Exclusivity, But No Superiority

Chapter One of The Reason for God, by Tim Keller The claim any religion makes of being exclusively true flies in the face of many people today. As Keller introduces the problem by telling his own experience as part of a panel which included a Jewish rabbi and a Muslim imam. Their conversation was polite and respectful. “Each speaker affirmed that there were several significant, irreconcilable differences between the major faiths. A case in point was the person of Jesus. We all agreed on the statement, ‘If Christians are right about Jesus being God, then Muslims and Jews fail in a serious way to love God as God really is, but if Jews and Muslims are right that Jesus is not God but rather a teacher or a prophet, then Christians fail to love God as God really is.’” The panelists were satisfied with the statement, the audience wasn’t. Many argued “it was intolerant to say one faith has a better grasp of the truth than others.” After acknowledging that differing religions claiming to be even ‘more right’ than others is a cause of interpersonal divisiveness, Keller uses the rest of the chapter to discuss the most common attempts to handle the divisiveness of religion. Some want to outlaw religion, others want to condemn religion and still others want to privatize religion. Keller provides examples of each attempt, analyzes them and then offers an answer from either a historical, a cultural or a philosophical viewpoint. For those who want to outlaw religion he reminds us that in the 20th century the worst examples of violence and intolerance were practiced by those who thought religion was violent and intolerant. He also points out the growth of all major religions worldwide, a phenomena unlikely to change. Religion is not going away. Those who want a ‘universal’ religion (all religions are basically the same) make their own absolute religious faith statements when they begin to describe the basics that fit all other religions. Those who think each religion sees only a part of the whole seem to speak from the position that they see more than any who practice a religion. Those who say it’s arrogant to insist your religion is right and others are wrong show the same arrogance in their own claim. And those who insist that beliefs are mostly culturally determined must think that their beliefs about other beliefs aren’t! (Or are they being inconsistent?) Keller likewise discusses those who seek to keep religion private and use only secular thinking in the public square. Keller pushes back with the reality that even those who are ‘secular’ have their own implicit religion, that is their own “set of beliefs that explain what life is all about, who we are, and the most important things that humans should spend their time doing.” Whoever claims to be ‘secular’ exercises his own ‘faith’ in his own approach to life. The conversation he portrays between Ms. A and Ms. B show how unsettling it can be. While the examples and arguments are very helpful in understanding how some people think and how we might interact with them, I am astonished at Keller’s last section, “Christianity can save the world”. He had already said that religion can be divisive. He pointed out how it happens. I feel I’m right. That means you aren’t. Pretty soon I feel superior to you, and either become arrogant or haughty. We all see that happen way too much. So how can Christianity help? “Christianity has within itself remarkable power to explain and expunge the divisive tendencies within the human heart.” What is he talking about? First, that all people are created in the image of God. So Keller says, “Christians [should] expect non-believers to be better than any of their mistaken beliefs could make them.” And then, because sin has touched all people, “Christians expect believers to be worse in practice than their orthodox beliefs should make them. His conclusion—“So there will be plenty of ground for respectful cooperation.” Right here I offer apologies for not stating either the image of God or the fallenness of man so aptly. Since love believes the best of others, and my experience reveals my own failures, I should look to the good others do, and be wary of my own evil. And on top of that, Christianity is all about grace—Christ doing for us what we could never do for ourselves. Therefore I have no grounds for superiority. Do I belong to God? It is only because of His grace, mercy and love (nothing, absolutely nothing in me to earn or deserve it!) Why me and not someone else—God alone knows. What He tells me is that it isn’t because I am better or worse than others, it has to do with His love, will and purposes. So how should I live? Joyful that God has made known the truth to me. Humble that He loves me in spite of myself, eager to see the good in others, and hopeful that as they see good in me (and here my reason why) they too will find life in Jesus. What do you think? Of Keller’s arguments? Or my response?