An apologist will eventually confront the modern inclination toward non-judgmentalism. That is to say that a person who takes his or her beliefs to be of sufficient accuracy to argue on their behalf will be guilty of the last unforgivable sin of our secular era: Telling other people that their religions are incorrect.
So thoroughly have tolerance and pluralism, wrongly understood, established the doctrine of "multiple paths to God" that the one irreducible belief, for many believers of all faiths, is that all faiths are equally valid. The idea is that God created the world in such a way as to supply a religion suitable for every human being. Some people require the structure and traditions of the Catholic Church. Some require the routines and visible signs of Judaism. The path of Buddhist meditation is best for others. And still others feel that a vague spirituality is adequate when interwoven with their materialism.
The only accepted guide, in all cases, is personal preference.
This brand of ecumenism reduces religion to a ritualized variation on self-help psychology. Rather than standing as an attempt to understand the world as we find it, one's religious affiliation becomes a font of profundity for the metastasized relativism of our culture. It imprints the illusion of cosmic depth on something as superficial as "I, me, mine."
Starting, instead, with the assertion that God has a particular nature, with implications for our behavior, we find that our moral compass sometimes directs our steps along difficult paths. In contrast, when individuals begin their contemplation of the universe with themselves, the powerful magnet of their own desires tends to pull that compass toward the paths that they wish to travel anyway.
If there is a True North, then it ought to be possible to judge various creeds against it, and it is vitally important that we seek clarification for each other and for ourselves. Such urgency doesn't mean that life is a high-stakes race for Truth, with the consequence for failure being eternal damnation. It means that we must make Truth a higher priority than the trappings of our lives, even when those trappings are soul-deep.
A just God will not turn away a person of any faith who is sincerely in search of Him. Neither the devoted Jewish rabbi nor the contemplative Buddhist monk will find the way closed if knowing God is more important to him than proving his own concept of God - if his response to Jesus' Heavenly revelation is "Oh, it is you," rather than "It can't be you."
Of course, experience proves that human beings find it easier to accept correction in small, gradual progressions. The longer the list of cherished beliefs that must be modified and the greater the mountain of behaviors that must be acknowledged as sins, the more difficult acceptance will be.
A recent article in the Chicago Tribune about the Catholics Come Home ad campaign profiled a woman returning to regular participation in the Church. The hurdle that continues to hinder her full reconciliation is the experience of her mother, from whom the Church withheld the sacraments because her second husband would not annul his previous marriage. Reporter Manya Brachear presents the anecdote as an example of "the Roman Catholic Church's failure to forgive" - "alienating," instead.
It doesn't take much imagination to picture the woman's mother standing at the threshold of Heaven being called upon to understand that, for all of its personal fulfillment and pleasure, her second marriage was not, ultimately, pure. Believing it was, and acting accordingly, would not be unforgivable, but the challenge lies in acknowledging that there is something to be forgiven.
Without question, aggressive, confrontational proselytizing will prove counterproductive to the goal of inspiring conversions. And it is wise repeatedly to remind one's self that developing understanding, not proving correctness, is the basic call that we should heed. After all, we must be prepared for the possibility that we've got some particulars wrong, ourselves.
But we could offer disclaimers until the end of days. Ultimately, there is no real faith without confidence in one's beliefs, and respect for others inherently includes an interest in correcting them when something as profound as their eternal souls is at risk. Often, the best of outcomes is that they respond by attempting to correct us.
A carpenter by day, Justin Katz is administrator of AnchorRising.com, an independent media and conservative analysis blog, and a monthly contributor to the Rhode Island Catholic.
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