The Religious "Other"

Over the recent Easter holiday I was privileged enough to have the opportunity to attend a lot of different churches and services. In the process of attending said services I found myself receiving somewhat mixed signals from my host community. Some highly encouraged me to see all I could while I'm here, a logic I tend to agree with, and some others showed unsure responses to the thought that I had or would be attending churches other than their own. All these reactions really got me thinking and the more I allowed my thoughts to absorbed in it all, the more one word in particular kept coming back to the forefront of my mind, tribalism.

I use this word somewhat reluctantly because of the depth and magnitude that it can hold in this conversation, ss well as the tricky role language can play in this conversation. If we want to be perfectly honest with our selves we could possibly even say that tribalism seams to be the standard nearly world wide, not just in the church. However, for the sake of conversation and strain on your eyes, I want to keep this church specific.

Tribalism as defined by New Oxford American Dictionary means the state or fact of being organized in a tribe or tribes. So in this particular instance we're discussing churches rather than tribes, but you still catch my drift. So I can't help but find myself thinking, why is that Christians, who are all supposedly followers of Christ, who's all encompassing ideology is supposedly love, have such a difficult time practicing religious cooperation, or even a multi-affiliation community?

Serving as a YAGM in a country such as South Africa means that I wrestle with topics of tribalism and segregation on almost a daily basis. Through my time here though i've come to realize that it's almost just as prevalent in the states as it is here, in terms of the church anyway.

Why don't we attend "others" churches more often? Why can't we organize activities together? Why can't we get together and openly discuss our faiths with one another? How is a person, especially a young person, ever suppose to truly understand their faith if they've never been allowed the opportunity to explore, study or maybe even expand on it?

Exposure, education and experiences with the religious "other" should be encouraged rather than feared or discouraged. In his article written last year, Rev. Donald Heckman had this to say on the topic. "People should have a right to identify themselves as they wish, as long as it is not offensive. Self description is a matter of justice." The need for a movement for religious cooperation has never been greater. Religion, faith, and spirituality can no longer be a privatized practice. It can no longer be seen as taboo or in polite to publicly have these conversations. Whether it's in South Africa, America, or anywhere else in the world. The time for religious pluralism is now.

So, I plan to continue "stirring the pot" and causing question in peoples religious, spiritual and faith based minds. Just one day we may all be able to witness the true coming of heaven here on earth, if that's what you believe anyway.

 

Peace

*written April 21st