A New Kind of Christianity - Brian McLaren [102]
The Message of the new righteous ness which eschatological faith brings into the world says that in fact the executioners will not finally triumph over their victims. It also says that in the end the victims will not triumph over their executioners. The one [Jesus] will triumph who first died for the victims and then also for the executioners, and in so doing revealed a new righteous ness which breaks through the vicious circles of hate and vengeance and which, from the victims and executioners, creates…a new humanity.33
This is a new kind of eschatology—not an eschatology of determinism and acquiescence, but an eschatology of hope, anticipation, and participation. It probably won’t produce much in the way of scary B-grade movies and end-times prediction charts that map the future. Instead, it will produce vision and motivation to help us participate in the creation of a better future for ourselves and for the world, in this life and history and in the glorious mystery beyond.
PART IX:
THE PLURALISM QUESTION
19
How Should Followers of Jesus Relate to People of Other Religions?
I’m not sure which of the ten questions in our quest is most important. I suppose it depends on our criteria for importance. But if our list of criteria includes saving lives from war, genocide, and terrorism, this question may draw the others together in a way that puts it at the top of the list. We all woke up again today in a world where Christians, Muslims, and Jews (along with adherents of many other religions) are either killing one another or planning new ways to kill one another, and many believe that in doing so they are obeying and even pleasing and honoring God. Each group points at one of the others as the prime offender, and the pointed-at group tends to point back. But whoever the biggest offender may be, all of us share in the danger and opportunity of this moment—and in the responsibility to turn it toward a better future.
Christians of all types add up to about 33 percent of the world’s population, Muslims total about 24 percent, and Jews less than a quarter of a percent, but in light of their past sufferings it’s no surprise they possess a disproportionate number of weapons. Together the three Abrahamic faiths make up more than half the people in the world. If Christians, Muslims, and Jews are at each other’s throats, nobody in the world is safe. And if Christian, Muslim, and Jewish belief in one Creator God inspires more violence than peacemaking, all three religions are losing ground as they sling mud at one another.
It’s no wonder, then, that in my travels around the world questions about religious pluralism are among the most common I receive, especially from younger people. Christians seem ambivalent when they ask these questions. On the one hand, they seem to want a less hostile approach to other religions. They feel uncomfortable with the win-lose, “It’s either us or them” mind-set they have inherited, because they know this mind-set too easily descends into prejudice, dehumanization, and violence toward the other. But they also feel uncomfortable with the “Whatever you believe is fine, as long as you’re sincere” approach. Just as the former fuels fear, resentment, and even hatred toward “them,” the latter undermines commitment and identity among “us.” I share this ambivalence, because I think both dangers are real.
So in our quest for a new kind of Christianity, we must address this pivotal question of a Christian approach and attitude toward people of other religions, remembering that this is not simply a religious question. It carries profound political, military, and humanitarian implications, and millions of human lives could be saved or lost depending on our response. Theologians, denominational leaders, pastors, and other religious leaders too seldom remember that their work, if taken seriously, literally becomes a matter of life and death.1
If we want