'AUTHENTIC' RELIGION CAN TAKE MANY FORMS

A provocative response from a reader...

Your recent column on the right of a priest to preach authentic religion was quite interesting. As a theologian trained in Catholic institutions, with B.A., M.A. and Ph.D.s in theology, I vigorously disagree that authentic Catholic teaching is captured by the classic statement "extra ecclesiam nulla salus" ("There is no salvation outside the Church"). This may, in fact, be the prescribed dogma, but that in no way denotes "authenticity."

To find true Catholic authenticity, one must peer into the minds and hearts of those who are trying to authentically resemble Christ, whom Catholicism claims to represent on this earth. There you might find an authenticity that contradicts the catechism. You can certainly be Catholic, after all, without believing that others are damned for not being Catholic, which means that this bit of dogmatic folderol is nonessential and, ergo, cannot be the form of truly authentic (meaning all others are false) faith. - B., Plattsburgh, N.Y. via godsquadquestion@aol.com

COMMENT: Thank you for your considered remarks, which I'm reprinting because this allows me to say a few more things about how we treat people of faith who don't embrace our own faith. There are only two main options, or what I like to call faith moves. Each move has advantages and disadvantages. I'll try to be fair in describing them:

1. "My way or the Highway." This is the belief to which you allude that the only way to be saved is through your religion, because only your religion is true. This faith move is mostly associated with Christianity and Islam. The advantage of this faith move is that it often deeply inspires believers to evangelize the faith so others can be saved.

Another advantage is that it makes religion more than just a personal preference and closer to the truth of things. The disadvantage of this faith move is that it makes interfaith dialogue quite difficult. Finding a gentle, loving way to tell people they're going to Hell is just not that easy.

I believe the best way to live a religious life is also the best way to gain converts for your religion -- by living a life of humility and compassion rather than arrogant triumphalism. I've been blessed to know many Christians and Muslims who live just this way and who don't use their faith as either a hammer or a sword. These pious friends of mine believe that their faith is true, and yet they've found room to embrace a rabbi in an honest and loving way. I don't think they're distorting their faith by embracing mine. Telling others they're wrong does not make you right. What makes you right is when others who watch you live your life say, "I want to live like that."

2. "There are many paths up the same mountain." This faith move is associated with Judaism and Buddhism. It affirms that many faiths have created spiritually successful paths to salvation from sin, error, illusion, and all the assorted ways we betray what Lincoln called "the better angels of our nature."

The advantage of this faith move is that it makes interfaith dialogue more a way of learning than a way of selling. We learn from other climbers how they're making their ascent up the same mountain and this gives inspiration, courage and wisdom to all the other climbers. Another advantage of this faith move is that it assumes it's highly unlikely all the spiritual truth in all the world has been given to just one religion.

The main disadvantage of this faith move is the "spiritual cafeteria" problem. If our path is just one of many valid paths, why not mix and match religious practices from many faiths and combine them into a mishmash religion? The result is that the religion left on your plate has no real name.

My own view is that although certain tendencies dominate in each of the great world religions, all faiths have all the faith moves in them, and the parts you lift up tell more about you than about your faith. Christianity, obviously, has the famous Bible verse John 14:6: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." However, it also has Romans 9-11 and this from I Corinthians 12:4: "There are different gifts but the same Spirit. There are different ministries but the same Lord. There are different works but the same God who accomplishes all of them in everyone."

Whether you quote John or Corinthians is not a choice compelled by Christianity because both of them are within Christianity, but rather a choice you yourself are making about which parts of your religion you will embrace.

All the great religions have parts that are by turns either embracing or critical of other faiths. The great religious task of our age is for each of us to choose the parts of our faith that help us to find each other.

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