Religious Pluralism – How Will It Shape Christian Faith?

Well I have finally finished my article for the upcoming Seed Sampler on What Will Shape Our Spirituality in the Coming Decade? It has been an interesting and somewhat daunting challenge as I do believe that we are at a major pivotal point in Christian history – what Phyllis Tickle in her important book The Great Emergence, calls the 500 year rummage sale.

In the last couple of days I wrote posts on two important trends that I believe will shape Christian faith in the coming decade:

• The growing time pressures and coming of media immersion
• The shifting geographic centre of Christianity to Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The third trend I want to talk about here is religious pluralism.  Muslims in Europe, Sikhs in the US, Christians in Africa.  It is not just the geographic centre of Christianity that is changing.  So is the geographical centre of all religions.

In the last four years, the Muslim population in Britain multiplied 10 times faster than the rest of society increasing from 500,000 to 2.4 million.  In the same period the number of Christians in the country fell by more than 2 million. (read the entire article).   There are now an estimated 1.5 million Hindus in the United States, prevalent in Texas, New Jersey, and Ohio.  Worldwide Islam, Bahai, Sikhism, and Hinduism are all growing faster than Christianity. (Read more)

Interfaith dialogue will become increasingly important in the future as we grapple with both the gifts and conflicts of our changing world religious profile.  This, of course is not new for followers of Christ in India, Indonesia, the Middle East and many other parts of the world where Christianity has always been one faith amongst many.

We will see a growing recognition amongst some Christians that God is to be found outside the boundaries of Christian faith as well as inside.  However it could also result in growing conflict and misunderstanding as fundamentalists in all religions retreat behind the barriers of what feels safe and secure.  According to the rabbis of old, one of the ways the creation continues is through spirited conversations in which we are in a disagreement – the highest form of discourse. ( Samir Selmanovic in Its really All About God)

Discipleship and spiritual practices in the future will need to help us rediscover this art teaching us to listen to the voices of those who believe very differently from us.  We need to help all followers of Christ identify where the spirit of God is at work outside as as well as inside faith communities.   We need Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Atheists and others to stretch and remold our understanding of God and of what it means to be a follower of Christ.

If God is confined to our way of believing and understanding then we believe in a very small God.  The God who create the vast expanses of space, is too big for any of us to fully understand.  In fact when I look up at the stars in the heavens I am awed at the immensity of God and my own inability to comprehend.  We all see through a glass darkly and believe we have the corner on truth then I think we miss out on much of who God is and what God wants us to become.

I would love to hear from others who have discovered creative ways of relating to this and other trends that they feel will shape our faith in the future.  Part of what we do at Mustard Seed Associates is help to connect people to creative responses to the challenges of the future.  If you are involved in a creative response, or if you feel that there are other trends that are more impacting on the future we would love to know and be able to share your ideas.

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