Stephen Prothero is an interesting writer. He’s a non-believer who is a professor of religion, and author of ‘God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World–and Why Their Differences Matter‘ and other books with a similar focus. His point of view, the one he scholastically advocates publicly and widely, is that Western culture glosses over the differences between religions in order to make them all equal and valid (or really, invalid) in the public mind.
At Big Questions Online he has posted a great intro into this discussion, titled ‘Against the “Answer Bank” Theory of Religion‘. He discusses the differences in what religions are concerned about and what questions they ask.
One of the most common misconceptions about the world’s religions is that all of them plumb the same depths, ask the same questions. They do not. Only religions that see God as all good ask how a good God can allow millions to die in earthquakes and tsunamis. Only religions that believe in souls ask whether your soul exists before you are born and what happens to it after you die. And only religions that think we have one soul ask after “the soul” in the singular. Every religion, however, asks after the human condition. Here we are in these bodies. What now? What next? What are we to become?
He’s dead right here. This is a key distinction and one that our culture has generally forgot – or ignored. Prothero consistently points to a truth that we as Christians should agree with and speak to: all religions are not the same. They have different goals and more importantly claim different – and conflicting – truths. He continues later to quantify how different the actual questions each religion asks actually are:
The great Christian question is, “What must I do to be saved?” The great Buddhist question is, “How can I eliminate suffering?” The great Confucian question is, “What can we do to create social order?” Hindus inquire about the cycle of life, death, and rebirth; Taoists, about health, long life, and immortality.
He’s right again. To really understand the cultures we are immersed in and the ones we want to reach with the Gospel we must start to understand other religions and the great differences between us.
Of course, not being a brother in Christ Prothero’s point of view can only go so far without diverging from our beliefs. In the latter half of this article he gets to his thesis, that the most important part of religion is not the answers, but the questions. This is the trap that we must avoid, we cannot start to think that it’s not about the truth of Christ. However, that is exactly his conclusion.
I know that many will continue to see the great religions as repositories of answers. But that is not why I continue to go to them in my life and in my work. I go to the great religions to look for questions.
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When a high school friend of mine, who also happens to be a committed Roman Catholic, noticed that I describe myself on my Facebook page as “religiously confused,” he wrote to offer his condolences. Not to worry, I told him. At least when it comes to spiritual things, I don’t mind a little confusion. In fact, I prefer it to having all the answers.
However, the most succinct statement of his point of view is actually in the subtitle, “The world’s religions are more important for the questions they ask than for the answers they provide.” This is just wrong. We must understand the differences between the religions of this world, understand the goals of each, and stand up boldly and proclaim the singular truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is the great value of Christianity, it’s Truth and salvation.
