The following is excerpted from the Archbishop Desmond Tutu's new book, 'God Is Not A Christian: And Other Provocations.'
This talk also comes from a forum in Britain, where Tutu addressed leaders of different faiths during a mission to the city of Birmingham in 1989.
They tell the story of a drunk who crossed the street and accosted a pedestrian, asking him, "I shay, which ish the other shide of the shtreet?" The pedestrian, somewhat nonplussed, replied, "That side, of course!" The drunk said, "Shtrange. When I wash on that shide, they shaid it wash thish shide." Where the other side of the street is depends on where we are. Our perspective differs with our context, the things that have helped to form us; and religion is one of the most potent of these formative influences, helping to determine how and what we apprehend of reality and how we operate in our own specific context.
My first point seems overwhelmingly simple: that the accidents of birth and geography determine to a very large extent to what faith we belong. The chances are very great that if you were born in Pakistan you are a Muslim, or a Hindu if you happened to be born in India, or a Shintoist if it is Japan, and a Christian if you were born in Italy. I don't know what significant fact can be drawn from this -- perhaps that we should not succumb too easily to the temptation to exclusiveness and dogmatic claims to a monopoly of the truth of our particular faith. You could so easily have been an adherent of the faith that you are now denigrating, but for the fact that you were born here rather than there.
My second point is this: not to insult the adherents of other faiths by suggesting, as sometimes has happened, that for instance when you are a Christian the adherents of other faiths are really Christians without knowing it. We must acknowledge them for who they are in all their integrity, with their conscientiously held beliefs; we must welcome them and respect them as who they are and walk reverently on what is their holy ground, taking off our shoes, metaphorically and literally. We must hold to our particular and peculiar beliefs tenaciously, not pretending that all religions are the same, for they are patently not the same. We must be ready to learn from one another, not claiming that we alone possess all truth and that somehow we have a corner on God.
We should in humility and joyfulness acknowledge that the supernatural and divine reality we all worship in some form or other transcends all our particular categories of thought and imagining, and that because the divine -- however named, however apprehended or conceived -- is infinite and we are forever finite, we shall never comprehend the divine completely. So we should seek to share all insights we can and be ready to learn, for instance, from the techniques of the spiritual life that are available in religions other than our own. It is interesting that most religions have a transcendent reference point, a mysterium tremendum, that comes to be known by deigning to reveal itself, himself, herself, to humanity; that the transcendent reality is compassionate and concerned; that human beings are creatures of this supreme, supra mundane reality in some way, with a high destiny that hopes for an everlasting life lived in close association with the divine, either as absorbed without distinction between creature and creator, between the divine and human, or in a wonderful intimacy which still retains the distinctions between these two orders of reality.
When we read the classics of the various religions in matters of prayer, meditation, and mysticism, we find substantial convergence, and that is something to rejoice at. We have enough that conspires to separate us; let us celebrate that which unites us, that which we share in common.
Surely it is good to know that God (in the Christian tradition) created us all (not just Christians) in his image, thus investing us all with infinite worth, and that it was with all humankind that God entered into a covenant relationship, depicted in the covenant with Noah when God promised he would not destroy his creation again with water. Surely we can rejoice that the eternal word, the Logos of God, enlightens everyone -- not just Christians, but everyone who comes into the world; that what we call the Spirit of God is not a Christian preserve, for the Spirit of God existed long before there were Christians, inspiring and nurturing women and men in the ways of holiness, bringing them to fruition, bringing to fruition what was best in all. We do scant justice and honor to our God if we want, for instance, to deny that Mahatma Gandhi was a truly great soul, a holy man who walked closely with God. Our God would be too small if he was not also the God of Gandhi: if God is one, as we believe, then he is the only God of all his people, whether they acknowledge him as such or not. God does not need us to protect him. Many of us perhaps need to have our notion of God deepened and expanded. It is often said, half in jest, that God created man in his own image and man has returned the compliment, saddling God with his own narrow prejudices and exclusivity, foibles and temperamental quirks. God remains God, whether God has worshippers or not.
