Religion Matters – A Review of Stephen Prothero’s “God is Not One”

 

"...even if religion makes no sense to you, you need to make sense of religion to make sense of the world." - Stephen Prothero (God is Not One, p. 8)

It takes all of five seconds on CNN.com to see that religion matters. Whether it be the discussion of whether or not Jesus is/was supernatural, an article covering the congressional discussion of the “radicalization” of Islam, or a video of a judgment day caravan the top stories streaming on one of America’s leading news networks testify to how religion continues to capture our imagination, challenge our stereotypes, confirm our fears or confront our own belief.

Above all, these popular news stories make the point of Stephen Prothero’s newest book, God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions that Run the World and Why Their Differences Matter, very clear – religion matters. Whether it be politics, personal issues or the palpable effects of religious extremism in the public sphere, religion plays a significant role in the world. To ignore this fact is to do so at our peril.

Prothero shares that he disagrees with, “most sociologists” who “were sure that religion was fading away, that as countries industrialized and modernized, they would become more secular.” (p. 7) He argues against such religiously fatalistic commentary, claiming that the world is still “furiously” religious and religion continues to play a visible role, for both good and ill, in the world as we know it. Prothero has long been a champion for religious literacy. Whether it be through 140-character Tweets on the worlds major religions, or full books such as his foundational book Religious Literacy, Prothero believes that in order to “reckon with the world as it is” (p. 337) we need renewed religious literacy in the USA and indeed, throughout the world. God is Not One is Prothero’s attempt to “offer this literacy.” (p. 337) To that end, God is Not One leads readers not only through an overview of the eight major religions running the world today, but also why these religions are so vitally important to our understanding of humanity and the human condition. He states unequivocally that “…even if religion makes no sense to you, you need to make sense of religion to make sense of the world.” (p. 8 )

Ranking them according to “contemporary impact” Prothero covers Islam, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Yoruba Religion, Judaism and Daoism (with a coda on Atheism…more on that later) in as much detail as 30-40 pages allows. These profiles do not follow any strict “cookie-cutter” approach to each religion. Indeed, the author hints as much when he prefaces that each chapter will explore “the different answers each of the great religions has offered to the different questions they have asked.” (p. 24) Thus, each religion, in a way, dictates the flow of its own chapter in God is Not One.  At times it can get somewhat convoluted. However, Prothero does anchor his reader with the foundation that each religion presents a problem, a solution to that problem and a technique to get there. In doing so, the religious commentator covers each religions major theoretical, practical and sociological expressions (e.g. Islam’s Koran, the Five Pillars, Muhammed, Shariah Law, Islamism and the major branches: Sunni, Shi’a and Sufi). Below is a basic representation of Prothero’s take on each religion’s proposed problem, subsequent solution and tried technique.

1 – Islam (The Way of Submission) – the problem is self-sufficiency, the solution is submission, the technique is performing the religion (the Five Pillars etc.)

2 – Christianity (The Way of Salvation)- the problem is sin, the solution is salvation in Jesus Christ, the technique is some combination of faith and good works.

3 – Confucianism (The Way of Propriety) – the problem is chaos, the solution is social order, the techniques are ritual and etiquette.

4 – Hinduism (The Way of Devotion) – the problem is samsara (cycle of death and rebirth), the solution is moksha (release) and the technique is devotion.

5 – Buddhism (The Way of Awakening) – the problem is suffering, the solution is nirvana, the technique is the Eightfold Path.

6 – Yoruba Religion (The Way of Connection) – the problem is disconnection, the solution is reconnection to the divine, the technique is divination and sacrifice.

7 – Judaism (The Way of Exile and Return) – the problem is exile, the solution is return, the technique is remembering and obeying.

8 – Daoism (The Way of Flourishing) – the problem is lifelessness, the solution is flourishing, the technique is the Dao.

Limiting himself to 30-40 pages on each of these religions means that Prothero sacrifices depth in fully discussing major  religious beliefs, the ins and outs of significant practices or parsing contentious sociological issues having to do with particular religions. Nonetheless, Prothero makes a significant effort to cover the BIG questions of each religion and to offer the reader a little more insight into the practitioners’ journey in each religion.

With that said, this is not an academic text on world religions. At times I struggled with this aspect of the book, feeling Prothero was too chatty and “scatter-brained” in his coverage of the world’s religions. His unscripted exploration of each religion can sometimes lead the reader to get lost in the details. Some readers may finish a chapter and wonder what it is they learned about the religion they just read about. Sure, they now know more about Sufis and Yoruba orishas, but what is the essence of what it means to be Muslim or a Yoruba spiritualist?

