Meditation 557
Sharing False Religions
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Last month, my neighbourhood church had up the sign:A FAITH WORTH HAVING
IS A FAITH WORTH SHARING
On seeing it, I wondered if this signalled an outreach program in which congregation members would be sharing their faith whether I wanted it or not. Sure enough, later in the month two women carrying bibles showed up on my doorstep. They were clearly not Mormon missionaries, and they were significantly younger than the usual Jehovah's Witnesses who come round my way.
After we exchanged "Good mornings" one of them held out a small poster to me, reading:
BEWARE OF FALSE RELIGIONS!
I smiled, saying:
"I belong to what you would consider a false religion."
I expected a discussion, but they simply smiled back, said their good-byes, and went on to visit my neighbour. So much for sharing! I was not going to be able to find out from them why they considered their religion to be true, and other religions false; nor how to distinguish between the true and false.
The nature of evangelical religions (and I'm using evangelical in a universal rather than strictly Christian sense) is that they must be shared with those of other beliefs,[1] they alone possess the unique truth, and all other religions are false.
But how does someone determine that one particular religion is true and all others are false? With all the various forms of evangelicalism out there, how can anyone possibly pick one? I suggest it is impossible.
Is it possible that there is one and only one true religion and all others false? Or is it more probable that all religions are false? I'll take a pass on any of them being shared with me.
Footnote:
- Not all religions are evangelical; some make it difficult to convert. Just try to join the Amish, or the Hutterites, or Orthodox Judaism, for example.)