I Don't Play Well With Others

                      I have tried to avoid interfaith work. I have tried to avoid interfaith worship services, dialogues, and get-togethers. Yet for some reason I find myself again and again mired in one interfaith endeavor or another no matter how hard I try to hide (I was a regional hide-and-seek champion). For all of my liberal, progressive, and non-Christian friends please realize that it is not you, it is me. Don’t be offended. At least don’t be offended over my reluctance to engage in interfaith work. Here is a list of some of the reasons that I shudder at the notion of interfaith work:

1.    It is difficult enough to work with other Christians.

There are a bevy of Christians of diverse stripes and identities (Baptists alone are growing new spores Baptist typologies every day) and we do not all get along. Trying to get evangelicals and progressives and charismatics to all gather in the same room and have a civil conversation is no small thing. If we cannot have an internal conversation, then how on earth are we (the Christians) supposed to have a broader conversation? Which type of Christians are doing the talking and to what end. Even the purpose of interfaith work is up for grabs as some would argue that it should be towards conversion and others would argue that it is towards understanding and some (the kooky ones) would claim that it is towards a one-faith kind of synthesis of religion. Each Christian will have their own idea as to what the purpose and point of such conversations might be making the conversation difficult. I imagine it is similar for other faith traditions as well.

2.    Trying to get people to commit to one faith and saying at the same time that all faiths are good is annoying

The idea of faith and commitment is waning in our culture. People are not committing to a dedicated, hard-core following of Christ, much less one of commitment to a particular church (I cannot speak to the levels of commitment in other religious traditions, they may be doing fine). If I could just preach a strong message of condemnation, telling people that if they do not commit 100% to Christ then they are going to hell, then I might get some traction. But that is not my style. And while I believe faith in Christ calls for a desire for 100%, I do not believe in the punitive nature of God in connection to commitment. I just took a day off which is not something someone who is committed 100% will do. So when I talk to people about faith and Christ I can encourage and push and cajole, but I cannot put an ultimatum on the table. Somehow I have to convince people that following Christ and being a part of a community (which is an essential part of following Christ) is very important for their life without stressing the hell part.

So add to that nebulous mess other faiths. When someone says, “well, I’ve been reading a lot about ‘x’ and have been thinking about trying that out,” what can I say? I can’t say, “follow that path and you will burn in ponds and puddles of sulfur!” (there is a sulfur shortage in hell right now so no more lakes) because I don’t believe it. There is good and value in many different faith traditions and they may work for other people. So all I can do is smile and say, “good for you, stay with it. Hooray.”

So I have a weak sell with many other faith traditions around me in a society that is not really excited about the idea of committing to any particular religious traditions. Fun.

3.    Mushy theology

Here is where the progressive/liberal types drive me nuts (full disclosure: I come out of a progressive/liberal context and find a home within such a community around many issues – and this is where you all should be offended). This is when people say things like: God is bigger than one religion or one faith. Sure, that could be the case, but then how can we offer any truth statements? How can we say anything about anything if we keep falling back to the “that which cannot be spoken of” response?

Or that we should just look to the similarities between different faith traditions and celebrate those. This approach reduces God to the filled out portion of a Venn diagram and takes away those things that makes one faith different from the others. Again, what about contrasting truth statements? Are we to throw those out?

This theology is mushy because it works hard to avoid all of the distinctions and differences. It looks to avoid variety, the spice of life, and life without spice is boring, mushy, and blah.

4.    I might be wrong

This is something that no one wants to admit but is a very real possibility. If two faith traditions have competing truth claims then one of them might be wrong. Note, I didn’t say it has to be wrong because I’m post-modern and have moved beyond the necessity of only one truth claim existing at a time. See, I can be open-minded when I have to be. Yet we need to take seriously the challenge of opposing truth claims and how to wrestle with such things. One of us might be wrong.

This could mean that maybe Jesus is not God incarnate. Or maybe reality is what it is and not the extension of the imagination of a divine being. Or maybe the Koran is not the word of God. Now we are cutting to the quick and making people uncomfortable. Yet I think this is a very real part of interfaith dialogue that needs to be addressed. Someone might be wrong. I don’t see people excited to embrace such a stance. We would rather respect each other’s difference than actually suggest that someone is crazy and needs to reconsider his or her entire system of belief. We are too nice.

All this said does not mean I am a crank who will not do any interfaith work. Some of my best friends are people of other faiths! I think dialogue is important as well as gaining an understanding of the other. I think it is important to work with other people for the good of society. Just please do not ask me to hug someone, hold their hand, and sing, “let there be peace on earth,” to some amorphous, vapid understanding of a deity. Ugh.