Can We 
Pursue "Multi-Culturalism" Without Religion?
Culture and religion are in some instances are inseparable. It maybe a little
niave to think a nation can blend multiple cultures without dealing with the
inevitable differences in religious beliefs and practises those various cultures
will bring. In Australia we have enjoyed a great degree of harmony between
people of different religious beliefs and ideologies. But this may change.
Therefore the question of religion and its role in culture will have to be
dealt with with tremendous sensitivity. Still there are some who would like
religion to have no role in our culture. For these people religions are all
the same and rather irrelevant...
THE UGLY SIDE OF RELIGION...
Sceptics and atheists are quick to point out to people that religion has
tended to increase hostilities between people rather than bring peace.
They point to the Crusades of the Middle Ages, Arab-Israeli conflict, the
Bosnian War, Hindu Caste wars, Muslim-Hindu conflicts in India and the
Cashmere, and more recently the Iraq War to justify their position.
One recent letter to the editor
of our local newspaper concluded all religions seem to be attempting to
worship the same god yet do so with totally different ideology and methods.
His solution was to suggest that either the notion of god or the notion of
religion was wrong (but not both). He then finished his argument by claiming
that it is therefore people and their religions which are wrong and that we
are best served to ignore formal religions and just concentrate on god ourselves.
There is of course another option which this person didn't seem to even entertain.
What if the statement "all religions are wrong" is more accurately
put "nearly
all religions are wrong"? This validates the concerns of this person that
all religions seem differ significantly on fundamental concepts of the nature
of the Supreme Being, sin, salvation, life, death, heaven, hell, and the reality
of evil and a solution to it. Perhaps it is only the religiously ignorant who
still suggest that all religions are essentially the same. It is a hard position
to maintain when confronted with the evidence. The ugly side of religion is
when those who hold to these differences are highly emotive about them and
are hostile in attacking those with a different position.
SEEKING TRUTH RATHER THAN RELIGION
If we could entertain that the statement "nearly all religions are
wrong" at least has the possibility of being correct, then our pursuit
becomes one where must discern which religions are wrong. I suggest that
"wrong" in this sense means "in factual error, contradictory, or even- deceptive".
It does not necessarily mean "bad, immoral, or corrupt". Therefore, a religious
ideology could be "wrong" but its adherents could be living "right". It also
accepts the notion that trust is not just subjective, but is fundamentally
objective. It is unreasonable to claim that because an idea is true
for you and not true for me that it is true.
When it comes to religion many people have been conditioned to believe that
religion and facts (science) do not mix. This idea must be challenged. If a
religious ideology claims to be true yet fails the most fundamental tests of
truth, its appeal to be true is fatally weakened.
The tests of truth can include:
Test #1. Is it non-contradictory?
If a religion, presumably through its Holy Book(s), is contradictory it fails
the first test of truth. For example, one religious book claims that Jesus
Christ was the Messiah, spoke the truth, and never told a lie. It then states
that what He taught was wrong and anyone believing it would be cursed by
god! The same religious book claims that the Jewish Scriptures (Torah) is
indeed the inerrant Word of God, but in retelling one its most central stories
it changes the facts so significantly that it totally contradicts the same
account. For example, the Jewish Torah claims that God gave Moses the Law
and he then gave it to Israel. The other religious book affirms that this
account is absolutely true but that it wasn't Moses who brought the Law to
Israel but God Himself lifted Mount Sinai off the earth and suspended it
over the heads of Israel and threatened to drop it on them if they didn't
accept the Law He was offering them!
In determining whether a religion is true we must investigate whether it is
contradictory.
Test #2. Does it agree with the evidence?
Some religious books make vast historical claims about civilisations and peoples
which have no supporting archaeological evidence. One religious book describes
an elaborate civilisation which existed in South America for which to this
day there is not one scrap of evidence. It also claims that a certain modern
people group are the direct descendants of the Biblical Hebrew race. Recent
DNA evidence totally refutes these claims.
Naturally, care must be taken to discern between what is integral to a religion
and what is merely the interpretation of its adherents. For example, some Christians
claim that the earth is only a few thousand years old, yet the evidence seems
to suggest that it is around seventeen billion years old. A careful examination
of the Bible immediately reveals that the Bible does not claim an age for the
earth or the universe.
In determining whether a religion is true we must investigate whether the
evidence supports or undermines its claims.
Test #3. Is it verifiable?
If a religion makes an experiencial claim this truth test asks- can
this be verified? One religion claims that if a seeker will open their
heart and mind to their religion they will experience "a
fire in the bosom". Yet millions of people have done just what they were
told to do and not experienced such a "fire".
WHY CHRISTIANITY PASSES THE TESTS OF TRUTH...
Ghandi said that he greatly admired Christ but couldn't stand His followers!
Many are put off Christianity because some of its adherents are hypocritical,
arrogant, intolerant, and bigotted. Nearly every day there is a story of some
morally corrupt "Christian" to reinforce this idea. The challenge then for
many is to look beyond pseudo-christianity and examine pure Christianity and
test its truth claims.
Ultimately, the entire claims of Christianity and the Bible stands or falls
on the truthfulness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ did
die and did rise again then Christianity will be seen to be the one chink in
the argument that "all religions are wrong" and the reason for
the qualifying statement- "nearly all religions are wrong".
Having said all of this, I realise that for a variety of reasons some people
are still going to be opposed to religions and especially Christianity. Often
these objections have little to do with reason and truth and more to do with
issues of practice and conduct.
But perhaps you are searching for meaning in life or looking for ultimate
truth. I have found both fulfilment, purpose and truthfulness in the Person
of Jesus Christ as described in the 66 books of the Bible. There is a lot at
stake here. None the least the eternal destiny of your soul.
Rethinking Ideas About 
Religion
- Christians should live their faith in Christ with integrity.
- In arguing for a religious idea, passion for a belief should not be used
to justify emotive hostility.
- Christians should excel in compassion to those who have differing religious
views.
- The right of people to object to Christianity and make those objections known
is something that Christians should respect.
- The concept that all religions are equally true is illogical but does not
demand that these religious adherents are behaviourally wrong.
- It is a mistaken notion that people of religous beliefs cannot change those
beliefs and convert to another religion.
 Andrew Corbett,
9th March 2005
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