new zealand: christian identity in a multi-faith world

Christian Identity in a

Multi-Faith World

Anglican Schools, New Zealand

Can there be peace among passionately faithful people?

humoranti-humor

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Albert Einstein: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?Sir Isaac Newton: Chickens at rest tend to stay at rest. Chickens in motion tend to cross the road.

A nun: It was a habit.Hamlet: That is not the question.John Donne: It crosseth for thee.Colonel Sanders: Did I miss one?

Why did the dinosaur cross the road?(2 answers)

What is the chicken’s deepest dream?

Why did the Texas chicken cross the road?

Why did the chicken go to the seance?

Can you imagine Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed walking together ...

If they could cross the road together, might it be possible for us to follow them?

Starting Point:

We already know how to do 2 things quite well:


1. how to have a strong Christian identity that is hostile toward people of other religions.

STRONG-HOSTILE

We have the only way.

You are going to hell.

We are God’s chosen.

You worship false gods.

resistance is futile.

you will be assimilated - or eliminated.


1. how to have a strong Christian identity that is hostile toward people of other religions.

2. how to have a weak Christian identity that is tolerant (benign) toward people of other religions.

weak-benign

it doesn’t matter what you believe.

all religions are the same.

all roads lead to god.

only sincerity matters.

doctrines divide.

keep religion private.

We haven’t yet learned ...

to have a strong Christian identity

that is benevolent

toward other religions.

strong-benevolent

Because I Follow Jesus, I love you.

I move toward “the other.”

I break down walls of hostility.

i stand with you in solidarity.

you are made in God’s image.

i am your servant.

I practice human-kindness.

Strong: compete, conquer, convert

Weak: least common denominator, minimize difference

The (strong) colonizing option:

The (weak) LCD option:

The secular option:

Is there a strong & benevolent option?

A Popular Misconception:

Our religious differences keep us apart.

Actuality:It is not our religious

differences that keep us apart, but rather one thing we all hold in common:

Actuality:We build strong religious

identities through hostility toward the other.

Give people a common enemy, and you will

give them a common identity. Deprive them

of an enemy and you will deprive them of

the crutch by which they know who they are.

- James Alison

Hostility has had survival value ...

but it may now threaten our survival.

"Historically, the amity, or goodwill, within the group has often depended on enmity, or hatred, between groups. But when you get to the global level, that won't work... That cannot be the dynamic that holds the planet together... But what would be unprecedented is to have this kind of solidarity and moral cohesion at a global level that did not depend on the hatred of other groups of people."

(Robert Wright, Nonzero: The Logic Of Human Destiny, quoted in Evolutionaries: Unlocking The

Spiritual And Cultural Potential In Science's Greatest Idea, by Carter Phipps)

Can Christians today build a new kind of identity ... based on hospitality and solidarity, not hostility, to the other?

strong-benevolent

Four Challenges

1. Historical

2. Doctrinal

3. Liturgical

4. Missional

A fifth ...

spiritual

Four Challenges

1. Historical

2. Doctrinal

3. Liturgical

4. Missional

Must doctrinal differences always divide us?

From Follow the Sacredness, by Jonathan Haidt http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/17/forget-the-money-follow-the-sacredness/

Despite what you might have learned in Economics 101, people aren’t always selfish. In politics, they’re more often groupish. When people feel that a group they value — be it racial, religious, regional or ideological — is under attack, they rally to its defense, even at some cost to themselves. We evolved to be tribal, and politics is a competition among coalitions of tribes.

... The key to understanding tribal behavior is not money, it’s sacredness. The great trick that humans developed at some point in the last few hundred thousand years is the ability to circle around a tree, rock, ancestor, flag, book or god, and then treat that thing as sacred. People who worship the same idol can trust one another, work as a team and prevail over less cohesive groups. So if you want to understand politics, and especially our divisive culture wars, you must follow the sacredness.

“Sacred groupishness” often makes a “centering idol” out of a list of doctrines.

Doctrines provide a loyalty test ...

helping us test others for membership in our safe group.

Doctrine is not simply about “truth” - it’s about loyalty, safety, security, and

groupishness.

But doctrine can have another meaning ... another purpose:

Doctrine can mean

“a healing teaching.”

What might happen if we took a second look at our core doctrines -

not as centering idols, but as

healing teachings?

healing teachingsintended to bind

together what has been torn and broken

(re-ligion)?

The Healing Teaching of Creation

The Healing Teaching of Original Sin

2 trees ...be as godsgood and evil us and themmale and femaleCain and Abel

The Healing Teaching of Election (or chosen-ness)

The Healing Teaching of the Deity of

Christ

The Healing Teaching of the Holy Spirit

The Healing Teaching of the Trinity

Us.

Them.

Us.

Them.

Neighbor?

Enemy?

Us.

Them.

Neighbor?

Hostility? Hospitality?Different? Same?

Enemy?

From Catherine Maresca (Catechesis of the Good Shepherd) -

Finally, [Maria] Cavalletti emphasizes the importance of being specific. You can’t teach children language without teaching children a language. She writes, “Wishing to stay on a vague level without any specific content is the same as wanting a child to talk without using any particular language.” Some parents say they don’t want their children to learn a particular religion because they want them to be free to choose their own. But these children are missing the opportunity to become spiritually literate.

To be initiated into the signs of their religious tradition creates the possibility of grasping the signs of many traditions, and of respecting the integrity of each of those traditions. So we need to be religious in a particular way, true to the faith we affirm for ourselves, in order to foster the spiritual and religious literacy of our children.... this is a service to our children. We have to be specific.

While we don’t reject other traditions, a particular religion has to be our starting point. To say, “I’m spiritual but not religious” is like saying, “I’m linguistic but don’t speak any particular language.” Everyone has innate linguistic capacity that gets activated as one learns a particular language or languages. Likewise, everyone has spiritual capacity that gets activated and mobilized through becoming religious in a particular way. Becoming religious in a particular way is foundational for relating to the religious other.

Children who have learned their native language well are poised to learn new languages with greater ease. Children who learned the language of their religious tradition are likewise poised to grasp the sacred signs of another tradition. As we nurture the spiritual life of young children with sacred signs, we simultaneously build the foundation of respect and understanding for others’ beliefs. With spiritual literacy, faith and interfaith formation work hand in hand, promoting in turn a more peaceful world.

Children, Signs, and SpiritualLiteracy: An Interfaith Experience

By Catherine Maresca

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