Do Other Religions Lead to God?—Reimagining Christian Theology in a Shared Spiritual World

The Future of Christianity in a Global Age, Part 2

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As you know, a lot of churches teach that in order to be saved, you have to accept Jesus into your heart. In other words, you have to become a Christian. Why? Because non-Christians go to Hell.

But I don’t think it’s uncommon for Christians in those churches to quietly buck the system. I suspect many would say, “Yes, my church teaches that. But I don’t believe it.”

If you press them, they might not have a strong theological answer as to why they don’t believ it. But I think the real reason is simple: it grates against their moral sensibilities. It just doesn’t make sense to them that a good God would send good people to Hell. For the most part, they believe what their particular brand of Christianity teaches…just not that part.

Honestly, I think that’s a fair response. Most people have more important things to think about in their lives than the intricacies of theology. They are busy putting food on the table, keeping a roof over their heads, and surviving stressful work weeks. If “That just doesn’t sit right with me” is their answer to the problem, then that’s a good answer.

But for those of us in theological leadership, it’s not. We have a responsibility to think more deeply. We need a coherent, well-formed understanding of how Christianity relates to other religions. That means wrestling with extremely difficult questions. This includes how Christianity relates to other religions.

And this is indeed a difficult question, because at its core this is what it really asks:

To what extent are you willing to relativize your religious symbols?

Or put another way:

If we want to make space for the truth of other religions, where do we draw the line?

Today I want to look at four major approaches to understanding how Christianity relates to other religions. Then I want to look at the significance of these different positions for theology itself.

Option #1: Exclusivism

Religious exclusivists believe that salvation (a.k.a., salvation from eternal torment in Hell) is available only to those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. Everyone else (whether they are of another religion or the wrong kind of Christian) gets to go to Hell.

Christian exclusivism is the epitome of religious supremacism. Christianity is the one true faith. Other religions are false at best, demonic at worst. Even if they don’t use the word “demonic,” exclusivists often see other religions as pulling people away from the one saving truth, which amounts to the same thing.

The worst manifestation of Christian religious supremacism comes in the form of Christian religious imperialism. At this point, the acquisition of power, weather political or military, is used to enforce Christian supremacy. An example of this in America today is Christian Nationalism (a.k.a., “Christo-Fascism”).

Theological Tribalism

Christian exclusivism is an actively harmful theology, not just to those inside the community but potentially to those outside as well. It's radical tribalism molds Christian thought patterns into a black-and-white mentality of “insiders vs outsiders”. Everything outside the church becomes a potential spiritual threat. Beware, because you never know what kind of demon is lurking just around that corner outside the doors of the church.

Exclusivist theology preys upon the enhanced fearfulness of the conservative mind. As it leverages that fear, it stunts the natural progression of spiritual growth. For the most part, I suspect you would discover that exclusivists tend to gravitate toward the Mythic-Literal and possibly even the Conventional faith stages.

Yes, exclusivism has been the dominant theology of the Christian church for centuries. After all, how many times have we seen Christian leaders declare in one form or another that their community is saved and everybody else is not? Think Reformation, Counter-Reformation, and other holy wars in European history. While exclusivist theology may not necessarily lead someone into violence, history easily reveals the extent to which it plants the seed of possibility for violence.

What are exclusivists willing to relativize?

Absolutely nothing. Zero compromise.

The most flexible exclusivist position I’m aware of says that people have the option to accept Jesus Christ after death. So, basically, they stay in Hell only as long as they remain stubborn.

Option #2: Inclusivism

In 1961, Catholic theologian Karl Rahner wrote an essay called “Christianity and the Non-Christian Religions”. Therein he argued that God's saving Grace (which is mediated specifically through Christ) is accessible even to those outside of the Christian religion. So when we come across non-Christians with a strong conscience—those who embody love and justice—we can say they have an “implicit faith". Their behavior reveals that they are indeed responding to God's Grace. Rahner called them “anonymous Christians”.

This exemplifies inclusivist theology. Inclusivists want to respect other religions. They even generally recognize Divine truth in them.

But, they also see Christian truth claims as universal truth claims. For them, Jesus Christ is the unique, definitive, and final revelation of God in history. Their theological truth claims, then, reflect that.

C.S. Lewis offered another, more popular version of inclusivism. He recognized that a lot of what we see in the story of Christ is similar to or the same as that which we find in other religious myths. For him, there's a reason for this: The myths of other religions are about the same divine truth of Jesus Christ.

There is a major difference, however. Jesus Christ incarnated that Divine truth in history. So, while Lewis accepted the truth in other religious myths, he saw Jesus Christ as the “true myth”. In other words, all those non-Christian myths are ultimately meant to point us toward Christ.

So, from the inclusivist perspective, it is entirely possible for God to speak through non-Christian religions. However, their truths need to be measured according to the truth of Christ for accuracy. This makes the Christian truth Superior to all other religious truths.

From what I gather, this seems to be the most popular version for understanding how Christianity relates to other religions. It's a way to have your cake and eat it too. If you are an inclusivist you can boldly proclaim Christ is Lord over all, and yet maintain a loving, paternalistic posture toward religious neighbors.

What are inclusivists willing to relativize?

While they maintain the primacy of the Christ symbol, they relativize access to it. By expanding the theological symbol of Grace to include all, they relativize the church. Now, the sacraments, rites, and membership community are considered to be a divine privilege for the religiously-first among human equals.

The power of their position flows from their theological universalism. The expansion of Grace is foundational to their acceptance of other religions.

Yet, this universalism also supports and empowers its own form of religious supremacism. Remember, Christian truth claims are that which measures the truth claims of other religions. Christianity is the religion from which all other religions receive their value. The Christian truth is secretly the truth of all other religions.

This theological move makes all other religions a subset of Christianity. It erases their otherness by theologically absorbing them.