How Christians
view other religions
Views of Protestant, Roman Catholic,
and Eastern Orthodox churches
Conservative Christians viewing
non-Christian religions:
Their beliefs differ:
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Many
conservative Christians are exclusionists (i.e. they
believe that their own denomination and those who agree with them are the only valid faith, while all
other groups are in serious error). |
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Some
are inclusionists (i.e. they
believe that their group's beliefs are fully true, while all other groups
only have part of the truth). |
They see their own faith group, as based upon the Word of God as
expressed in the Bible. Generally, they believe in the inerrancy of the Bible. Most believe in
the traditional Christian belief that an individual will be sent to Hell when
she/he dies if she/he has not first repented of their sins and then been "saved" by trusting Jesus as Lord and
Savior, while still alive. This would include essentially all members of
non-Christian faith groups and many members of Christian denominations.
They may view other world religions as one of the following:
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only
partially true, or |
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mostly
worthless, or |
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influenced
by Satan or |
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actually
controlled by Satan, or |
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a
variety of Satanism. |
In addition, many conservative Christians do not recognize other
Christian denominations as being truly Christian. This is seen in their local
ministerial associations which are frequently separate from the
mainline/liberal Christian ministerial group in the same city. It is also seen
in their attacks on more liberal Christian denominations and on new religious movements which teach
beliefs that are different from their own, and at variance from historical
Christian beliefs. Some conservative Christians believe that the Gods and
Goddesses of other religions are actually demons. Thus, they see little
difference among Hinduism, Buddhism, Satanism, Wicca, other forms of Neopaganism, and all other
non-Christian religions. They believe that while members of these religions
think that they are worshiping deities, they are really interacting with evil
spirits or with Satan himself.
They generally recognize the existence of spiritual power in other
faith groups' rituals, services and leaders. But they often attribute
that power to demonic spirits, and describe it as a form of counterfeit power
which may appear to be of God, but which originates in powers of evil.
They agree with those passages in the Christian Scriptures (New
Testament) that state that unsaved people view the Gospel message is
nonsense and/or undecipherable. It is only when a person is saved -- i.e. becomes part of the "Body
of Christ" -- that the Holy Spirit will intervene in their life, and
sanctify them. Only after the person is saved will the Gospel message become
clear to them. Those who are not saved cannot be trusted to give wise advice or
to teach accurate beliefs, because they are not empowered by the Holy Spirit to
understand and speak the truth.
Roman Catholics viewing
non-Christian religions:
On 1965-OCT-28, following the Vatican II meetings of the leaders
of the church, the Vatican issued a "Declaration on the Relation of the
Church to non-Christian Religions." 1 In this
document, the Roman Catholic Church followed the inclusivist path by
holding their own faith group to be the only true church, even as they
recognized some value and truth in non-Catholic denominations and non-Christian
religions. Some important passages of the declaration "Nostra
Aetate" are:
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"The
Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions." |
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"The
Church therefore, exhorts her sons, that through dialogue and collaboration
with the followers of other religions... they recognize, preserve, and
promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural
values found among these men." |
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"The
Church regards with esteem also the Moslems." |
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"Since
the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews is thus so great, this
Sacred Synod wants to foster and recommend that mutual understanding and
respect which is the fruit, above all, of biblical and theological studies as
well as fraternal dialogues." |
However, an apparent hardening of the church's views since Vatican
II resulted in the release of "Dominus Iesus.�� According to the Times News Service, the
statement implies that "Churches such as the Church of England, where
the apostolic succession of bishops from the time of St. Peter is disputed by
Rome, and churches without bishops, are not considered 'proper' churches."
They suffer from "defects." Religions other than Christianity
are considered to be "gravely deficient." Their rituals can
constitute "an obstacle to salvation" for their followers.
Liberal Christians viewing
non-Christian religions:
Many liberal Christians are pluralists: they view the major religions
of the world as different attempts to understand questions related to deity,
humanity, and the rest of the universe. They generally view the all-evil quasi-deity,
Satan, as being a
concept of profound evil, and not as a living entity with supernatural powers.
They see the Gods and Goddesses of non-Christian religions as being unrelated
to Satan, although some of those deities may have both good and evil aspects.