This happened to me when I was reading through the chapter on Daoism. I found myself getting lost in the yin and the yang, the nature and the chaos, the alchemies and the immortals. As I read I asked myself, “what’s the point of Daoism?” However, as I started and re-started the chapter and its sections I was reminded of when I read the Daodejing itself. The lost feeling I felt reading Prothero’s chapter mimicked the lost feeling I felt reading Lao Tzu’s tome on the dao. Thus, in a subtle way, Prothero recreated the Daoist practitioner’s experience in his coverage of that religion. Whether or not this was his specific intent I cannot say. However, what my experience reflects is Prothero’s true intent to present a practitioner’s view of each religion. Shying away from a purely academic review of each religion, Prothero successfully offers a layman believer’s account of what it means to be Muslim, Christian, Confucian etc. while not ignoring the major issues that leaders of each religion have addressed or those expressions of each religion that outsiders necessarily confront when interacting with people of such belief.

In the end, Prothero’s approach to each religion reflects his own religious journey. As he mentions in the introduction he follows German poet Rainer Maria Rilke’s advice to “‘love the questions themselves.'” (p. 23) The reader is invited to explore each of the eight major religions covered in God is Not One as a religious seeker who yes, delights in understanding, but also thoroughly enjoys the tension and the mystery that is left in the wake of each religion’s questions and ensuing doctrinal or practical discussion thereof. This approach may leave some readers wanting more, but then we should ask ourselves, “Are we reading this book to understand religions on their own grounds or according to our prescribed presuppositions?”

Further reflecting his pursuit for the sake of quest, the reader can also deduce Prothero’s mystical bent. In each of Prothero’s chapters he outlines the more mystical elements of the various religions and often gives them a positive nod (specifically in his chapter on Islam). This makes sense, given the fact that many mystics answer their respective religion’s questions less with definitive doctrine and more with ambiguous experience and even more questions. However, do not expect Prothero to belabor the mystical aspects of each religion, there are those who criticize him for not writing enough about mystics in the various religious traditions!

Another element of Prothero’s survey of world religions that makes it stand out is his effortless interlacing of notes on comparative religion. Straying away from systematic comparisons of each religion, Prothero often mentions how certain beliefs, features or practices of each religion are similar, or in antithesis, to another religion’s doctrine or act of devotion. Comparing a Yoruba belief to a Daoist practice and a Christian practice to a Confucian belief not only helps his readers better understand each religion and integrate that knowledge into their own experiences, but also paves the way for better religious dialogue in the future; a religious dialogue that notes the differences between religions, but can also reflect on each religion’s similarities. As Prothero himself notes, “the world’s religions do converge at points. Because these religions are a family of sorts, some of the questions they ask overlap, as do some of the answers.” (p. 333) Prothero’s method of noting these similarities is not overbearing or systematic, but is instead quite natural and thus more enjoyable than typical explorations of such comparisons, which are typically represented in less-than-engaging tables and comparison charts.

The punch of Prothero’s book comes in his final two chapters. In his brief coda on Atheism, Prothero holds little back in regards to how he thinks the New Atheism undermines society in trying to argue that all religions are equally poisonous. Instead, Prothero shines his light on the friendlier side of Atheism and highlights its attempt to coexist with other religions and enter into dialogue with people of religious belief and practice. Almost as a segue, this “coda” serves to set the reader up for the author’s concluding chapter. In it, Prothero contends that both perenelliasts and the New Atheists misconstrue and misunderstand religions when they proclaim that all religions are the same because they are all true, or that they are all the same because they are all equally false (read a related Ubuntu post here).

Prothero instead offers a “middle way” that appreciates religious diversity and seeks to analyze it in order to better understand the variance of what it means to be human and strive for a better humanity through religious pursuits. He asserts that  “denying differences is a recipe for disaster” and encourages a more “secular way to talk about religion” that is focused on objective religious observation and reporting. All the while, he affirms religious reporting that avoids dogmaticism and instead promotes and reports on the mutually shared human quest to understand the transcendent, share it with the people of the world and do so from a perspective of humble awe.

