Differences? Similarities?

This past spring, I visited friends in North Carolina, and while there, I glanced over their local news paper, the Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER. Like most papers, this one publishes articles meant to appeal to their readers. Among the many articles in the “Life” section were two about religion topics. Here’s a quick look at them.

Yonat Shimron had written an article (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, May 13, 2010, page 1D) about Stephen Prothero’s latest book, GOD IS NOT ONE: THE EIGHT RIVAL RELIGIONS THAT RUN THE WORLD – AND WHY THEIR DIFFERENCES MATTER. The article appeared with the headline, “Stop pretending all religions are alike, author says.” Well, many of us think that religions are NOT alike, and of course many of us go to great lengths to differentiate our religion from others. But Prothero focuses on the differences to increase his students’ (and the general population’s) religious literacy. He finds differences among religions much more impressive than the similarities.

Prothero tells us that the great religions ask different questions. For example, he says Christians ask how to be saved from sin, while Buddhists and Hindus ask how to break the birth/rebirth cycle of reincarnation. Do you agree? It seems to me that the Abrahamic faiths share the basic question of how to live with one another. Christians are commanded to “love one another...” and to “love your neighbor...” As I have written before, all three Abrahamic faiths tell us to care for widows and orphans.

Christianity is losing market share while Islam is gaining. Prothero says that’s because Islam is (1) more accessible in terms of conversion, (2) controlling the public conversation, and (3) makes a claim on our whole life in ways that Christianity doesn’t. This can be seen in the ways Christians rely (or don’t) on religion-based rules to live their lives. Although Jesus said that nothing has changed in the law (Matthew 5:17-18), few Christians live by the Mosaic law in the ways that most Muslims live by the Qur’an’s teachings.

The other article’s headline read, “Bow your head: Many prayers are universal.” (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, May 13, 2010, page 3D) This is one of a weekly series by Rabbi Marc Gellman, syndicated as “The God Squad.”

Here’s Rabbi Gellman’s statement that, in my estimation, refutes much of Prothero’s assertions that religions are not the same: Pray the Lord’s Prayer and accept that we should forgive others because we ask God to forgive us. That’s the central message in all the world’s great religions. He says,

• Jews can pray Christian prayers that don’t invoke Jesus as Messiah.
• Protestant hymns’ texts are often direct lifts for Psalms.
• Most Muslim prayers are also OK for Jews, except for the Shahada.

I don’t know if Gellman is correct that forgiveness is the central message of all, but it’s certainly important in the Abrahamic faiths. I think my task (and yours?) is to try to understand the differences and those who emphasize the differences and why they do, while searching for and celebrating the similarities among the great religions of the world.