"Respecting" Other Religions

Today’s OneNewsNow.com Daily News Brief email had the subject line “Should Christians ‘respect’ other religions?” Immediately I became suspicious and so within the email I found the link to this column by R. Albert Mohler, Jr. The column deals with the Pope’s recent visit to the Jordan and his comments that he respects the religion of Islam.

There is a lot that is going on in this piece that I’m going to comment on, so I think I will take a paragraph or two at a time, copy them and then provide my thought.

There are so many different angles to this situation. First, we have the spectacle of a Pope being received as a head of state. This is wrong on so many counts. Second, we have the Pope speaking in diplomatic jargon, rather than in plain and direct speech. Third, we have the Pope speaking of "respect" without any clear understanding of what this really means. Does the Pope believe that Muslims can be saved through the teachings of Islam?

First: Technically the Pope is a head of state. The Vatican is considered an independent nation.
Second: As a head of state, and one that is walking on eggshells thanks to previous comments, I’m not surprised to see him use diplomatic speak.
Third: That is a good question that will get addressed in more detail below.

Actually, he probably does -- at least within the context of a salvific inclusivism. The Roman Catholic Church officially teaches that Muslims are "included in the plan of salvation" by virtue of their claim to "hold the faith of Abraham."

In the words of Lumen Gentium, one of the major documents adopted at Vatican II: "But the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place amongst these there are the Mohamedans, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us adore the one and merciful God, who on the last day will judge mankind."

The same language is basic to the current official catechism of the church as well. Within the context of the document, this language clearly implies that Muslims are within the scope of God's salvation. While the Roman Catholic Church teaches that Islam is both erroneous and incomplete, it also holds that sincere Muslims can be included in Christ's salvation through their faithfulness to monotheism and Islam.

Thus, when the Catholic Pope speaks of "respecting" Islam, he can do so in a way that evangelical Christians cannot. Within the context of official Catholic teaching, the Pope can create a fusion of diplomacy and doctrine.

This is something that I did not know, but I am encouraged by the somewhat holistic outlook adopted by the Church in this case.

While evangelical Christians face a different context to this question, the urgency is the same. We are not playing a diplomatic role as head of state, but we are called to be ambassadors for Christ and His Gospel.

It really bugs me when people claim to be speaking for Christ.

In this light, any belief system that pulls persons away from the Gospel of Christ, denies and subverts Christian truth, and blinds sinners from seeing Christ as the only hope of salvation is, by biblical definition, a way that leads to destruction. Islam, like every other rival to the Christian gospel, takes persons captive and is devoid of genuine hope for salvation.

Thus, evangelical Christians may respect the sincerity with which Muslims hold their beliefs, but we cannot respect the beliefs themselves. We can respect Muslim people for their contributions to human welfare, scholarship, and culture. We can respect the brilliance of Muslim scholarship in the medieval era and the wonders of Islamic art and architecture. But we cannot respect a belief system that denies the truth of the gospel, insists that Jesus was not God's Son, and takes millions of souls captive.

I find this to be very disturbing. While I’m glad that R. Mohler can see and respect many aspects of Muslim culture, history, and society, but to completely discount their religion just smacks of arrogance to me. Based on what he has written, this man completely lacks humility.

The papal visit to Jordan points directly to the problem of the papacy itself and to the confusion of Roman Catholic theology on this very point. To understand Islam is to know that we cannot identify Muslims as those who "along with us adore the one and merciful God." To deny the Trinity is to worship another God.

If not believing in the Trinity is to “worship another God” then what about the Jews? All Christians (or at least all that I have ever come into contact with or read) believe that they worship the same God that the Jews worship, but they (the Jews) do not believe in the Trinity. So by Mohler’s definition, Jews also worship a different God. But wait…Jesus was a Jew, so how does Mohler rationalize his contradictory and self-serving definition?

Respect is a problematic category. In the end, Christians must show respect for Muslims by sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the spirit of love and truth. We are called to love and respect Muslims, not Islam.

So the only way to respect them is to preach to them? How arrogant is that? I’m sorry if I’m offending anyone but this is folly. No one religion is truer than any other. They all have their pluses and their minuses but none of them own the truth. I understand that the point of religion is the faith part, but faith that lacks the intellectual humility to know that admit that one could be wrong is hollow in my eyes and misses the great power of the divine mystery.