‘All religions are true’ Religious Pluralism: A Christian Response

Salvation is through Christ Alone

Those who believe that all religions are the same do not understand the fundamental differences between them. Various religions can superficially appear the same, but are fundamentally different.

Christianity is set apart from all other religions because of these beliefs:

(1) the problem of man is sin,

(2) man is unable to mitigate the consequences of sin without the gift of forgiveness from God (grace), and

(3) God has come to us in the flesh through Jesus Christ.

All other religions (Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and the New Age) teach that we must work or self-will our way into spiritual liberation (Dr. Harris, n.d.). The most significant theological differences between Hinduism, Buddhism, the New Age, and Christianity lie in their views of God, the nature of humanity, and the concept of spiritual liberation.

In Eastern religions, God is impersonal and without moral distinctions, being the life force that underlies nature (Halverson, 167).  Christianity, on the other hand, views God as holy, personal, moral, just, creator, and distinct from His creation (Ibid).

Since relativism challenges any objective truth statement, then the objective truth of Christianity, that salvation comes through Christ alone, is certainly challenged by relativists, on the basis of religious pluralism.

Religious pluralism: Religious pluralism is the acknowledgment and acceptance of the coexistence of multiple religious beliefs and practices within a society or the world. It holds that:

• no single religious tradition has a monopoly on truth.

• different religions can provide valid and meaningful paths to spiritual understanding or salvation.

• mutual respect and peaceful coexistence among diverse religious groups are possible and desirable.

• people must tolerate pluralism, that we all have different ways of expressing and ‘knowing the divine’,

• religious pluralism challenges dogmatism, that no religion knows the ultimate truth about God, reality, and the divine.

Christians must know how to respond effectively.

There are many reasons why a Christian could argue that Christ is the only way to salvation (1) Christ Himself claimed salvific singularity, and we must take His words seriously or dismiss them altogether, (2) religious relativism is not as rational at it may seem, and (3) Christianity fulfills the understanding of mercy, justice, love, and salvation in ways that no other religion can compare.

Lunatic, Liar, or Lord: Christ Himself Made Serious Claims

C.S. Lewis said it this way in Mere Christianity, “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to (Lewis, 1952).”

The argument that Jesus was just another one of the great teachers among Ghandi, Buddha, and Muhammad, all attempting to reveal aspects of the divine, reveals that the one who argues this is without understanding the claims of each one.

Not one of these religious leaders of the largest religions in the world made the claims that Christ did.

Christ said verbatim, according to the scriptures, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).” This claim made by Christ is among many other of His claims of divinity and being the only way to God. If we are going to accept anything Jesus Christ said, we must accept that everything He said came from this understanding of His identity. According to Christ’s claims, people either accept everything He says or reject all of it.

Jesus does not leave Himself as an ‘option’ among the rest.

Issues with Religious Pluralism

Religious relativism asserts that people usually choose their religious beliefs based on the culture they were born. The absolutist from another country who believes in objective realities about who God is could also say to a religious pluralist that their relativistic views are simply shaped by their postmodern, relativistic, Western upbringing.

Most people who believe in religious pluralism also do not understand the foundational differences between each main world religion. When each one is properly understood, they cannot all be true, because they contradict one another.

Either one is true or none of them are true, but they cannot all be true.

It is fair to say that there are elements of truth within each one; for example: Islam rejects the idea of polytheism, which is true. However, their understanding of monotheism and the character and nature of God are foundationally different and diminished from the Christian understanding.

Some may assert, “but most societies deem morals based on their society and structure; this doesn’t determine moral absolutes exist.” This isn’t so. Universal moral laws have historically governed ancient societies. C. S. Lewis argues that a common foundation of morality underlies all human cultures. “If anyone takes the trouble to compare the moral teaching of the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Hindus, Chinese, Greeks, and Romans, what will really strike him will be how very like they are to each other and to our own.”

For example (Lewis, 1943):

(1)  ‘Never do to others what you would not like them to do to you.’ (Ancient Chinese. Analects of Confucius, trans. A. Waley, xv. 23; cf. xii. 2)

(2)  ‘Speak kindness ... show goodwill.’ (Babylonian. Hymn to Samas. ERE v. 445)

(3)  ‘Do to men what you wish men to do to you.’ (Christian. Matthew 7:12)

(4)  ‘This first I rede thee: be blameless to thy kindred. Take no vengeance even though they do thee wrong.’ (Old Norse. Sigdrifumál, 22)

(5)  ‘Your father is an image of the Lord of Creation, your mother an image of the Earth. For him who fails to honor them, every work of piety is in vain. This is the first duty.’ (Hindu. Janet, i. 9)

Even in societies that do atrocious acts, there is an underlying virtue that is horribly misguided. In the Hudson Bay tribes, children strangled their own parents as an act of kindness instead of letting them live to what they saw as unproductive old age. “Dying for the sake of the group was a point of honor in these tribes (Beauchamp, p. 39).” The underlying moral rule that it is noble to die for the welfare of many is one all cultures share. Indeed, that’s what soldiers do.