For this reason, Prothero’s book is a significant popular milestone in the effort to improve religious dialogue in the post-modern era

And so, I highly recommended this book.In fact, it will form the basis for my introduction to the world’s religions class I am offering in April. Why? Because religion DOES matter and to make sense of the personal, the political, the promising and the problematic things of this world is to make sense of the religious motivations and foundations of the people involved. Furthermore, being a religious practitioner myself, I appreciated his exhortation for all students of religion to examine belief-systems from a perspective of mutual interest and awe, with our eyes wide open to both the similarities and differences in the world’s great religions. From such a vantage point students will not only better learn, but better discuss religion, dialogue with people of other faiths and share with one another in the great human pursuit to understand the human condition.

Have you read the book? What did you think? Are you engaged in the effort to promote and share religious literacy?  Is this the type of resource you believe needs to be read in our world today? What do you think of the points made and reviewed here? Agree? Disagree? Share your comments below!

Stephen Prothero is a professor of religion at Boston University, has published several books on American Religion and is a regular contributor at CNN.com’s Belief Blog. Visit his website to learn more.

Ken Chitwood is a graduate student studying theology and culture at Concordia University Irvine, CA. He reports on religion, religion in the public sphere and encourages religious education through his Ubuntu Spirit blog.  He also serves as an intern with LINC Houston, a charitable organization working towards the development of whole communities in the diverse urban landscape of Houston, TX. He has published articles in both secular and religious publications and speaks on theology and religious issues on a regular basis, having taught in the United States, New Zealand, South Africa and Indonesia.

“And the Award Goes To…” Ubuntu Religion Awards 2010

It’s that time of year when everyone (and truly, I mean everyone) is putting up Top 10 lists for 2010, noting the most “intriguing people” of the year and counting down the best and worst of what was the last year of the first decade of the twenty-first century. So, with Oscar season just around the corner and awards being given to various people for momentary movie glory I thought I might toss around a few meaningless awards as well.

In the spirit of “awards season” these are the official Ubuntu Spirit Notable Religion Awards featuring the moments, events, people and positions that gave shape to the religious landscape of 2010:

Most Contentious Religious Event:

With arguments over the soul of yoga and the ubiquitous holiday hostilities it was (sadly) a tough category to win this year as religious leaders fought for first place in this category where winners are awarded for fighting (or instigating a tussle) over religion. Above all other contentious moments, one reigned supreme:

Feisal Abdul Rauf’s plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero in New York.

Abdul Rauf certainly did not plan for his mosque to cause such a ruckus, but it surely did. The plans, and not the actuality, of a mosque near an American Patriot’s Holy Site stirred up thousands of angry protestors, instigated responses nation-wide and pulled Islam in America into the limelight. Many are amazed that more violence and contention did not ensue and many more are overjoyed at that fact (myself included). Included in this award as a “supporting actor” you might say is Pastor Terry Jones who organized, and subsequently cancelled, a National Burn the Koran event in Florida. Contentious? Yes. Ridiculous? Yes. Saddening. Yes. This whole debacle, and its subsequent fallout, truly deserves such a dubious prize.

Read the related Ubuntu post “Freedom, Justice and Conflict”.

Most Encouraging Religious Moment:

Not to be totally negative, one of the most encouraging of the bast year was the Faith based response to the earthquake in Haiti.

The various faith based groups (from Christians, to Jews to…yes, Vodun adherents) all deserve a HUGE kudos for their continued response to the devastating quake in Haiti. I was honored, and humbled, to attend a talk given by a medical doctor who responded within days of the quake by sacrificing her own time, her own funds and in the end risking her life to help. A member of a Telugu Indian Christian Fellowship here in Houston, she is just one example of the great response that came from religious groups across the world.

Most Religiously Confused Trend:

Overall, television, internet and radio are forces for good in our multi-cultural and religiously diverse world. Yet, in Ghana, it is the opinion of many that broadcasting religious revivals and a wealth of information on various faiths on the internet has got the people of Ghana religiously confused.

The most interesting part? As a rapidly developing economic sleeper in Africa, Ghana is poised to become Africa’s next big economy. While the country’s GDP is on the rise, per capita it still struggles. Religious leaders continue to confuse the economy, financial success and religion in such a way that it causes general incertitude among the common people looking for a faith to follow and a greater being to believe in as they struggle with day-to-day realities like unemployment and paying for this week’s food and supplies.

Most Intriguing Religious Moment:

This event drummed up quite a bit of conversation as well. When atheists took top honors in a Pew Forum Poll both religious adherents and stringent non-believers paid attention and discussed what the poll meant. Above all else, one thing became clear – no matter who came out in front, every demographic didn’t make a passing grade.

Read the related Ubuntu post “Time to Get an Education”.

