All religions are not alike, right?

With new electronic communication devices available to all, it is becoming impossible to avoid one another. Add to that a constantly migrating world population, and we find ourselves dealing with diversity that is outrunning our wildest imaginations and challenging our tolerations. We are finding that our differences with our neighbors are not simply economic, social, racial and cultural. We have found deep-seated differences in our religions as well.

During the 20th century, advances in communication and transportation made the world increasingly aware of religious differences. The popular approach of many scholars was to point out the similarities of the great world religions and to concentrate on those similarities. We were sold the idea that we were heading for the top of the same mountain. We were using different paths as we climbed, but all paths led to the same place. Many thoughtful people are now saying that the great religions have real and deep differences that must be faced. The differences must be faced on every level of human relationship. Most of the nations of the world are heavily influenced by their dominant religion. Religious people — try as they might — do not leave their religions behind when they come to the foreign policy table. With our highly mobile population, your next-door neighbor may change from Caucasian Protestant to Arab Muslim overnight. Rest assured, the new Muslim neighbor brought his religion with him.

How do we live in a world with widely differing religious opinions knowing that people rarely change their minds?

Religious diversity and what to do about it is the newest hot topic. Articles are appearing in leading religious journals about religious diversity. Two new books have just arrived that attempt to address the dilemma. The first book that grabbed my attention was “God Is Not One.” It is written by a reputable scholar/teacher, Stephen Prothero, who teaches at Boston University. His thesis is that Christianity and the other great religions have significant differences that refuse to be harmonized and will not go away.

Prothero believes the first step in finding constructive ways of relating to one another is to learn as much as we can about religions other than our own. The bulk of the book is a review of the eight most influential religions in the world. As I read the book I had to admit that I knew almost nothing about the great world religions other than Christianity and Judaism. In my Baptist heritage, I was taught to work to convert others to my Christian way of thinking. We were proud to be a missionary, evangelizing people. Prothero insists that I take a different first step. He asks me to study and attempt to understand the religion of my neighbor. Reading the book takes me down that path.

But what should I do with the new knowledge that I have gathered? Prothero strongly insists that we master the art of argument. In the United States today there is a great discomfort with argument. Many people avoid argument with great fear of the tensions that are generated. Prothero points out that in Jewish tradition, there are two distinctly different kinds of arguments. The goal of the first type of argument is victory. The second type of argument is for the sake of God. In the second type of argument truth is refined for sacred use. He urges that we abandon the first and embrace the second.

The second book, hot off the press, is entitled “Is God a Christian?” by R. Kirby Godsey, chancellor of Mercer University. Godsey’s point of view is very similar to that of Prothero’s. He, too, spends much of the book reviewing other faiths of the world. He also recognizes irreconcilable differences. He does not call for active argument, but says that the time for discussion has arrived.

Mercer University is located in Macon, Ga., and until recently was a part of the Southern Baptist Convention. The university continues to be affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a breakaway group of Southern Baptist churches. Godsey is a lifelong Southern Baptist. Knowing the background of the university and Godsey helps the reader understand portions of the book.

The titles of three chapters of the book signal the author’s special intended audience. Chapter two is titled “The Plague of Certainty.” Chapter three takes us to “The Peril of Exclusivity.” Chapter four takes the reader further, “The Tragedy of Fundamentalism.” Godsey does not come to the subject of diversity with fear. He believes conversation among people of good will produce good results. His intent is to be a part of a new reformation.

Both of these volumes are books that I can recommend highly. I suspect that the discussions/arguments about diversity are going to take a prominent place among religious people for the next few years. Do not get left behind. The world has grown too small and the stakes are too great for thoughtful people to stay on the sidelines. We need to spawn many communities of discussion/argument. Both Prothero and Godsey have given us good tools with which to work.

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister who lives in Palmer. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.

Opinions expressed on the Faith page are the author’s and are not necessarily those of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, its staff or its parent company, Wick Communications Co. To submit a column or other news for the Faith page, send email to news@frontiersman.com, or call 352-2268.