The Oxford Dictionary, commenting on the word "Christian" mentions this same broad attitude, "In modern times the name Christian has usually been claimed by every form of belief stemming from historical Christianity, and has tended in nominally Christian countries to lose any creedal significance and to imply that which is ethically praiseworthy."

The undeniable condition exists, however, that such majority Christian bodies as the National Council of Churches denied Universalists membership because we do not testify to the deity of Jesus.

Last October, in a meeting of Liberal Religious Youth, the young people scheduled a debate on the subject, "We, members of the Norfolk-Suffolk L.R.Y. profess that we are Christians." The L.R.Y. carried this account of the proceedings:

"The debate which followed was presented in the Oxford Style used in the British House of Commons.......

"As the saying goes, you could have heard a pin drop during the debate. Several of Dr. Barth's arguments were: the great leaders of our denominations, Channing, Ballou, Emerson, Murray would never have dreamed that they weren't Christian; and to be liberal is to be a Christian.

"In retaliation Phil Smith quoted one of Jesus' statements in the Bible, "Let the dead bury the dead," meaning that those men are gone, and although we should cherish their teachings, we must progress to new things. Another of his stronger arguments was, "Do you think Ghandi, Moses, and Mohammed were great men? Do you respect thier teachings as you do those of Jesus?"

A point from the floor stated that in a society, [a] word means what ninety-nine percent of the population thiks it means, regardless of its truthful definition. Althought the dictionary says a Christian is one who follows the teachings of Christ, our society knows a Christian as one who takes Jesus as his Lord and personal savior. Many LRYers don't wish to place themselves in that category.

"The LRYers evidently listened carefully and openmindedly as many on both sides switched their positions and a considerable shuffling of the votes took place. The results? With several abstentions, the resolution was defeated by a vote of thirty-three to twenty-eight."

It is probable that adult members would show a similar proportion of preference of whether or not Universalists were Christian. The standards by which Christians have been classified are so vague and changing, that one has every right to call himself Christian or not, as his convictions and feelings may lead him.

In another sense, we are all Christians and it would be somewhat unrealistic to overlook it. We are Christians by culture. The Universalist Church was direct historical connection with organized Christianity. We are a branch of the Christian tree. we have been reared in a civilization strongly influenced by the Christian church. The church has penetraded our lives, customs, and traditions, as well as our theology. We cannot excape this Hebrew-Christian cultural inheritance. In that, we are all Chrisians and cannot help being so.

Of considerably greater importance than the issue of whether the members of a small Protestant minorty are called, or call themselves, Christian, is the relationship of Christianity with the other religions of the world. There is a world of difference in attitude and sense of obligation if one's faith is held as the "only, true" faith. Historically, the Christians have interpreted their mission as one to bring the Christian gospel to the benighted ones who knew not the Christian Way.

On the grounds that the Christian revelation is the only true one, the Christian Chruch has justified and rationalized all manner of authoritarianisms, intolerance, persecution, and condescension. It is on such an assumption as possessing "the only real truth" that the Christian Amendment Movement was organized thirteen years ago. Each year since 1946, this organization has introduced the following bill into Congress (the latest is Joint Resolution 112): "Section 1. This nation devoutly recognizes the authority and law of Jesus Christ, Savior and Ruler of nations, through whom are bestowed the blessings of almighty God."

While an escape clause is provided for those who would have objections of conscience, nevertheless this is an instance of a group which affirms Christianity as the only true religion."

[editor's note: for this paragraph, there is marked on the minister's copy "R 12/10/61"]
The world is becoming a neighborhood, not only geographically, but culturally. There is an increasing recognition of the art, science, and religions of peoples of the non-Christian world. Just as there is no longer a favored nation, such as some imperialists dreamed in the 19th century, so it is becoming increasingly clear that there are non-Christian religions which are old, enlightening, stirring, ethical, and regarded with no less reverence than Christians hold their faith.

We would be ridiculous if we denied the Buddhist or Moslem the right to the freedom which we claim for ourselves. When we are candid, it is not difficult to comprehend that one favors his own religion when comparing it to other religions. Someone has said that we judge our own religion by its ideals and judge the religion of others by its practices. This is not equality or judgment by any stretch of the imagination.

In a remarkable paper delivered to a Friends Society, Arthur E. Morgan, urging an attitude of universality, said, "The inner feeling that the Christian faith is uniquely true, in a class by itself, different from all other religions, is not harmless error. It is a powerful cause of division and conflict among men. Mahatma Ghandi who was a sincere and devoted man, expressed the opinion concerning this feeling among Christians that it is 'perhaps the greatest impediment to the world's progress toward peace...' Much of the non-Chrisian world has this same feeling, growing out of the unjustified Christian arrogance concerning the claim for unique, unquestioned truth of the Christian theology or mythology. By this attitude, the acceptance of the real values of Christianity may be prevented from acceptance, at home as well as abroad."

"We judge Christianity by its ideals, whereas we judge other religions by their followers. Non-Christians have done the same."

The meeting place of faith and conduct is the universal area of human need and human aspiration. On that testing ground there can be worked out a spirit of holiness which characterized not only Jewish prophets like Isaiah, Hosea, and Jesus, but also Christian prophets like Francis, or John Howard, and Indian prophets like Gautama or Ghandi, and countless others, known and unknown.

Our only requirement, and even that must be inwardly imposed, probably, is to believe deeply enough in the dignity of the human spirit, in the worth of every human personality so that wholeness of body and mind will become an ever-present goal.

The National Geographic Society reports (see NY TIMES, 2/18/59), that the world's largest bell has never sounded. Almost two hundred and fifty years ago, a bell was cast in Moscow of one-hundred and ninety three tons. One hundred and three years elapsed while the bell was cooling in the molds of sand. Before it was ever hung, an 11 ton lip broke off. This silent giant now hangs in the Kremlin.

Religion is something like that. Its potential force for goodness is like a silent giant. We have formed the mold to sound the strongest call to unity and understanding in the meeting place of religion. Religion is universal, but not identical.

When the faithful of each sect honor the laws, prophecy and worship of other religions, without necessarily approving the intellectual formulations or endorsing the practice then we will be closer to that day when the great bell of human understanding and good-will will peal good news to the world.