Best New Religion:

Apple-ism

In a report coming out of Texas A&M University in College Station, TX researchers claim that Apple’s cultish following can only be explained by comparing it to religious devotion. The white washed walls of the Apple Store are the new sanctuaries of a tech-savvy culture and the iPhone and iPad akin to Jesus Christ (crucified, but not denied, by the media). Why is it the Best New Religion of 2010? Well, because it’s made by Apple

Most Awkward Religious Moment:

Pastor Terry Jones, who made a tense religious situation even worse back in August and September by threatening to burn Korans and copies of the Talmud at a rally in Gainesville, FL took to Tampa as the first leg in a national tour. The only problem was that an awkwardly low amount of  10 people showed up!

Maybe it’s funny, maybe it’s not.

Maybe it’s very encouraging.

At the very least, it was awkward for Pastor Jones.

Most Out-Spoken Atheist:

Rather than awarding an individual, this year I want to “honor” an emboldened association of atheists – the American Atheists.

Founded in 1963 and very active via their on-line community, the American Atheist’s took the rhetoric a step further this by putting up a billboard for Christmas that read, “You KNOW its a Myth: This Season Celebrate Reason.” Where did they put it? Oh, not anywhere big…like the Lincoln Tunnel! 😉

For that type of hubris, they definitely deserve the Most Outspoken Atheist Award of the year!

Read the related Ubuntu post “Whose Holiday Is It Anyway?”.

Most “Religulous” Adherent:

Note, this award is not given to the most “religious” per se, but the most ridiculously religious person out there. This year, it goes to the Tea Party supporting Mormon magistrate of a New American Religion that’s reinventing God’s will for His country; none other than Glenn Beck.

Why so religulous? The guy used fear, religion and politics to celebrate America (and himself) at his popular Restoring Honor Rally on the National Mall in Washington D.C. and, get this, claimed it wasn’t religiously motivated at all! Take a few moments to watch his speech, listen to the prayers of invocation preceding the rally or read the placards held by disciples of “the Beck” and you will clearly see this event was not only religious, but religulous indeed!

Read the related Ubuntu post “I’m Going Political”.

Best Religious Movie:

Last year, the cinema was awash in explicitly spiritual movies like The Blindside, Avatar and A Serious Man. This year, although there were plenty of films out there with religious leanings and spiritual gleanings, we weren’t so spoiled for choice.

My pick – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1.

While some argue that Harry Potter’s final chapter is particularly Christian (and, I believe, there is an argument to be had here) I think the following that ole ‘arry Potter has is the most notable aspect of “religion” in the famed series and the beginning of the end (might we say, the final eschaton, or revelation?).

On top of that, although not being a prophet, me thinks Part 2 will prove a major talking point in religious circles in 2011. We shall see.

For this year, my suggestion is go watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt. 1 and put your religious thinking cap on to see the MANY themes that emerge and read just how fanatic people can be about Harry Potter (you can do so by checking out a related Ubuntu post “Modern Religious Pilgrimages.”).

Best Religious Book:

American Grace by Robert Putnam and David Campbell certainly rules the roost on this one. Following years of research, dialogue and deliberation Campbell and Putnam released a tome that is sure to set the stage for plenty of religious research in the years to come. For that gift alone this book deserves much laud and salutation!

Read a related Ubuntu post “Religion (Can Be) Good for America.”

Best Religious Educator:

Stephen Prothero from Boston University for his continual “crusade” to teach America about religion. In 2010 he taught the world religions in 140 characters or less via his Twitter feed, appeared on the Colbert Report, released a watershed book on the eight most influential world religions and why they matter entitled God is Not One and continuing to get people thinking about religion and religious events via his CNN blog and Wall Street Journal articles.

Read the related Ubuntu post “The Pitfalls of Pluralism and the New Atheism”.

Most Viewed Ubuntu Post:

Now to honor that post that garnered the most interest from readers on the Ubuntu Spirit blog this past year. Drum roll please…

“The Pitfalls of Pluralism and the New Atheism” posted April 23, 2010

Close runners up include the “Ubuntu Idea” information page and “Hitchens Gets it Right: Why Me and an Atheist Agree and Why I Hope He Agrees With Me Too!”

Least Viewed Ubuntu Post 2010:

Sadly, with every game there is a loser and with all awards ceremonies there is a rotten tomato. The Ubuntu Spirit Rotten Tomato Award goes to the least viewed post from the last year:

“Faking the Minority Position”

Close “runners up,” you might say, were “Uber-empfindlichkeit und Oberammergau” and a Religion on the Web update from December 2.