There is a universal understanding of good and evil throughout ancient civilizations. A Christian worldview would explain this universal understanding as a conscience that has been given to mankind because humans are created in His image. It says in Romans 1:18-20 that we are without excuse because God’s attributes are clearly perceived in creation. We all know God’s moral law from creation and our God-given consciences.

Christianity Best Illustrates Love

For the religious pluralist, objective beliefs about God often mean ‘dogmatism.’ However, these terms are often unfairly conflated, causing people to dismiss truth claims as ‘religious dogma’ instead of carefully considering each one.

Christianity withstands the test in spades when tested and compared against other religions regarding historical reliability, scientific understanding, the physical world, and human behavior; but Christianity is particularly set apart in how love is expressed by God Himself. The Christian understanding of God is that He has come to us and has subjected Himself to suffering and death to pay for our sins.

If we were all honest, we would all confess to having committed sins internally and externally. The Bible says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)” and that even when we try to obey the laws of God, we fail. Paul attests to this struggle, “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing (Romans 7:19).”

All other religious systems have created a way for the person to behave rightly to obtain spiritual liberation from sin or ignorance and ‘get to God’ or ‘nirvana’ or whatever the spiritual goal is. Christianity is the only religion that acknowledges the impossibility of this conundrum. All other religions require humans to work their way to God, but only in Christ has God come to us because we cannot perform well enough for a Holy God.

Christianity fulfills the understanding of mercy, justice, love, and salvation in ways that no other religion can. Christianity is also not a mystical religion, primarily based on tradition, myth, and legend. Unlike other religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, Christianity is based on eyewitness testimony, reliable ancient documents, prophetic fulfillments, and historical events.

Here is an example of how a very similar religion (Islam) is fundamentally different in the understanding of mercy, love, and salvation:

1.     The Muslim relationship between man and God is “servant/master” since Islam literally means “submission.” Even though Muslims view God as personal, this is not the same understanding of God as Christians, which is “Father/Son/Adoption.”

2.     Allah would never dwell with sinners, as Yahweh has done through Christ.

3.     A Muslim would agree that God (Allah) is merciful and loving, but their understanding of love and mercy is greatly diminished from the Christian understanding of love and mercy. Since Christians believe that God is a God who dwelt with us, died for us, and rose again, our understanding of God’s love for us is significantly greater. Since Muslims deny the incarnation and crucifixion, they do not believe Allah to be as merciful as Yahweh; which means they must work harder to earn spiritual liberation, since salvation was not accomplished for them through God’s sacrifice.

4.     Islam denies the historical crucifixion of Jesus Christ, his death, and resurrection. According to Christ and the teachings of Christianity, if anyone denies the sacrifice that has been accomplished on their behalf by Christ, they are still in bondage to sin.

5.     Even though Muslims hold Jesus in high regard and even believe he will return, they also believe Jesus will return as a radical Muslim to tell the world that Christians were wrong to worship him. To a Christian, this is blasphemous, since Jesus claimed divinity, and his disciples also worshipped Him as God.

6.     While Muslims would say, “Allah forgives sins when we repent.” This is only if their good deeds outweigh the bad. It is a works-based salvation, where the Muslim is working to get to Allah vs. Christ, who came to us and forgave us by His grace to all who believe.

This is an example of how two very similar religions are superficially the same, but fundamentally different. Even in their great similarities, without receiving Christ as Lord and believing in His resurrection, an unbelieving Muslim will go to hell after death. According to the Bible, there is no other way to be saved.

There is no room for pluralism here. Jesus did not leave room for pluralism in all His “I am” statements found in the gospel accounts. Not only that, the understanding of spiritual liberation (forgiveness of sins) and salvation (peace with God) is much more satisfying, because the understanding of love and mercy is significantly greater in Christ. No other God has come to earth to dwell with us; let alone suffer for us and die for us.

If God were to make a way to Himself, by definition, ‘a way’ is singular and absolute. There cannot be many ways to God that contradict one another. If one way says, “You must be good enough to reach God,” and the other says, “You cannot be good enough to reach God; you must simply trust in Jesus,” this would be a contradiction.

Someone may say, ‘why can’t they both be true?’ Well, you would have to deny some laws of logic there to squeeze that puzzle peice together. Please google, “the law of non-contradiction.'“

Both cannot be true. Further, there is no difference between making the objective claim that “there are many pathways that lead to God, not just Jesus,” and making the objective claim that “salvation is found in Christ alone.” Both are objective truth statements. One is just intellectually honest that they make objective truth claims. :)

The Good News

Yes, we have always been taught to think of the Gospel (Good News) as being ‘Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.’ This is true! But there is another aspect of the Gospel I do not think is spoken clearly enough. Another big part of the Gospel (the Good News) is realizing who God is through Christ.

He is Good, Personal, Intimate, Wise, Loving, Patient, Kind, Holy, Just, Powerful, Compassionate, and True! This is our God! Our Creator! You know, the One who MADE YOU and knows every hair on your head! Yes, HE is GOOD and HE has COME TO THE EARTH! He is Jesus!

Praise God.