These statistics represent real people: people who are born, live, and die every day. We find these real people living beside us in our cities and in our neighborhoods.  Islamic mosques and Buddhist and Hindu worship centers can be found in every metropolitan area of the United States, including here in Delaware County.

In Unity, what do we believe about these people who are following different paths than we are?  There are three ways to look at our Christian religion. 

Some people's view is that all religions are equally valid as ways to approach God. We can identify superficial differences among the world's religions, while recognizing that at their core, they are fundamentally the same.  Often the analogy is used of people taking different paths up the same mountain, but all arriving at the same summit. This is the viewpoint known as religious pluralism.

Other people who may be desirous of projecting an attitude of tolerance and acceptance will take a more inclusive view.  This view of Christian inclusivism maintains that though people of another religious conviction may be ignorant of Jesus as the Christ - or possibly even have rejected Him - because of the way they have lived their lives, they can be included in the realm of Christianity.

A third viewpoint is known as Christian exclusivism. This is the viewpoint of those who accept the Bible as their literal authority in spiritual matters. It is the view that though there are indeed truths and values in many other religions, there is only one saving truth, namely the gospel of Jesus Christ.    This view is most naturally deduced from Jesus' well known statement,  "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me." (John 14:6).

Unity theology would be categorized as one of religious pluralism.  Religious pluralism suggests that there are only superficial differences among the religions and that these differences are greatly overshadowed by their similarities.  

Our first Principle of Unity is, "There is One Presence/One Power active in the Universe and in my life – God – the Good- Omnipotence."  For this to be our path, there must be a willingness to see the good in all religions - even those that appear most violent.  In Unity, we often say that our explanation of theology is likened to a wheel.  God is the hub at the center of the wheel, and the many paths to God are like the spokes.   We are all progressing toward that perfect center, and we are all at a different place on the particular spoke upon which we travel.  On the outer edge of the wheel, closest to the rim, we are caught in the world of form and see separation.

But the closer we get to the center, the more we realize our oneness – oneness with God and oneness with each other. 

None of the world's major religions sanctions killing in the name of God.  There are some people who claim to be legitimate interpreters of God's will and intention as they understand it through their particular religious path.  Every religion, version, branch or  denomination has its polarities.   For instance, there is a metaphysical branch (one that interprets the sacred writings symbolically) of Islam (Sufi), Judaism (Cabbalists), Christianity (New Thought); and at the other pole there are the Jihadists, Zionists, and the Christian Right.  It is a spectrum – a continuum of belief and of practice.

There has been violence in all world religions.  Christianity has not been exempt.   This violence is perpetuated by people whose view is from the outer realm of the wheel where separation is the predominate awareness. 

As we embrace the Truth of our First Principle, we open to a deeper understanding of what it means to live and practice a faith that knows no opposite – a faith that only knows a God of Goodness. 

Namaste`