Lifetime Achievement Award(s) in Religion:

The following aren’t my awards at all, but I found the following fascinating when compared to one another.

First, is the award given to punk band Bad Religion’s front man Greg Graffin for his lyrical support of “atheism, punk rock and science” by a group of Harvard atheists. To listen to a prime example of his musical skepticism listen to the song, “I Want to Conquer the World.”

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Gustav Niebuhr, an accomplished chronicler of religion and religious events, was honored by Religion Newswriters for his passionate position that to cover and commentate on major world events is to report on religious trends. Thank you sir for making sure that religious reporting stays at the forefront of our papers and magazines, whether they be in print or on the web!

Honorable Mentions in Religion from 2010:

There were many events, moments and individuals that gave shape to the religious landscape of 2010. It was, and continues to be in its final days, an exciting year for religion…and isn’t it always? The “honorable mentions” are too many to count. I encourage you, the Ubuntu reader, to check Ubuntu’s archives or scroll through some of the links on the blog roll to discover your own “top ten” list of religious events in 2010.

Peace to all of you, Happy New Year and see you next year!

Ubuntu will return with a reflective post on the state of religious reporting in early January!

This Year, Santa Was a Saint

Good ole' St. Nick!

Yes, really, Santa was a saint…who lived in what is now modern day Turkey…and his name was Nicholas (READ MORE).

Although interesting, this topic is not the thrust of my title (sorry for the bait and switch).

I’m just trying to say that Santa was a saint this year by bringing me some stupendous stocking stuffers – TWO NEW BOOKS!

If anyone knows me, they understand that I am a bookworm. I love reading, specifically thought provoking non-fiction and detailed, but readable, histories and social commentaries. This year I am excited to be the proud owner of two tomes on world religions that were released in the last year:

1) American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us by David Campbell and Robert Putnam

2) God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World and Why Their Differences Matter by Stephen Prothero

Why do you care?

Well, as soon as I am done reading each of these books I will be sure to post reviews. So, in the New Year please stay posted for some thoughts and comments from UbuntuSpirit about these two books.

Thanks Santa!

Ubuntu’s New Direction

Fundamental to the “ubuntu” philosophy is that each person is set within a nexus, a network if you may, of other people. What happens to you necessarily affects me and what happens to me impacts you. The Nguni people put it like this, “umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu” – literally, a person is a person through other persons.

Our world is one of great strife and vicious conflict. Unfortunately, much of this derision is caused by religious tension. History books are full of the stuff that makes religious moderates cringe and fuels the fire of the new atheists’ tirades against faith in any form.

As the new report from the Pew Forum suggests, one possible cause for this ubiquitous religious conflict is the lack of knowledge about religion (see post “Time to Get an Education”), whether one’s own or the beliefs of the person down the street.

In the past I’ve often touched on a myriad of religious issues from a variety of backgrounds and in different contexts. Taking on such topics as the new atheism, Islam and most notably Judaism I’ve commented on ignorance and understanding, compassion and cold-heartedness, in hopes of inching America ever closer to “religious literacy” (this term is credited to Stephen Prothero, whose views on religious education are very much akin to my own).

With this in mind, the Ubuntu Spirit blog is heading in a more focused direction. From this point on the Ubuntu blog will target specifically religious topics. More accurately, the Ubuntu blog will comment on religion as it intersects with society, popular culture and education.

I do not hold to any utopian vision of a world of religious literates living in harmony together whilst each claiming their own epistemological truth. I believe there will be no pervasive peace until the parousia, and then we will all share the same confession (Isaiah 45:23; Philippians 2:10-11). However, this blog’s intention is to raise awareness of religious issues, educate those who desire to understand more about other religions and prayerfully increase dialogue between people of both faith and non-faith in an effort to better understand one another in today’s (post)modern age.

To that end I invite you to join the dialogue and help all of us to better understand one another as persons, and in so doing better apperceive the thrust of the ubuntu philosophy that posits our blithe existence as necessarily tied up in the well being of others.

The Pitfalls of Pluralism and the New Atheism

“While popular religion writers such as [Huston] Smith see in all religions the same truth and the same virtue, new atheists such as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins see in all religions the same idiocy and the same poison. In both cases, Godthink is ideological rather than analytical. It gestates in the dense clouds of desire rather than with a clear-eyed vision of how things are in the ground. In the case of the new atheists, it springs from the understandable desire to denounce the evil in religion. In the case of the perennialists, it begins with the equally understandable desire to praise the good in religion.”