They view all of the major religions as inspiring many of their members to lead
more moral and spiritual lives. They welcome religious diversity and view it as
making a positive contribution to the country.
Who is right?
Religious diversity is a given, at least in North America. The
U.S. has been called the most religiously diverse nation in the world. 3
About 76% of Americans currently identify themselves as Christians. About 14%
do not follow any organized religion. The rest follow an amazing array of
non-Christian religions, from Asatru to Zoroastrianism. In addition, the religious composition of the U.S. is
changing rapidly: the percentage of Christians is dropping almost one percentage
point a year; those not affiliated with any religion are increasing over one
half percentage points a year.
All of these numbers and trends are emphasizing the importance of
how each faith group reacts to this increasing religious diversity. The
fundamental question is whether a group's understanding of religious truth
includes or excludes the validity of other faith groups' beliefs. There are three popular approaches to this question:
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Exclusivism: the belief that their faith group is the only
completely true religion, and that
all others are false, and perhaps Satanic in nature. |
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Inclusivism: the belief that one's faith group is the only
completely true religion. However, truth is also found in other religions. |
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Pluralism: the belief that all of the tens of thousands of
faith groups in the world are valid and true, when viewed from within their
particular culture. |
Prejudice of Americans
towards various religions
Barna Research poll on prejudice
towards other religions:
Barna Research Ltd. is the most active religious polling
organization in the United States. They conduct telephone polls about a variety
of topics�
George Barna, president of Barna Research commented: "While
many Americans are not practicing Christians, they retain some identity with
the Christian faith and remain protective of it. They are suspicious of other
faith groups because they are unknown but different�and we are generally
uncomfortable with those who are not just like us..."
Barna asked a random selection of American adults �whether they thought that various religions
had a positive or negative effect on U.S. society. The following data are thus
primarily based on the responses of Christians. The margin of error is within 3
percentage points:
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Religion |
% who say that the impact is positive
* |
% who say that the impact is negative
* |
% undecided * |
% Unfamiliar with the religion |
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85% |
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6% |
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58% |
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23% |
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about 42% |
about 51% |
about 7% |
35% |
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45% |
51% |
4% |
35% |
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43% |
27% |
30% |
26% |
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63% |
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38% |
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13% |
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* These are the responses of those subjects who were familiar with
the religion being considered. Thus, for Christianity, 6% of the subjects were
unfamiliar with the religion and 94% of were familiar. Of the latter, 85% gave
a positive assessment.
SUMMARY REPORT:� American
adults, whether Christian or non-Christian, apparently regard only Christianity
and Judaism as having a positive influence on society. The remaining five
religions are viewed by the average American as having a negative impact on society.
These beliefs do not bode well for the future of religious tolerance and peace
in the U.S. -- particularly in view of the rapid increase in religious
diversity in that country.
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Barna also compared the beliefs of those who go to church
regularly with the unchurched:
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Religion |
% of churchgoers who view the impact is positive * |
% of unchurched who view the impact is positive * |
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Christianity |
89% |
83% |
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Islam |
21% |
34% |
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Buddhism |
21% |
35% |
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Mormonism |
38% |
47% |
SUMMARY REPORT:� Attending
church obviously influences people to value Christianity more, and to hold a
lower opinion of other religions. Surveys consistently show that about
40% of Americans say that they regularly attend religious services. But these numbers appear to be inflated. Groups who
have actually counted church attendance report that 20% is a closer estimate.
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Prejudice against those of other religions becomes even more
serious when born again Christians are compared
to non-Christians:
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Religion |
% of born-again Christians who view the impact as negative * |
% of non-Christians who view the impact as negative * |
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Islam |
71% |
24% |
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Buddhism |
76% |
22% |
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Scientology |
81% |
30% |
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Atheism |
92% |
50% |
Gallup polls on
prejudice based on religion, race, sex, sexual orientation, age, etc.:
Polls from 1937 to 2007 by the Gallup Organization are of
particular value because they have asked essentially the same question of
American adults for over four decades. One series of questions is typically
worded:
"If your party nominated a generally well-qualified person
for president who happened to be a 'X' would you vote for that person?"
