For the next couple weeks, we’ll be exploring Affirmation 1 of the Phoenix Affirmations in worship and small groups (Asphalt Jesus groups, Chapter 4: Jesus First Baptist Church).  Affirmation 1 reads: “Christian love of God includes walking fully in the path of Jesus, without denying the legitimacy of other paths that God may provide for humanity.”

Here are some thoughts to help spur reflection on the relationship between Christianity and other faiths.  They’re based on a section that was cut from the original draft of my book on the Phoenix Affirmations.

Imagine the following scene:  A steel gray, state-of-the-art Iranian-made military helicopter hovers menacingly above a New England style white-steepled Christian church.  Smoke billows from a burned out car nearby as Iranian militia repel from the helicopter toward the roof ready to attack the church.

Does this scene raise your heart rate any?  Now suppose you were to learn this scene was depicted in a prominent Iranian government and policy journal in an advertisement for a new military helicopter.  In front of the church sits a sign reading, “Jesus Church,” removing all doubt about the nature of the building being attacked. Below the scene you find a caption reading, “It descends from the heavens. Ironically it unleashes hell.”  A further caption states that the craft “delivers Special Forces to insertion points never thought possible.”

How do you feel now?  What are your feelings toward the people who created the ad?  Even though the ad’s purpose is to sell helicopters, what does it suggest about prevailing attitudes toward Christianity or Christians themselves on the part of the ad’s creators and the journal’s readership? 

There is good news and bad news behind this mental exercise.  The good news is that such an ad has never appeared in an Iranian journal.  The bad news is that a similar ad, only depicting an American-made V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft and American military personnel rappelling onto the roof of an Islamic mosque has, in fact, appeared.  A sign in front of the building read in Arabic, “Muhammad Mosque,” and the same disturbing captions appeared in the ad. The ad was not published in the Arab world as a piece of anti-American propaganda, but in America.  It appeared in the National Journal, a prominent Washington government and policy magazine, on September 24, 2005. 

You can view the ad by clicking this link: mosqueattackad

To the credit of the aircraft’s creators, Boeing and Bell Helicopters, as well as the National Journal itself, the ad was pulled immediately after a protest was filed from the Council for American-Islamic Relations.  Public apologies were issued.  The companies cited “clerical error” as the culprit behind the ad and spoke of the need for “evaluating creative processes.”

I cite this example not to suggest that the ad represents the attitudes of all Americans toward either Islam or Islamic countries.  Indeed, America has a long and impressive record of tolerance and welcome toward people of other faiths.  This not only includes American Christians’ attitudes toward non-Christians, but American Muslims’ stance toward non-Muslims, American Hindus’ toward non-Hindus, and so on.  Indeed, while there have always been distinct and highly regrettable exceptions in our historical record, America’s record of tolerance may favorably be compared to that of any other country on earth.

Whether it was the often brutal treatment of Native Americans by settlers and the U.S. government itself two centuries ago or the inhumane and demoralizing treatment of Chinese immigrants by San Franciscans around the beginning of the last century, there has been a shadowy subtext to many of these sad stories: The perpetrators have frequently been Christians who believed fervently that Christianity is the only legitimate path to God and that all others will burn in hell for eternity if they are not “saved” for Jesus.

Of course, not every Christian believes this way.  According to a recent major study, in fact, 7 in 10 Christians believe that many religions can lead to eternal life, including 6 in every 10 evangelicals, 8 in 10 mainliners and Catholics – despite the fact that the “official” doctrinal stances of of evangelicals and Catholics would suggest otherwise.  Incidentally, you can see a graphical depiction of the results of that poll by clicking on Question 9 after clicking here.

Further, of those who do believe non-Christians will go to hell, relatively few will ever become violent or inhumane toward them.  In fact, what few people recognize is the level of compassion many of these believers have toward non-Christians.  Think about it: If you honestly believed (and perhaps you do believe) that those who do not “believe in their heart and confess with their tongue” that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior will be tortured in the fires of hell for eternity, would you not do everything in your power to save non-believers?  How much love and compassion could you say you really have if you do not make every effort to convert non-Christians before they die, by hook or by crook? 

Christian liberals often don’t like to admit it, but such beliefs have fueled the fires of some of the most energetic efforts to better the condition of the downtrodden in our country.  Just visit an inner-city homeless shelter run by Christians or a prison ministry and you’ll often find sincere, very conservative people of faith doing their best to reach out to those whom society has rejected.  Of course, a strong motivation for their being there is to “save souls for Jesus.”  Yet, even if one may disagree with their theology and may disagree as well with some of their tactics, it is hard to deny the sincerity and compassion of many of these rugged souls.  While many people sit on the sidelines and critique a homeless ministry, for instance, for requiring their clientele to sit through a sermon before being offered a bed for the night, they ignore the fact that many of these preachers, soup kitchen workers and counselors have made tremendous personal sacrifices and endured all kinds of abuse both by those they’re serving and those who sit on the sidelines in order to do what they do.

However, just as many Christian liberals tend to overlook the sincerity and compassion behind their more conservative brothers and sisters, so also do many Christian conservatives tend to overlook the shadow side of their beliefs, quite apart from arguments for or against the beliefs themselves.

When a person of any faith believes fervently that non-believers will suffer for eternity after they die for their lack of belief, it not only has a tendency to lead a person toward compassion toward unbelievers, but also to disdain the religions that keep people from “true” belief.  If you are convinced, for instance, that Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism – the three other largest world religions – are directly responsible for the suffering of billions of people for eternity in hell, just how much respect are you likely to have for these faith traditions?  And, as much as you may wish to think otherwise, how much respect are you likely to have for the leaders of these other faiths?  If you dare allow a sliver of respect or admiration in your heart for these faiths or faith leaders, does it not sometimes occur to you that this could be a trick of the devil trying to turn your heart from saving souls?  Just how much incentive do you have to consider other Christian stances toward those of other faiths, like that represented by Affirmation 1?

To believe that other paths may lead to God is not at all to deny one’s faith in Jesus Christ.  Personally, Christ is my only “way, truth, and life.”  I am “joyfully and unapologetically” Christian.  I have no desire to follow other religious figures or faiths.  Christianity is my path and I’m very happy about it.  However, to claim that Christianity is my path, or even to claim that Christianity is the best path (for me), is not to say Christianity is the only path.  God is far greater than I can possibly imagine.  And I trust that, since so many humble, religious folks on the planet are not Christian, God has created other paths beyond the one I claim as my own.

But I get ahead of myself.  We’ll deal directly with the relationship between Christianity and other faiths in our May 31st worship service.  There, we’ll specifically look at Jesus words that he is the “way, the truth, and the life” and that “no one comes to the Father except through me.”  Believe it or not, one can faithfully affirm these words and hold to the view that God creates other paths.  Jesus himself says so. But again, I get ahead of myself …