-Stephen Prothero

Literally, I was about to come and post some thoughts about how postmodern pluralism and atheism are doing essentially the same thing in different ways when I stopped by the Twitter-verse to see what people were sharing with the world  in 140 characters.

I happened upon Sprothero’s Tweet about his recent article/excerpt in the Wall Street Journal.

Stephen Prothero is a religion professor at the University of Boston and is well known for his Religions 101 Twitter class where he described each major religion in 140 characters or less. If that isn’t impressive enough, he just released a book that goes against the vast majority of enlightened  theological thinking.

In his new book, God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions that Run the World – and Why  Their Differences Matter, Prothero goes after the prevailing religious perspectives that say one of two things: 1) all religions are essentially good, just different in expression or 2) all religions are essentially evil, just different in expression.

Cheers to Prof. Prothero for, what sounds like, a reasoned exposition about why this leads to religious ignorance and is dangerous for today’s society wherein religion plays such a key role. Cheers indeed.

Both postmodern religious pluralists and semi-modern New Atheists do us a large disservice by touting their a-religious or tota-religious gospels. Whereas one pronounces that “all paths lead to God” with varying expressions of the divine the other pronounces that “no paths lead to ‘god'” because there isn’t one, and the only difference is what myth you happen to put false faith in.

These opinions are tacitly equal to one another. Take for example the diagram below:

This rudimentary illustration displays both the religio-pluralist’s point of view and the New Atheist’s vision of religion. However, the thrust is in opposite directions. Whereas pluralists see Wotan, the Tao, Jesus, Krishna et. al., Allah, the Dharma and Yahweh all pointing to what we may call “God” or the “Divine” the New Atheists see the non-existent “God” or “Divine” being falsely expressed in the likes of Wotan, the Tao, Jesus etc.

Do you see what I mean?

The two seemingly rival philosophies are both tantamount to “crying wolf.” If a pluralist is to be believed then we have nothing to worry about, religions are all basically the same. The question, why do we need to investigate the claims of religious adherents, study their rituals and understand the sociological ramifications of their beliefs and practices, naturally follows. On the other hand, if a New Atheist is right then all religious are equally worthless and all deserve nothing but extinction. The same question birthed from a pluralist point of view also finds its genesis in a New Atheist’s conclusions.

And that’s a dangerous question to answer; because both the pluralist and the New Atheist would have us to believe that we don’t need to study the religions, at least not in depth or with any real conviction, because they are all either priceless or useless, depending upon your perspective.

Prothero and I both concur that religions not only should be studied, but need to be studied in order for us to best understand how to interact with one another on both a global and local scale (a “glocal” scale…maybe). The perspectives of pluralists and New Atheists may seem harmless in the classroom, but they are poison in the real world of human interaction.
With that said, the likes of Prothero and I must also be careful. We too run the risk of understating the situation when we draw quick comparisons between New Atheists and religious relativists. To automatically lump them together into one category is slippery, because to do so would mean to miss the significant subtleties of each standpoint.

The conclusion I’ve come to is that all of us (Prothero and I included) must endeavor to be diligent in our understanding of others from various religious (or a-religious) backgrounds. This means reading, listening and exploring the faith positions of other people – including New Atheists and pluralists. Effective religious teachers and those who share their faith in positive dialogue are vastly important for our various cultures to move forward on the “glocal” stage.

I try to do this to the best of my limited ability. I take joy in teaching world religions in my various “Sacred Duty” classes (in Southern California with Mt. Hope, in Palmerston North, New Zealand with St. Luke’s and now in Apache Junction, AZ with Mountain View) and kindly interacting with, listening to and sharing with people of other backgrounds (currently I converse with a Buddhist, a couple Muslims, plenty of Jews and  a few Atheists on a regular basis).

By taking steps like these I think we can all take a positive step forward in religious dialogue. Views that either discount, or effectively discard, religious faith based on their similarity (whether it be a positive or negative similitude) do not help the situation. In fact, they only make it worse.

I encourage us all to hold our positions, but hold them in such a way that we can also see, and seek to understand, the perspectives of others for what they are – as distinct and as different religious expressions that are not trying to think, say or do the same thing.

Personally, this enables me to not only believe, teach and confess my Christian faith but also to research and respond in a positive light to other religions (as with my book A Sacred Duty: A Christian’s Friendly Study of World Religions).

I encourage you to keep up the dialogue. Listen first, then respond and do so with conviction!

Shalom.