Are All Religions Basically the Same?

With over half of evangelicals reportedly saying that they believe that people from other religions can go to heaven, the question emerges, are all religions basically the same? That is the refrain that is constantly heard in our pluralistic society. People say things like, "As long as you're sincere, God will honor that," or "All religions basically teach the same thing, don't they?" Or, "As long as you are a good person, it does not matter which religion you ascribe to."  The truth is that different religions do not teach the same thing. They are all, in one form or another, mutually exclusive.

I am preparing for our next trip to India in the fall and I was reading Ravi Zacharias' new book, New Birth or Rebirth: Jesus Talks With Krishna, and he made a very interesting statement. He said that all religions believe that they are exclusively true, in one form or another. If not, then why do they persecute people for converting to other religions? Why is conversion from their religion to another looked down upon or persecuted? For that matter, why not encourage conversion if it makes the person happy? If all religions are fundamentally the same, then why should we propogate a religion? Why try to gain converts or spread teachings? Many people in the New Age movement borrow a great deal from Hindu thought. But, orthodox Hinduism harshly persecutes people for converting, to the point that in the area that we work in in Northern India, Christians are regularly attacked, churches are burned, and ministries are harassed and shut down. No, true Hinduism is not very tolerant to other faiths.

It is only in the West where we know little about the true beliefs of other religions (including Christianity), do people make claims that all religions are basically the same. That is primarily a secular manifestation of the Hindu teaching of monism, which states that all is one. This secular view tells us that man is supreme and religion is just a function of man's desire for transcendance. Since all people are basically the same, then all religion is just a cultural adaptation of that desire for transcendence. But, in reality, this is not the view of the world's religions, especially Hinduism. All that you have to do is walk along the paths of Rishikesh along the Ganges River to know that Hinduism and Christianity have absolutely nothing in common. Any teachings of oneness only come from the Hindu perspective. If other views bow to that perspective, then they can be included.

Christianity teaches exclusivity. Jesus is the only way to salvation. This is why Christians are persecuted all over the world. Their view of the exclusivity of Christ is bumping up against the exclusive teachings of other religions. The issue is not that all religions are the same because they are drastically different in fundamental ways, but rather, the question is, "Which religion is true?"

That is a conversation that only truthseekers want to engage in.