"X" is Atheist, Baptist, Black, Catholic, Homosexual,
Jewish, Mormon, and Woman. Percentage of unprejudiced adults (those answering
"yes") at approximately 20 year intervals have been:
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Factor |
1937 |
1959 |
1967 7 |
1978 |
1999 |
2007 7 |
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- |
22% |
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40% |
49% |
45 |
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Baptist |
- |
94 |
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- |
94 |
- |
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Black |
37 |
49 |
53 |
77 |
95 |
94 |
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60 |
70 |
90 |
91 |
94 |
95 |
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- |
- |
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26 |
59 |
55 |
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46 |
72 |
82 |
82 |
92 |
92 |
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- |
- |
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75 |
79 |
72% |
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33 |
57 |
57 |
76 |
92 |
88 |
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Hispanic |
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87 |
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- |
- |
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- |
- |
67 |
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72
years of age |
- |
- |
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- |
- |
57 |
In the past seven decades, Americans have made impressive gains in
overcoming bigotry on the basis of religion, sex, and race. However, they have
lots of room for improvement in reducing bigotry towards Atheists, homosexuals,
and the elderly.
In 1978, the most discriminated-against characteristic was
homosexuality; only about one in four Americans would vote for a well-qualified
homosexual. Gays and lesbians have made impressive gains in acceptance. Now,
about three in five Americans would consider voting for one.
In 1978, the second most-discriminated against group were
Atheists. Only four Americans in ten would vote for a well-qualified Atheist.
In 1999, Atheists had made a slight gain; half would vote for one.
The data shown for 2007 was collected between February 9 and 11. A
later survey, taken in 2007-DEC showed that the acceptance level for a Mormon
president had risen from 72% to 80% during the year. This increase was probably
due to the presence of Mitt Romney as a Republican candidate for the presidency.
The most mistrusted religion: Atheism:
There are probably hundreds of definitions of the term "religion" that people
have proposed -- all different. We use a very inclusive definition: "Religion
is any specific system of belief about deity, often involving rituals, a code
of ethics, a philosophy of life, and a worldview." Atheism
qualifies under this definition because Atheists either believe that God does
not exist, or they have no belief in the existence of God.
In the Barna survey cited above, 92% of born-again Christians view
Atheism's impact on society as negative; this is a higher percentage than for
any other religion. Even 50% of non-Christians view Atheism's impact as
negative -- again a higher percentage than any other religion.
University of Minnesota researchers conducted a telephone
survey of over 2,000 households in early 2006. 7 They found
that:
"...Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants,
gays and lesbians and other minority groups in 'sharing their vision of
American society.' Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are
least willing to allow their children to marry."
Lead researcher, Penny Edgell, noted that Atheists:
"...offer a glaring exception to the rule of increasing
social tolerance over the last 30 years....It seems most Americans believe that
diversity is fine, as long as every one shares a common 'core' of values that
make them trustworthy�and in America, that 'core' has historically been
religious'....Americans believe they share more than rules and procedures with
their fellow citizens�they share an understanding of right and wrong. Our
findings seem to rest on a view of atheists as self-interested individuals who
are not concerned with the common good'." 7,8
Summary:
These data indicate that, on average:
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Americans
are generally prejudiced against non-Judeo-Christian religions.
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There
is a gradual lessening of prejudice in the country. |
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Prejudice
against Blacks, Catholics, Jews, and Women (at least as presidential
candidates), has been essentially wiped out in recent years. |
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Prejudice
against homosexuals has dropped significantly in the past two decades, but
remains high. |
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Prejudice
against Atheists has dropped slightly, but remains extremely high. |
Our opinion about the future of
religious peace in North America:
Many conservative Christians believe that the world is in its last
days -- the world-as-we-know-it is about to come to an end. They
anticipate that the first sign of this transition will be the arrival of Jesus
Christ in the sky, and the rapture of all born-again Christians to
be with Jesus. In 1999, when this essay was originally written, many
conservative Christians expected that the rapture was imminent; they
anticipated it in their very near future -- perhaps at the start of the year
2000. We were concerned that if none of these events happened, that the
resultant mass disappointment might fuel a backlash against believers in
minority religions.
