Just as the human situation would be impoverished and unsustainable if we were to eliminate all life forms except our own, so it would be reduced and fatally compromised if we were to eliminate all cultures and traditions except our own. The idea that we fulfil God's will by waging war against the infidel, or forcing our specific practices on others, so that all humanity shares the same religion is an idea that - as I have tried to argue - owes much to the concept of empire and little to the heritage of Abraham, which Jews, Christians and Muslims claim as their own. It was not until the Abrahamic faith came into contact with Greek and Roman imperialism that it developed into an aspiration to conquer or convert the world, and we must abandon it if we are to save ourselves from mutual destruction. To repeat my formulation in an earlier chapter: fundamentalism, like imperialism, is the attempt to impose a single way of life on a plural world. It is the Tower of Babel of our time. (The Dignity of Difference (2002), page 201)
Purchased on 4 January 2005 at the Cliff College Bookshop. Perhaps some will think this is an unlikely venue but Sacks is arguably one of our greatest modern theologians. He is pointing the way for Christian ecumenism, although we are still waiting for a theologian to translate his work for the specifics of our Christian churches. (If you know of someone who has, do let me know who it is!)
It can be hard to live with the idea there are many truths, when our own seem so compelling. But how can we test our own truths unless there are people with different truths to test them against? It is not our beliefs that save us but our compassion.
Comments