Infinite MonkeysDisclaimer: Though I'm essentially an agnostic these days, it's not my wish to challenge or undermine anybody's faith -- I'm no Richard Dawkins.
That said: Very interesting poll from Pew today, suggesting that most Christians don't believe you have to be a Christian:
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life last year surveyed 35,000 American, and found that 70% of respondents agreed with the statement "Many religions can lead to eternal life." Even more remarkable was the fact that 57% of Evangelical Christians were willing to accept that theirs might not be the only path to salvation, since most Christians historically have embraced the words of Jesus, in the Gospel of John, that "no one comes to the Father except through me."Now I happen to think this is a good thing. If you think that God-as-you-understand-him is in fact the-only-God-there-is with the only-rules-about-how-to-live there are, well, that seems to me to increase the odds that you'll resort to damaging zealotry in order to defend or spread that understanding.
A little humility, though -- a realization that none of us (me included) actually knows what goes on beyond the observable universe -- tends to blunt such radicalism. It didn't work out this way for me, but I think it's possible to possess a serious faith and that kind of humility. I would've thought Americans mostly immune to living with that kind of nuance (I, uh, haven't always had good personal counterexamples to work from) but, gladly, I admit I was wrong.
Posted by Joel at June 23, 2008 10:45 AMInteresting post, Joel. As a Catholic, even as a boy, I had many questions about whether good people who are not Christian or Catholic nonetheless go to Heaven. It seemed strange to me that a man as peaceful and good as Gandhi, for instance, was doomed to Hell.
Of course, the questioning was helped by Born Again Christian friends of mine in school who told me that I was going to Hell because I was a Catholic. I considered that just plain silly, and decided that good souls are in for good things in the afterlife.
Posted by: Dr. Zaius at June 23, 2008 11:43 AMMust...resist...bait...
Posted by: Monkey RobbL at June 23, 2008 01:20 PMC'mon, Robb. You know you wanna...
Posted by: Ben at June 23, 2008 01:22 PMAs the old joke goes, we just worship God in different ways. You in your way, and I in His.
Posted by: Monkey David at June 24, 2008 02:04 PMI like that one. My pastor likes to say (tongue-in-cheek, of course): "We won't ALL be Presbyterians - until we get to heaven."
Seriously, after we get this migration thing done with, I will compose a real post on the issue of exclusivity, because I think it's a topic worth discussing in more depth.
Posted by: Monkey RobbL at June 25, 2008 09:28 AM