Ethics and Religion Talk: Are Religious Communities Too Exclusive?

One of the things that frustrates me about religion, and keeps me from joining any particular one, is that so often it is tied to ethnicity, nationalism, tribalism, etc. How can any critically thinking person believe that God just happened to reveal himself to a particular population at a certain time, leaving others out?

Father Kevin Niehoff, O.P., a Dominican priest who serves as Judicial Vicar, Diocese of Grand Rapids, responds:

Oxford Languages Online defines religion as “the belief in and the worship of a superhuman power, especially a God or gods.” The Roman Catholic Church teaches that religion has a social duty because “all men and women are bound to seek the truth” by the very dignity of being a human person” (Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church, p. 510).

All Christian men and women are bound to respect other religious traditions. Respect does not infer belief. Instead, people enjoy the freedom to choose the faith tradition and its form of worship.

The Roman Catholic Church is present over the entire world. Catholic Mass in different languages, places, and with different peoples celebrates diversity with unity. The structure of the Mass is the same everywhere despite language differences. The choice to respect this difference is central to building the faith of those who choose to worship in the Catholic tradition. The focus is not on ethnicity, nationalism, or tribalism but on God, who is the source of all truth.

Fred Stella, the Pracharak (Outreach Minister) for the West Michigan Hindu Temple, responds:

I am right there with you. There seems to be a great deal of humility missing from so many religionists. While many religions will claim that they are universal, made up of many ethnicities and races, they normally trace their roots to a particular place and time when God revealed himself. But that begs the question, why did this particular people get the honor of divine revelation and others not? And while this revelation can certainly be spread worldwide, there is still an understanding that the original message was given to some lucky group, while the unlucky must wait to be brought into the realm of the elect. 

There is no doubt that Hinduism is significantly merged in Indian culture and geography. But what I value greatly about it is that the theology embraces the idea that divinity is in no way exclusive to Hindu scriptures and sages. It holds that while beliefs and practices worldwide are drastically different, all can enjoy communion with the sacred.

The Reverend Colleen Squires, minister at All Souls Community Church of West Michigan, a Unitarian Universalist Congregation, responds:

As Unitarian Universalists we believe in Religious Pluralism. The Aspen Institute defines religious pluralism as the state of being where every individual in a religiously diverse society has the rights, freedoms, and safety to worship, or not, according to their conscience. We see this in this country's motto - e pluribus unum, that we, as a nation, are gathered together as one out of many. We do not believe in one true way but rather that there are many paths to the divine.

The Rev. Sandra Nikkel, head pastor of Conklin Reformed Church, responds:

Our world is filled with an array of ethnic and cultural diversity. Therefore, ethnicity, nationalism, tribalism, as such, is unavoidable—It is a part of us, always has been, and always will be. To think that we can bypass this reality is bogus. Yes, God chose to reveal himself through a tiny little country and a group of people that did not mean much to the world of that time—that’s how God rolls. This is evident in 1 Corinthians 1:27. This verse gives us this insight into the mind of God: “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” God's ways didn’t make sense to the world of that time and they don’t make sense now. But it all fits in God's great plan for humanity and He knows that He’s doing with His world.

Why not, instead of closing our hearts to God’s ways, we open them up and try to humbly learn the reasons behind what He does. One thing is for sure, a good God would never do something out of pride, foolishness, malice, or impulsiveness and everything He does is for our good. God love guides all that he does. And one day, this will be clear to all—even those who question Him, doubt him and believe the worst of Him. 

My response:

I’ll throw a question back to the questioner – what makes you think that God’s revelation happened only one time and only to a single people? Perhaps God revealed Godself to Moses and the Israelites, Jesus, Muhammad, and the Buddha. There need not be only one religious path to God. And as a representative of a religious that proudly defines itself as tribal, keep in mind that being tribal does not mean that we are closed to those were not born into the tribe. On the contrary, every tribal tradition that I know of has a method of being adopted into the tribe (also know as religious conversion).