As a lover of music, books, sports, the southeastern United States, and a multitude of other frivolities, I am fully alright with the fact that people with disagree with me. Not everyone has my taste in everything, and while I may still try to convert you love the books of Kurt Vonnegut, I am still able to sleep at night knowing that some do not. However, when it comes to religion, I am far more apprehensive about saying that I am right and you are right. Some of my more conservative friends would indeed say that it is a critical point of the Christian faith that Jesus is "the way, the truth and the life" and the sole path to God. While I do not disagree with that fact, I am constantly trying to understand how such a reality is properly lived out in the world.
For instance, you have your classic evangelical apologist who insists that the only logical stance is to believe in God. "Look at the trees and the mountains and the stars: they all prove the existence of a creator," they say. On the other hand, you have your militant evolutionary biology touting atheist. "God is a delusion and to believe otherwise is to spit in the face of all that science has taught us," they exclaim with much the same insistence as a revival preacher. I am confused by both of these people. I believe God exists and I believe that science explains much of how the world came to be. It is not the scientific debate that concerns me, it is the foundation behind the argument.
I hear Christians quoting Psalm 14: "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" I believe in scripture, but I am not sure that all the atheists in the world are simply not smart enough to assent to some theological assertions. Does not Jeremiah 17:9 say, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" I want people to know and love God, but anyone will be convinced to follow Jesus by theological propositions. Furthermore, I think most Christians understand more theological facts than they do existential realities of following Jesus. More "believers" can tell you that God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent than can tell you the names of the widows or impoverished in their church (if there even are any).
I have spent much of my time trying to know as much as I can about Christianity: the Bible, church history, Hebrew, systematic theology, hermeneutics, apologetics, and the works of C.S. Lewis. Often times, everything I know leaves me feeling cold, confused and further from God than I want to be. This is not a confession of doubt in God, but rather a deep doubt in what we are able to know. I am certain about my faith, but I am uncertain about life. Pluralism is a good thing because it reminds me that I am not the only person that does not know everything. I think some of my beliefs are more correct than those of others (sometimes much more and sometimes not so much).
As a Religious Studies major, I often see my colleagues becoming interested in or involved in the Interfaith movement. I am not so interested in this movement. My experience has been that many in the Interfaith movement want to tell me why even though I am a Christian, I am also a Jew, Buddhist, and Hindu. I grow very frustrated with these people because I do not understand why I would want to be all of those things. Such a life would seem to me to be riddled with contradictions. Can I eat pork or beef? Am I only to eat vegetables? Are there many gods who are a manifestation of one or is there only one god, or none? No, I definitely cannot and do not want to be a member of multiple religions. The "all paths lead to the same place idea" is nonsensical to me.
However, pluralism in its cultural sense is fantastic because it allows us to live together. That's a start, I think.
