By Paul Albers
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
I find myself both amazed and amused at the reaction to Pope Benedict XVIclaiming the Roman Catholic Church is the only true church. The WorldAlliance of Reformed Churches which represents 75 million Protestants aroundthe world condemned the document as undermining Christian unity saying "Itmakes us question the seriousness with which the Roman Catholic Church takesits dialogues with the reformed family and other families of the church."Many individual members of Protestant faiths were shocked and offended athaving their religion labelled as defective.
The only surprise to me is that so many Protestants seemed unaware that theposition taken by the Vatican is not new. Early in the Reformation,Catholics branded Protestant religions as unchristian cults inspired ofSatan to deceive the faithful into following another gospel. Granted, thiskind of heated rhetoric (and the violence that went with it) is long past,but the fact has always remained that Catholics consider apostolicsuccession to be vital, and claim that they alone have it. Sir Thomas More,once called the conscience of the King when serving as Chancellor to KingHenry VIII, refused to switch his allegiance away from the pope even thoughdoing so ultimately led to his execution.
The reaction of some Protestants also strikes me as odd since it seems todeny the very idea of there being a 'one true church'. I would haveexpected that every church would consider itself superior to all others insome way. Early Protestants felt strongly enough about their faith topractice it in the face of violent persecution, and their leaders enduredmany hardships to establish their doctrines.
Any church today that doesn't have a conviction of its own rightness is notprepared to last through the generations. If you think it makes nodifference to God if you are a Protestant or Catholic, then what is thereason for both to exist?
The great irony of this situation is that some Protestants target otherchurches for far worse treatment than what they are complaining aboutreceiving from Rome.
An industry has developed among Evangelicals that is focused on attackingother denominations, branding them as 'cults of Christianity' just fordisagreeing with some of the conclusions they have reached about Christiandoctrines. Individuals and businesses in this industry make their livingselling books, movies and presenting speeches on the perceived evils anderrors of their targets. Their hit list includes Jehovah's Witnesses,Christadelphians, Seventh Day Adventists and The Church of Jesus Christ orLatter-Day Saints (also known as the Mormons).
As a practicing Mormon, I find it amusing to see their consternation at thePope's words when it is impossible for us to hold a single GeneralConference, temple dedication or religious pageant without Evangelicalsshowing up insulting and desecrating what we hold sacred in protest of themere existence of our faith. In 1998 the Southern Baptist Conventiondecided to hold their national convention in Salt Lake City specifically totarget Mormons for conversion. Mormons generally shrug these stunts off,supporting the right of all religions to conduct missionary work, but Ican't help but wonder how Evangelicals would react if Catholics beganshowing up at their events with anti-Protestant placards and pamphlets.
The danger with a hostile approach is its tendency to escalate. Competitionin the so-called 'counter-cult' industry drives some to publishsensationalized and misleading polemics disguised as scholarly examinations.The pressure to increase sales by focusing on the shock value rather thanthe validity of an accusation can be hard to resist.
A few months ago an American evangelical group passed out thousands of DVDscritical of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The Foundationfor Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR), an independent, non-profit ofgroup of Mormon apologists denounced the video as full of 'numerousmischaracterizations, misrepresentations, errors, and outright falsehoods'and published a point by point rebuttal. Next month a similar group willfollow in the footsteps of Michael Moore, releasing the movie "SeptemberDawn". From early reviews it sounds like a better title would be "TheProtocols of the Elders of Utah".
Those who want to proselytize others to their faith would do better toconcentrate on making the case for their position rather than going on theoffensive against what others believe. They will likely be more successfulthat way as well. If you check the dictionary you will find that thedefinition of the word 'Christian' is very broad and encompasses any and allwho consider Christ the Messiah and make a sincere effort to follow him,even if their way of following him is far from orthodox.
Freedom of religion is undermined by churches that spend their resourcestrying to tear down other religions, spread misinformation about them, orfoster contention between faiths. Those actions create a barrier againstco-operating on areas of agreement and make it harder for civil dialogue totake place between faiths. It also creates an environment that legitimizesreligious bigotry against those in the minority. The American constitutionforbids a religious test for public office, yet some ministers are on recordas trying to convince their congregations to apply a religious test to theirvote to accomplish the same thing.
Christ said to treat others the way we would want to be treated if ourpositions were reversed. Perhaps all who call themselves Christians shouldwork a little harder doing just that.
Paul Albers is a freelance columnist living in Ottawa. He can be reached at: p.e.albers@gmail.com
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