It is not uncommon for folks, on learning that I am a Christian minister, to say to me something like this: “Well, all paths lead to the same place.†I usually politely nod, move on to other topics. But I don’t really believe it.
As we begin our three week sermon series on “Lessons Learned from Other Religions,†I thought it might be helpful to clarify how we use the term “universalist,†and why I am specifically a Christian.
Meaning #1: Our own Calvinist heritage, following the logic of predestination, came to believe that God had preselected an “elect†that were destined for salvation, with everyone else called into being predestined to fail. Christian Universalists rejected this notion, believing that if God offered salvation through Christ, then it must be universally available. In this way, I am a Universalist. Today’s Unitarian Universalists spring, in part, from the Christian Universalist heritage, though that movement has moved away from a specifically Christian understanding of the divine.
Meaning #2: Last summer’s controversy over Rob Bell’s book Love Wins centered on this meaning of universalism. Many Christians believe that everyone who does not believe in Jesus in a specific way (sometimes even saying a specific prayer!) is destined for the pits of hell. Now, ignoring debates about the existence or character of hell, or who specifically gets to decide what form of belief in Jesus qualifies, we face a larger question about the kind of God we worship. Could a loving God send advocates for peace and justice, compassionate and self-sacrificing individuals who happen to have been born into non-Christian cultures, to hell? I couldn’t worship a God that I thought could send the Dalai Lama to the pit. In this way, I am a Universalist.
Meaning #3: Despite being a Universalist in the two prior senses of the word, I do not actually believe that all religions are equally “true,†which would be the case if I was the kind of Universalist meant in the third definition. Some religious systems are hard-wired from their founding to treat women as second-class humans and seem unable to evolve past this primitive belief. They’re wrong. Some religious systems claim that a single tribe or race has a preferred status with the divine. They are wrong. At least one highly public religion in the US is marked by violence and slavery if countless reports are to be believed. It is wrong.
Since the various religions make mutually exclusive truth claims, they cannot all be true. That is simple logic. Now, the same logic says they could all be wrong. I just don’t happen to agree. I believe there is some truth in any religion that moves humans toward compassion, selflessness and creativity, that is, in any religion that helps us transcend our baser fear-driven instincts. And I believe that the truth of compassion, selflessness and creativity was embodied in Jesus, the man from Nazareth, who was the Divine Mystery we name God in a way beyond our understanding.
Like other traditions, the Christian heritage is filled with humans, a messy unruly species! Our own history includes episodes of violence, the oppression of women, seriously wrong-headed thinking. Yet, despite it all, the message of the Hebrew prophets and the teachings and example of Jesus refuse to fit into our easy categories. They call us beyond ourselves just as they did 2000+ years ago. I may learn from other religions, but I believe in Christ.
During the next three Sundays we will respectfully engage three other religions, learning what we can that might help us on our Christian path. This week we look at Islam. I look forward to seeing you.
Blessings,
Pastor Gary