Should Christians celebrate the Ramadam with the Muslims Dear friends “Barka de Salah” and I wish you a happy celebration with our Muslim brethren. As a Pastor, taught and brought up within the reformed tradition that insisted on ‘faith alone’ through ‘Christ alone’, I have always been sceptical of other religions. This background made me to be resentful against non-Christians and saw believers of other faiths as ‘anonymous Christians’. I saw myself in the exclusivist’s family that maintained that salvation is given only to those who make an explicit commitment to Jesus Christ. I read Acts 4:12 and John 14:6 to justify my orientation and counted those outside Christianity as lost. This quote from Pope Boniface VIII in his declaration maximised my stand in relation to the ‘Otherness’ when he says; “We are required by faith to believe and hold that there is one holy, catholic and apostolic Church; we firmly believe it and unreservedly profess it; outside it there is neither salvation nor remission of sin…” My Exclusivist position o equated the Muslims as synonymous to terrorists. And I guess this is the perception of the world outside the Muslim faith. The political and economic hardship, in which the Muslims find themselves, have also forced them, to an extent, to see no difference between Christians and the Westerner. Thus, any attack on Muslim countries by the West is also an attack by Christians. When I stumbled on the writings of Alan Race who said; “Our first task in approaching another people, another culture, another religion, is to take off our shoes, for the place we are approaching in holy. Else we may find ourselves treading on men’s dreams. More serious still, ‘we may forget that God was here before our arrival’.” I was thrown into a dilemma. In this dilemma I decided to opt for interreligious space; as an option because it goes far beyond the exclusivist attitude that divides people into ‘we’ and ‘they’, those who ‘are saved’ and those who ‘are not saved’, those on the ‘inside and those on the ‘outside’. My option also goes beyond inclusivism that does not accept the equality of all religions but insist that Christ is in every religion, and even beyond pluralism that believes that all major religions are equally valid and lead to God and salvation. This does not mean that my belief in Christ is watered down and this does not make me an atheist. Rather, Interreligious space offers the opportunity for all created humanity to belong to one another. Since the world we live in is religious in itself, and being part of God’s created world, will enable us to coexist. This coexistence creates an interreligious space that enables dialogue at all levels; including dialogue with God’s created order. This space is the free communicative space that enables people of other faiths to be able to express themselves not as subordinates but as equals with the other ‘Otherness’, in their search for a stable universe. The free space is what will enable people at grass roots to discuss and exchange views, beliefs and ideas as they come across people of other faith in their daily activities. This space will also be created when humanity at all levels is called to participate in enhancing the common good of humanity’s struggles for survival. Thus, interreligious space will encourage faith communities at all levels, i.e. from the top to the grass roots, to embrace a spirituality of life and transformation, rooted in God’s loving grace. The interreligious space can be created when we give free room for action based on the crises threatening ‘mother’ earth. This is where global responsibility for humanity and ecological sustainability is required. From this perspective, dialogue can be meaningful and liberative among existing religions of the world. Article 18 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that; “everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.” You are free the to join the celebrations and teach them the love of Christ or you are free to grant them their space to celebrate their uniqueness Stay Blessed.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 10:57:45 +0000
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