Christianity is Exclusive, Divisive, and Intolerant.

“How can you say there is only one way to God?”
“What about other religions?”
“Christianity is exclusive, divisive, and intolerant.”

These are the questions and assertions of many non-Christians. How would you respond? I love what Tim Keller has to say here…

It is important to grant that often when this topic comes up the rhetoric does get heated and those who represent the Christian position are not always particularly respectful of those who disagree. And indeed there has been terrible intolerance by the church throughout history.

Having said that, just because people hold to contradictory positions does not necessarily mean the people are hostile – just that they hold two different views of ultimate reality. Everybody has a view of spiritual reality that is exclusive. Irreligion is exclusive, too. Everybody is basing their lives on truth claims that are fundamentals. Even people who say nobody has the truth are making a truth claim. So you cannot avoid truth claims. The question is, which truth claims lead to intolerance?

At the heart of the Christian’s view of spiritual reality is a man who gave his life in sacrifice for people who did not believe in him, a man who died asking for forgiveness for the people who were killing him. Therefore, Christianity is an exclusive claim, but it is the most inclusive exclusive claim because it wants you to exclusively believe in this man who died for his enemies, and asks you to love and care for yours.

So, does the message that Jesus is the only way to God necessarily lead to intolerance? Christians can only become intolerant to the degree that  they misunderstand the heart of the gospel – namely, the good news that Almighty God himself came to serve us and die for us, so we could be saved not because of our right beliefs and behavior, but by the gift of his unmerited grace. That message, rightly grasped, cannot lead to coercion or intolerance. The gospel has within it deep resources for humility and respect. It is up to Christians to prove this assertion with their lives.

As a side note, it is worth noticing that the pluralist approach does not in itself promote unity between faiths and cultures. For one thing, the idea that truth is relative and that every person has the right way to construct  his or her own religion is grounded in a highly individualistic way of thinking that many cultures do not share. Religious pluralism is therefore ethnocentric, the promotion of one particular cultural worldview as superior to others.

The fact is that anyone’s main identity-factor – that which gives them a sense of significance – can be a basis for exclusion and oppression. Overt absolutists say, “What makes me special is that I have the truth” – and that leads to feeling superior to an to acting exclusively toward people who do not have your truth. Covert absolutists say, “What makes me special is that I know that there is no absolute truth and everyone is free to be who they choose to be.” But this also leads to feeling superior to and to acting exclusively toward people who think that there is truth. But the gospel absolutist says, “I have the truth – but the truth I have is a suffering God, a lamb that was slain, the one who died for his enemies, the one who came not to be served but to serve and give his life a ransom for many.”

You cannot actually be skeptical about one set of beliefs without a deep faith commitment to some other set of beliefs. You cannot avoid fundamentals and you cannot avoid truth claims. G. K. Chesterton said: “A bigot is not the one who thinks he’s right. Every sane man or woman thinks they’re right. The bigot is the one who cannot understand how the other person came to be wrong.”