Are All Religions Different Paths Up the Same Mountain?

[Michie]

Stephen Prothero, professor of religion at Boston University, doesn’t think all religions are different paths up the same mountain. In his book God Is Not One, Prothero points out, “The world’s religious rivals do converge when it comes to ethics—no religion tells you it is OK to have sex with your mother or to murder your brother—but they diverge sharply on doctrine, ritual, mythology, experience and law.” Why is there this divergence? Prothero answers that different religions attempt to solve different problems. In Judaism, the problem is exile, and the solution is to return to God. In Buddhism, the problem is suffering, and the solution is awakening. In Confucianism, the problem is chaos, and the solution is order. In Christianity, the problem is sin, and the solution is salvation. In Islam, the problem is pride, and the solution is submission. As Prothero puts it, “If practitioners of the world’s religions are mountain climbers, then they are ascending very different peaks and using very different tools.”

The mountain analogy makes sense if we reduce religion to ethics as followers of Immanuel Kant do. But is religion essentially reducible to ethics? If I tell a Muslim that her religion essentially agrees with Catholicism, and with Buddhism, and with Hinduism, her rightful response to me could be, “How exactly do you know more about my religion than I do? Have you ever visited Mecca? Have you ever read the Quran in Arabic?” It seems presumptuous to tell others what is nonessential about their own religion.

Prothero calls the same mountain analogy into question in another way. He writes:

Continued below.

Are All Religions Different Paths Up the Same Mountain? - Word on Fire

We ought not pit toleration against truth, or truth against love. Jesus did not teach that there are many paths up the mountain.

www.wordonfire.org

 

[johansen]

“If practitioners of the world’s religions are mountain climbers, then they are ascending very different peaks and using very different tools.”

in math and physics it is called local minimums.

all the separate mountain peaks are focuses on one specific set of problems but neglecting the weightier matters of the law: love, justice, truth, etc.

the "conspiracy" of the christian faith is that we can in fact be guided by the God who is outside this entire universe that can see the "big picture" perfectly objectively without being distracted by local peaks and valleys that humans can see with their limited vision.

It isn't really that hard to distill all the world's religions into one:

If we remove any possibility of prophetic knowledge of what God actually wants.
If we agree to leave everyone's self discovery path alone. meaning, everyone finds their own truth, we don't influence them to find it.
If we say that the definition of evil is whatever the collective societal definition of evil is, since no one is qualified on their own to make that determination.

Or you can do the opposite:
Embrace the prophetic.
Let parents homeschool their children in the way they should go.
Limit the definition of evil to that which harms other people in measurable ways based on direct accusations of humans who were harmed.

 

[Michie]

From the op:

The philosopher and Holocaust victim Edith Stein teaches us, “Do not accept anything as the truth if it lacks love. Do not accept anything as love which lacks truth.” Thomas Aquinas explains the metaphysical basis for the unity of truth and love. If God is the truth and if God is love, then love and truth must always go together, since they are united in the deepest way in God. Aquinas saw the perfect unity of truth and love in the person of Jesus. Jesus calls us not just to tolerate but to love people of every creed, color, class, and culture. But Jesus did not teach that there are many paths up the mountain. Jesus taught, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).