A God of One's Own

Religion posits one characteristic as an absolute: faith. Comparedto faith, all other social distinctions and sources of conflict areinsignificant. The New Testament says: 'We are all equal inthe sight of God'. To be sure, this equality applies only to thosewho acknowledge God's existence. What this means is that alongsidethe abolition of class and nation within the community ofbelievers, religion introduces a new fundamental distinction intothe world the distinction between the right kind of believers andthe wrong kind. Thus overtly or tacitly, religion brings with itthe demonization of believers in other faiths. The central question that will decide the continued existence ofhumanity is this: How can we conceive of a type of inter-religioustolerance in which loving one's neighbor does not imply war to thedeath, a type of tolerance whose goal is not truth but peace? Is what we are experiencing at present a regression ofmonotheistic religion to a polytheism of the religious spirit underthe heading of 'a God of one's own'? In Western societies, where the autonomy of the individual has been internalized, individual human beings tend to feel increasingly at liberty totell themselves little faith stories that fit their own lives toappoint 'Gods of their own'. However, this God of their own is no longer the one and only God who presides oversalvation by seizing control of history and empowering hisfollowers to be intolerant and use naked force.