This mission in Birmingham to which I have been invited is a Christian celebration, and we will make our claims for Christ as unique and as the Savior of the world, hoping that we will live out our beliefs in such a way that they help to commend our faith effectively. Our conduct far too often contradicts our profession, however. We are supposed to proclaim the God of love, but we have been guilty as Christians of sowing hatred and suspicion; we commend the one whom we call the Prince of Peace, and yet as Christians we have fought more wars than we care to remember. We have claimed to be a fellowship of compassion and caring and sharing, but as Christians we often sanctify sociopolitical systems that belie this, where the rich grow ever richer and the poor grow ever poorer, where we seem to sanctify a furious competitiveness, ruthless as can only be appropriate to the jungle.
Cameron Sinclair: My Tea With Tutu
Rev. Mpho A. Tutu: Father's Day 2010: Why I Am Proud of My Father
Desmond Tutu: Arizona: The Wrong Answer
God Is Not a Christian: And Other Provocations by Desmond Tutu
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God does not support all Religions and Faiths. This would go against the teachings of his son Jesus Christ. If you believe that Jesus is Gods son and Jesus has the approval of his father, then there has to be a distinctio
11 This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.
12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
From what I can tell, Desmond, Saint Peter disagrees with you.
I respectful
"The problems start, precisely ,when people start taking the metaphoric
So what does it mean, then, to be a Christian and believe in the "resurrect
The way I see it is, God, the Creator, made all things possible. Not in the 6000 years period but for eternity.
Hence with all things possible, our different languages, ethnicity, cultures, religions, developmen
All the religious books on earth today and those that do not practise any form of religion, all have code of ethics that guide them. I believe that is part of our make up and natural distinct for most living things.
Consider sociopaths
Every one of those has a large population that disagree with it, so where is the universal morality you speak of? Don't do unto others what you don't wish done to you (the golden rule) is a cute logical rule, but what if that person wrongs you? What is adequate and moral punishment
Part of the recycling of life.
Those who cared for tranquilit
No condition is permanent.
So if they were under "divine providence
Fascinatin
This is a sensible admonishme
God is the God of all people (in the sense that we are His creation), but Scripture rejects the notion that those who reject Christ can "walk closely with God." If, "in these last days [God] has spoken to us in His Son, And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representa
Gandhi is famous for his quip: "I like your Christ but not your Christians
Why does humanity need a savior in the first place? Because the Bible says so? Please do some research into who actually wrote the Bible.
Actually, Jesus, Himself, testified to the validity of Scripture multiple times. He even appealed to Scripture to prove He was the promised Messaih.
You will forgive me if I laugh a little as I type this. You told me * I * should "do some research into who actually wrote the Bible," then attributed my quotes to "Paul of Tarsus." Actually neither of my quotes were by Paul. One was from Hebrews, whose author is anonymous, and the other was clearly stated to be a quote of Christ.
But let me answer your question as to why humanity needs a Savour by using quotes from "Paul of Tarsus": "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (Romans 3:23) and, "the wages of sin is death," (Romans 6:23). And let's not forget that Paul was called directly by the risen Christ (in the presence of witnesses) and wrote that he was given his Gospel by direct revelation of Christ. Whether Christian, Muslim, or Atheist, (or whatever) we all need a Saviour because we are all (clearly) sinners.
Gandhi was spiritual enough to realize that truth can't be exclusive.
By definition
Religion is the insistence of a belief.
His "drunk" story/anal
His "the faith we choose is largely based on [geographi
Your problem appears to be exactly the kind of thing that Desmond Tutu is describing
The Bible had "40" authors -- with a few books where the author didn't identify himself (Hebrews, 1st. John). Although 1st. John has historical
I certainly do not intend to demean other religions, each person is free to adcovate for their beliefs, but ALL religions cannot be true. Christ Himself (as I have pointed out) said: "I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father EXCEPT by Me" (John 14:6). Not that's either true or it's not. And if the words of Christ are true, all other "paths" to God are false.
Christiani