Interfaith?
Sometimes when I'm on google, I just like to type in really outrageous stuff to see what I can find. Sometimes I look at the KKK website to get a feel for how they can justify such strong sentiments of hate and vicious intolerance. This time, I was looking for religious intolerance, and I typed in "other faiths wrong." What I came up with was the site that I linked (just click on this post's title), which was a sermon delivered in 2003 by David Hutt, Canon of Westminster.
In the thesis of this sermon, he presents a question: "...may our strength in our [Christian] variety be applied to looking at our vital relationship with those who espouse other Faiths?" He then goes through a very curious discussion of other faiths, but first he starts by solidifying his own views. He states that an absolutist claim to Jesus Christ -- that Jesus is the One and only Savior, that his word is reality -- is essential. While I may personally disagree with this statement, as I mentioned before, the first part of openness and respect for other beliefs is knowing where you're coming from. I still stand by this.
At one point, he even says calls the Christian Church as a whole as being somewhat inappropriate by Jesus' ideals. "Jesus Christ at some essential points puts all religions in the wrong. He puts much of our familiar Christianity in the wrong and as a result we cannot claim that he condemns other faiths out of hand." Wow. I was really impressed by this statement, because I don't often hear clergy questioning their own religion.
Likewise, his end remarks are optimistic: "Loyalty to the absolute and exclusive claims of Jesus Christ requires a complete openness to the challenges of our divided and fragmented world and also to give evidence of our readiness to serve in a common exploration of the possibilities that are, as yet, hidden." More or less gives you a good feeling right? This sounds hopeful, full of potential for understanding and exploring the viewpoints and perspectives of other traditions and faiths.
Only, some of his statements didn't sound quite right to my ears. I said his discussion of other faiths was curious, because they are not so much discussions of the validity and interesting elements of other faiths, as much as they are open-handed slaps to the face. His critiques of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism all end with outright rejection and refutation. His comments on Buddhism are largely one-sided, stating that it is atheistic (that it does not follow one God) and escapist (in the sense that one tries to flee cyclic rebirth). In these ways, he flattens Buddhism, ignoring beliefs in many deities, and although he says Buddhists decree that one must "escape from, rather than fulfil, our potential making full use of personality," I fear he may be looking at it from an odd angle. A central concept within Mahayana Buddhism is to use every resource and ability in your grasp in order to help other beings from suffering and pain. He sums up each analysis with a similar notion as the one he has towards Buddhism: "No, says the Christian, the Buddha and his teaching are wrong, we know better. "
And, "the claims [of Islam] must surely be wrong and misguided for God, we know, is not like that."
And again, "Logically, anything in other Faiths that goes against the reality of Jesus Christ and the historical record has to be erroneous and must be withstood and refuted. For the sake of reality and the truth of things there’s no choice in the matter. "
I found this last one kinda chilling...has to be erroneous and must be withstood and refuted...there's no choice in the matter.
So, here's my question: how successful can you really be in exploring other faiths if, from the get-go, you think they are wrong? How can you give other religions and religious practitioners the kind of respect they deserve, if you already view them as lower, flawed, and fundamentally incorrect? For my dollar, I'm not too sure how far you can go into the sea of interfaith dialogue in a boat of self-proclaimed righteousness, even if it has a good sail. Maybe I'm totally wrong...maybe it's completely possible to do it in this way. But from what I've been able to ascertain, it's best for interfaith dialogue (and for life on the whole) if one sees all religions with equality -- that they're all on the same level. And just because I don't follow Islam or Judaism or Christiantiy or Shinto, or Sikhism or any of the other religions and faiths that I don't subscribe to doesn't mean that they're wrong, or less valid, or erroneous. Nor does it mean that I don't have immense respect and reverence for them. Other people find them useful; that's great. I'm all for that. They're just not for me. And I'm fine with that if you are.
And I'm still fine with that, even if you're not.
One closing thought. I vividly remember one of my first days of high school after my parents moved me from Rochester, NY, the city I'd been living in all my life, to Mequon Wisconsin, a white flight suburb (I'm not too fond of), just north of Milwaukee. I was sitting in my journalism class, and I met this guy named Ben. Ben was (and still is, as far as I know) a Pentacostal Christian Evangelist, and I asked him, "Do you think your religion is the right religion?" Before he could answer, some other student turned to us and said, "Of course he does, you idiot. What kind of a stupid question is that?" I didn't -- and still don't -- think that's a stupid question at all. You can believe fervently in your faith or religion. But whether or not you think it's THE RIGHT religion, at the exclusion of all others...I think that's an entirely different matter altogether.
In the thesis of this sermon, he presents a question: "...may our strength in our [Christian] variety be applied to looking at our vital relationship with those who espouse other Faiths?" He then goes through a very curious discussion of other faiths, but first he starts by solidifying his own views. He states that an absolutist claim to Jesus Christ -- that Jesus is the One and only Savior, that his word is reality -- is essential. While I may personally disagree with this statement, as I mentioned before, the first part of openness and respect for other beliefs is knowing where you're coming from. I still stand by this.
