religious tolerance

Here's a big surprise, not everyone who professes to be Christian really is. The New York Times reports that, "although a majority of Americans say religion is very important to them, nearly three-quarters of them say they believe that many faiths besides their own can lead to salvation." The article acknowledges that "many Americans ... hold beliefs that might contradict the doctrines of their professed faiths."

I'm a simple minded man. If one holds beliefs that is in contradiction to the core of what one claims to believe, then it seems to me that one doesn't really believe what is claimed. Or perhaps this person has abandoned absolutes as a possibility leaving us able to claim anything without really meaning it.

The survey concluded that "70 percent of Americans affiliated with a religion or denomination said they agreed that “many religions can lead to eternal life,” including majorities among Protestants and Catholics. Among evangelical Christians, 57 percent agreed with the statement, and among Catholics, 79 percent did. Among minority faiths, more than 80 percent of Jews, Hindus and Buddhists agreed with the statement, and more than half of Muslims did."

Oddly, 20% of those identifying themselves as atheists said they believe in God. Huh?

I see this as just another data point reinforcing the fallenness and deception that has gripped our world. Unorthodoxology thinks this "less exclusive view of God" is "amen" worthy. Perhaps there is a play on words there that was wasted on me but his limited commenters also seem happy with the news.

For those that fit into the category identified in this survey as religiously tolerant, here are some kind words from Francis Schaeffer in A Christian Worldview:

How do we obtain salvation? Salvation is obtained by faith in Christ, plus nothing.

• John 3:15, 16, 18 We have used these verses a number of times, but they are worth looking at again to see how clearly Christ says that salvation is received by faith in Him, plus nothing.
• John 3:36 John the Baptist emphasizes that salvation is through faith plus nothing.
• Romans 3:9-20 By the deeds of the law — that is, by good works — no man is or can be just in the sight of God.
• Isaiah 64:6 Even our best works are not good enough in the sight of the holy God. Even when the outward acts are good, who can completely untangle all the mixed and complex motives which move us?
• Galatians 3:24 God never gave the law (the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, or any other commands) as though salvation would come through the keeping of it. As far as salvation goes, each of God’s laws shows us that we need Christ.
• Romans 2:1-3 Men do not even keep their own made-up norms, by which they judge others.
• Acts 16:30-33 Just as moral good works cannot save us, so also religious good works cannot save us. Baptism is a sign of salvation, not the basis for it.
• Romans 4:9-11 It was the same in the Old Testament. Abraham put his faith in God. Circumcision came later. Religious good works cannot save.
• Romans 9:6 Not all the Old Testament Jews were true spiritual Israel. Neither today will church membership in itself save. Salvation is indeed ours only on the basis of faith in Christ, plus nothing.
• Romans 9:30-33 Those Jews who were not true spiritual Israel were those who tried to come to God on the basis of their religious and moral “good works” instead of by faith.
• Galatians 2:16 Salvation is never on the basis of any kind of good works.
• Romans 3:21-26 Good works cannot save us, but faith in Christ will. The word “freely” in 3:24 means “gratis.” There is no cost to us.
• John 8:24 There is only one way of salvation. If we do not accept Christ as our Savior, we remain under the judgment of God.
• John 14:6 There are not many ways of salvation. There is only one way to come to God the Father. There is no way to come to God the Father except through Christ.
• Acts 4:12 It is faith in Christ or nothing.

The basis is the finished, substitutionary death of Christ. The instrument by which we accept the free gift is faith. Faith has a double significance: it is believing God’s promises, and it is the empty hand which accepts the gift without trying to add humanistic religious or moral good works to it.