In a posting entitled, Imagine, a fellow blogger, A Spiritual Diablog, discusses the controversies that came up in the early Christian church, over what was necessary in order to be a Christian and what was Jewish tradition, that no longer needed to be observed.
"A critical event in transforming Christianity from a minor Jewish sect into a world religion was St. Paul’s decision to set aside Jewish laws concerning diet and circumcision, and invite non-Jews as well as Jews into the faith. Paul recognized that despite their value for Jewish tradition, these customs were secondary to the heart of the Word that he believed was universal."
He then goes on to ask, "what if Christians of every denomination, and Christianity as a whole, were to set aside its view of itself as absolutely right in its belief system? What if Christians rose up to declare to Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and Jews: our beliefs are in no sense better than yours? We are in no way more righteous or justified than you? What if Christians were to fully acknowledge members of other religions as brothers, sisters - full equals?"
My immediate response was that it will take many generations to heal the great polarization that has just taken place between Christianity, as it has been expressed in the "righteous empire" and "axis of evil" rhetoric of the Bush administration, and the Muslim world. America has not only alienated former allies, but increased the fear of the "Other," in the name of religion, like never before.
There are many ethnic groups and entire countries that are still recovering from cultural genocide, introduced by the missionaries of the last 400 years. We have reopened deep wounds and a sense of vulnerability around the world. Although many early settlers came to America for their own freedom to worship in their own way, when they started to preach to the Native Americans, they insisted that converts-to-be, first adopted their culture, to prove that they could be "trusted with that Treasure of Christ," even to the point of insisting that they have British style haircuts. Recommended reading: Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native American Cultural Genocide, by George E. Tinker.
We haven't even taken the first baby step in America, to do away with the mistrust that many denominations feel for each other. As the previous posting said, in a quote from Bart D. Ehrman, "Many of these Christian groups, of course, refuse to consider other such groups Christian."
