Here’s a riddle of American exceptionalism: How can this country be at once one of the most religiously fervent in the world and one of the most religiously tolerant? Generally, societies are one or the other. Which makes intuitive sense: If you take your faith seriously, if you believe that it is the only true one (as the Abrahamic faiths seem to demand), then you might not be able to get along with people who believe something different — that is, with people who are in error. In Western Europe, church attendance is low and tolerance, at least superficially speaking, is high. In the Middle East, meanwhile, religious observance is very high and tolerance is . . . well, need we say more?
But here in America, where more than half the population attends church at least once a month, 85% of us believe that religious diversity is good for the country and 80% of us think that there are basic truths in many religions. In fact, Americans overwhelmingly believe that people of other religions can go to heaven.
So what gives?
Does “… believe people of other religions can go to heaven†mean Lutherans hold out hope for Roman Catholics, or something farther afield?
One of the set apart points for a muscular Christianity is the bedrock belief that God thought it essential to create man with the ability and freedom to get things wrong, to screw up, to choose badly, to “sinâ€. I suspect it is, in part, because if one is not free to choose wrongly, one is also not free to choose rightly.
Therefore, God insists that we have such freedom to choose (not freedom from the effects of my choice, that is another matter!). How could I, with any humility, try to restrict a freedom that God wishes to grant?
Those who are professing Christians and who think that “Aunt Susan” will get into heaven because she is such a nice person do not understand their own faith.
Two points – 1) Heaven is heaven because God is there – indeed, heaven is being with God. Those who do not love the living and glorious Triune God would not enjoy heaven, because they would be with someone they neither knew nor trusted. 2) Even more importantly, we are reconciled to God not by being “nice,” but by repentance and trust. Only a recognition of our sin and sinfulness and a consequent dependence upon God’s mercy and not our own merit brings us to the presence of the living God.
Sin being what it is, it is theoretically possible for someone who does not know the name of Christ to recognize his or her own sinfulness and turn to an unknown god and ask for mercy. But while it is theoretically possible, it is not guaranteed to anyone, let alone everyone.
We should treat everyone with respect; they are fellow creatures of God. But just because we find them likable does not mean that God finds them innocent. Or us, for that matter. We approach the Throne of God only through the merit, mercy, and ministrations of Jesus Christ.
Most other religions don’t have a “heaven” or an eternity. So, is it a bad survey question or intentionally misleading knowing that most Americans know little about Christianity and even less about another religion or spiritual discipline?
As an interesting anecdote: in a nation that “overwhelmingly believes that other religions can get to heaven” that a Christian church espousing that theology hasn’t become more popular. In fact, they seem to be less popular.
#3 palagious,
[blockquote]Most other religions don’t have a “heaven†or an eternity.[/blockquote]Which religions would those be?
NewTrollObserver: Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, to name a few. Monism posits that we are only parts of the great cosmic whole, and our goal is to be reabsorbed into that whole. Animistic religions tend to believe in an afterlife, but not a very heavenly one; spirits merely hang around and help or more likely trouble the living.
Both [url=http://himalayanacademy.com/resources/books/dws/dws_mandala-09.html]Hinduism[/url] and [url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sagga/index.html]Buddhism[/url] contain teachings concerning heaven and hell.