Chaplain's Corner

Have you ever wished things were different? Sure you have. It is a common longing. Those times when we become acutely aware of just how messed up our world is, just how messed up our own lives are, we feel this longing deep in our hearts to live in a better place, to be better people. Maybe you have tried to imagine what that better time and place would be like. Maybe you have tried to imagine what you, yourself would be like if you were the person you really, deeply long to be.

We have all heard the song “Imagine” sung by the Beatles. I like the tune, but the message quite frankly is deeply flawed. Take a good look at the words of that song: “Imagine there’s no heaven it’s easy if you try. No hell below us, above us only sky. Imagine all the people living for today. Imagine there’s no countries, it isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for, no religion too. Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope some day you’ll join us and the world will live as one. Imagine no possessions; I wonder if you can; no need for greed or hunger a brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people sharing all the world. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope some day you’ll join us and the world will live as one.”

Maybe if we don’t think too hard, what the Beatles imagined might sound pretty good. But then maybe we should be thinking a bit harder and when we do what their song describes is a godless utopia. It is what atheistic communism imagined and we all know that dream didn’t work out very well.

The dream of “no religion” fails to reckon with the fact that since the very beginning, people have longed to believe in something greater than themselves, there is something deep within the human spirit that recognizes that there is someone greater to which we are responsible. Now granted, the vast majority of the religions that have grown out of this longing have been and continue to be deeply flawed. There is something obviously wrong with those ancient religions that required the first born son of a family to be sacrificed to appease an angry god. Many other examples could be legitimately made to demonstrate what is wrong with religion.

The country that we live in values respect for religious diversity: this respect demands that we honor the right of every person to choose what they want to believe, whether we agree with what they believe or not. This respect for diversity calls us to be tolerant of difference. But in our society, we are being asked to go beyond respect and tolerance; we are being asked to believe that everyone’s beliefs are true and right. It is this final step that moves beyond respect and tolerance, that I believe is illegitimate and that I can not accept.

This expectation: that we accept that everyone’s beliefs, regardless of what they are, are true is an absurd expectation. It is absurd, because many of the beliefs that people hold are contradictory to others and because many of the beliefs demand exclusivity. Most beliefs demand a sharp distinction between truth and error. This is certainly true of orthodox Christianity (I use the word orthodox in its general usage, not as a denominational designation). Orthodox Christianity teaches that God is a jealous God; that is: God will stand for no rivals, no competing “gods”. God’s followers are required to be devoted to him alone and to consider all rivals as “false gods” or idols.

Now what the Beatles espoused in their song “Imagine” is the elimination of all distinctions. They sang of a world at peace because everyone sacrificed everything: their beliefs, their material possessions, they identities for some collective oneness. Frankly, not even the Beatles believed the message of this song. They certainly didn’t live like it for they amassed enormous personal fortunes and live rather self-indulgent lives despite the suffering all around them. They were not even able to maintain peace among themselves. As well the Beatles embraced eastern religion thought, so much for “no religions too.”  Maybe they realized just how very silly the message of their own song was.

It is this present day belief that “enlightened people” not only respect the beliefs of others and tolerate beliefs that they personally believe to be repugnant, but go the final step and celebrate the “truth” of every person’s beliefs that pushes us into mindless absurdity. In mathematics, it would be absurd for one to claim that 2+2 equaled anything but 4. In every school, in every country, in every culture and in every religious faith, it would be agreed that 2+2=4. In science, it would be absurd for some to make the claim that gravity did not exist. The denial of its existence would change nothing; believe it or not, gravity will pull anything that falls to the ground.

So how can it not also be absurd to claim that affirm the atheists believe: there is no god; and at the same time affirm the belief of the Christian: there is only one true God; and at the same time affirm the Hindu belief: there are thousands upon thousands of deities? Do you see the absurdity?

How can the belief that people work their way to heaven and the believe that people are saved by God’s grace that comes to us through the death of Jesus on the Cross be equally true?  How can Buddhist description of nirvana: “The body disintegrated, perception ceased, pain & rapture were entirely consumed, fabrications were stilled: consciousness has come to its end” and the Christian description of heaven as a state of being in which we are personally, individually, consciously enjoying relationship with a personal God be equally true?

You see the present day encouragement for “enlightened” folks to eradicate reason in order to accept that all beliefs are equally true is an encouragement to suspend logic and reason be believe that black is white and white is black; that right is wrong and that wrong is right; and to conclude that spiritually no distinctions exist whatsoever.

As a Christian, I would have to deny my faith to embrace such a belief. I believe that God created human beings with the capacity and responsibility to chose what they will believe . But with that capacity and responsibility also comes the subsequent necessity to accept the consequences of the choices that are made.  If a choice to believe falsehood is made, the consequences could be as devastating as eternal separation from god. If the choice is made to believe the truth, the consequences will be an eternity of joy and peace in the presence of God

Therefore, I believe as a Christian that I must respect this God-given capacity and responsibility in others. If the choices another makes about faith and life are different than my own, I feel responsible to tolerate those choices and set boundaries between myself and others when their choices are harmful to my well being. However, I believe it is absurd and a denial of the Christian faith to take that next step. Tell me, how can contradictory claims be equally true?