There was a very common belief during the 19th century that Jesus'
return was being delayed until after most of the world was converted to
Christianity. Some Christians still follow that belief. We feared that
Atheists, other secularists, and followers of non-Christian religions might be
blamed for three delays: of Jesus' return, the rapture, and Armageddon. This blame could quickly
evolve into hatred and violence.
As it turned out, we were pleasantly surprised. Since 2000-JAN-1,
end time events did not come to pass. People expecting Jesus' return seem to
have adjusted to the disappointment without a lot of distress. Conservative
religious leaders still refer to the world being in its last days, but few are
predicting exact times for the end events.
We remain concerned about the long-term future of religious peace
in North America. A recent study shows that
Christianity is in rapid decline in the U.S. The percentage of American adults
who identify themselves as Christians is dropping at a rate of almost one
percentage point per year. Meanwhile, the percentage of persons who don't
consider themselves to be affiliated with any organized religion is rapidly
growing. Some non-Christian religions are also growing quickly. The number of Wiccans, for example, is doubling every
30 months. If current trends continue, then most Americans will consider
themselves to be non-Christians sometime during the 2020's. We are not certain
that such a transition can be attained peacefully without active programs by
governments and by the main religious groups to promote respect among their
membership for followers of other religions. What is needed are programs to
teach one of the corollaries of the Golden Rule: that we are
to treat all persons with respect -- even those who hold beliefs different from
ourselves. It is not important whether we accept the beliefs of others as
valid, or reject them as false. What is important is that we not attack,
discriminate against or oppress these "others."
Without such pro-active programs, we expect that there will be
growing frictions, mainly between the followers of the dominant religion --
Christianity -- and persons who either identify themselves as non-believers in
any organized religion, or as followers of minority religions.
These tensions could be exploited by some political leaders. This
happened in the break-away areas of the former Yugoslavia, where long-standing
religious frictions were manipulated by a small number of political and
religious leaders, and used to fuel atrocities, crimes against humanity and genocide. No part of the world is immune from these
tendencies.
A possible cure:
Most organized religions tend to teach that their beliefs alone
are true, and that other religions are, to various degrees, wrong. Some even
teach that other religions are Satanic in nature. These beliefs can lead to
prejudice against other faith groups, which can degenerate into violence and
oppression. However, all major religions also teach an Ethic of Reciprocity. This is the Golden
Rule in Christianity. They teach the importance of treating others as you
would be wished to be treated in return. One implication of such an ethic is
that others should be granted religious freedom -- they should be allowed to
freely follow their own, different, spiritual paths as a fundamental human
right without experiencing oppression, discrimination and attacks.
If religious groups were to lay greater stress on the Ethic of
Reciprocity contained within their religious texts, then religious
prejudice should decrease markedly. Churches could include such secular documents
as the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the American Bill of Rights, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, etc. in their
tolerance classes. Without such a pro-active program, some of their followers
may fall back on some of the intolerant passages in their own religious
texts for guidance.
Do these poll results indicate
religious bigotry and intolerance?
Religious prejudice is not as simple as racism, sexism, homophobia
or xenophobia. Other factors are involved when we consider religion:
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Many
born-again Christians believe that the normal destination for people after
death are the torture pits of Hell; only the small minority of
humans who are born-again will attain heaven. Any faith group that does not
motivate people to repent of their sins and trust Jesus as Lord and Savior --
i.e. to be "saved" -- would, in their
view, have a negative impact on its members, and thus on society as a whole.
So, empathic concern for followers of other religions may contribute greatly
to the low opinion that born-again Christians have of other faiths. Christian
churchgoers' dim view of other religions may be largely based on their belief
about salvation, and concern for the fate of those who are not born-again,
and not simple religious intolerance. |
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On
this web site, we define religious intolerance as taking action
against a person or group who follows a different faith. Actions might take
many forms: discrimination, ridicule, oppression, advocating restrictions on
human rights, economic attack, physical attack, etc. In some areas of the
world, it involves imprisonment, assassination, torture, and mass murder --
occasionally genocide. Without such action, then it is our opinion that no
religious intolerance has occurred. A negative view of another religion is
not religious intolerance. It merely has the potential to develop into
intolerance at some time in the future. Although prejudice is high against
some minority religions in North America, there is relatively little overt action
which has been taken. Three major exceptions are:
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