At one point, he even says calls the Christian Church as a whole as being somewhat inappropriate by Jesus' ideals. "Jesus Christ at some essential points puts all religions in the wrong. He puts much of our familiar Christianity in the wrong and as a result we cannot claim that he condemns other faiths out of hand." Wow. I was really impressed by this statement, because I don't often hear clergy questioning their own religion.
Likewise, his end remarks are optimistic: "Loyalty to the absolute and exclusive claims of Jesus Christ requires a complete openness to the challenges of our divided and fragmented world and also to give evidence of our readiness to serve in a common exploration of the possibilities that are, as yet, hidden." More or less gives you a good feeling right? This sounds hopeful, full of potential for understanding and exploring the viewpoints and perspectives of other traditions and faiths.
Only, some of his statements didn't sound quite right to my ears. I said his discussion of other faiths was curious, because they are not so much discussions of the validity and interesting elements of other faiths, as much as they are open-handed slaps to the face. His critiques of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism all end with outright rejection and refutation. His comments on Buddhism are largely one-sided, stating that it is atheistic (that it does not follow one God) and escapist (in the sense that one tries to flee cyclic rebirth). In these ways, he flattens Buddhism, ignoring beliefs in many deities, and although he says Buddhists decree that one must "escape from, rather than fulfil, our potential making full use of personality," I fear he may be looking at it from an odd angle. A central concept within Mahayana Buddhism is to use every resource and ability in your grasp in order to help other beings from suffering and pain. He sums up each analysis with a similar notion as the one he has towards Buddhism: "No, says the Christian, the Buddha and his teaching are wrong, we know better. "
And, "the claims [of Islam] must surely be wrong and misguided for God, we know, is not like that."
And again, "Logically, anything in other Faiths that goes against the reality of Jesus Christ and the historical record has to be erroneous and must be withstood and refuted. For the sake of reality and the truth of things there’s no choice in the matter. "
I found this last one kinda chilling...has to be erroneous and must be withstood and refuted...there's no choice in the matter.
So, here's my question: how successful can you really be in exploring other faiths if, from the get-go, you think they are wrong? How can you give other religions and religious practitioners the kind of respect they deserve, if you already view them as lower, flawed, and fundamentally incorrect? For my dollar, I'm not too sure how far you can go into the sea of interfaith dialogue in a boat of self-proclaimed righteousness, even if it has a good sail. Maybe I'm totally wrong...maybe it's completely possible to do it in this way. But from what I've been able to ascertain, it's best for interfaith dialogue (and for life on the whole) if one sees all religions with equality -- that they're all on the same level. And just because I don't follow Islam or Judaism or Christiantiy or Shinto, or Sikhism or any of the other religions and faiths that I don't subscribe to doesn't mean that they're wrong, or less valid, or erroneous. Nor does it mean that I don't have immense respect and reverence for them. Other people find them useful; that's great. I'm all for that. They're just not for me. And I'm fine with that if you are.
And I'm still fine with that, even if you're not.
One closing thought. I vividly remember one of my first days of high school after my parents moved me from Rochester, NY, the city I'd been living in all my life, to Mequon Wisconsin, a white flight suburb (I'm not too fond of), just north of Milwaukee. I was sitting in my journalism class, and I met this guy named Ben. Ben was (and still is, as far as I know) a Pentacostal Christian Evangelist, and I asked him, "Do you think your religion is the right religion?" Before he could answer, some other student turned to us and said, "Of course he does, you idiot. What kind of a stupid question is that?" I didn't -- and still don't -- think that's a stupid question at all. You can believe fervently in your faith or religion. But whether or not you think it's THE RIGHT religion, at the exclusion of all others...I think that's an entirely different matter altogether.
posted by Will Brideau @ 2:10 PM
1 Comments:
At 11:03 PM,
Satoshi said…
Will, you are the greatest thinker I've ever seen. Your questions are excellent.
To be honest, I'm more familar with racism issues than interfaith conflicts (I've taken a class of African American Studies, and done some researches about racism. My recent study is a thesis describing "Planet of the Apes" as the best allegory containing anti-racism educational message...). And I see the same logic here, and see connection between racism and inter-religious bias.
Differenciation without respect is an ultimate cause of racism and religious bias. When people detach a certain type of people emotionally from their community without respect, people see others from higher point of view, thinking they are superior than others. This emotional hierarchy, placing themselves higher than others, causes interfaith bias. It's the same logic of white supremercy, isn't it? As it is the case that there is no superior race, it is the case that there is no superior religion. Every religion should be aligned in the same horizon with respect. Otherwise, eventually hatred brings about from that systematical, emotional hierarchy.
There is no absolute right about religion. Every power, including religious values, should be questioned and criticized all the time. Otherwise, there is no intellectual progress and improvement... Am I too practical??
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