Multiple Religious Belonging -- Possible?

In our current world of increasing globalization and religious plurality, there has been one particular issue that often goes un/under-treated:  multiple religious belonging. Investigations into people's expressions of what they've learned from other religious traditions and how other religions have influenced their self-understanding as a Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, etc., show that many have described themselves as having been so impacted that they "belong" not only to one tradition but, to some extent, the other tradition as well.

This raises a number of questions: What is meant by "belonging? Is it even possible to truly or honestly claim to be both Christian and Buddhist or some other combination? And how could a situation like this not lead to a kind of misappropriation or misuse of one or more religions or lead to a dispelling of the distinct uniqueness of each tradition? In the face of these issues, I want to suggest a different linguistic universe we might use for conversation. It is possible to genuinely and authentically make these kinds of multi-religious claims while also not denigrating the richness and uniqueness of any particular religion or heritage.

There is a growing amount of literature on this very theme. See Many Mansions: Multiple Religious Belonging and Christian Identity (Wipf & Stock, 2002), which is edited by Catherine Cornille and offers a number of Christian perspectives on the complexities of the problems that come with this topic. Also see the academic articles Peter C. Phan, "Multiple Religious Belonging: Opportunities and Challenges for Theology and Church," Theological Studies (2003), which argues for the possibility for multiple religious belonging through an "inclusive pluralism," and Gideon Goosen, "An Empirical Study of Dual Religious Belonging," Journal for Empirical Theology (2007), which presents a rather convincing case that such a phenomenon does, in fact, exist in the world.

My own understanding has been influenced significantly by German theologian Perry Schmidt-Leukel. His work sets out the possibility of multiple religious belonging grounded in an interpretation of religion and religious experience as fundamentally and primarily (though not exclusively) individual. This means that, while we are definitely social beings, our "religiosity" or "spirituality" is basically a personal, individual issue. Along with this claim, he offers a re-conceptualization of the language used to speak of this issue. Rather than speaking of "multiple religious belonging," which suggests that religions are these static, unchanging institutions to which we adhere and are either "in" or "out," we ought to speak of "multiple religious identity." This conveys a clear concern for the individual's subjective experience and expression of religiosity that is grounded in engagement with the continually developing and dynamically evolving social networks of meaning we call "religions."

With this framework we can speak of one's individual religious identity being composed of religious and spiritual elements encountered from more than one tradition or heritage. I'll use myself as an example. I'm not only a husband to my wife and a father to my son, but also a brother to my sister, a son to my parents, a friend to my friends and a colleague to co-workers. My individual identity is made up of a plurality of relational ingredients. 

This is also the case concerning individual religious identity. My identity is primarily shaped by the Christian tradition, and also more than one denomination within the Christianity, but my identity is also shaped and influenced by my interactions and exchanges with especially Buddhists, Muslims, Jews , New Age practitioners, and Atheists with whom I've come into contact about religious-spiritual truth. I have found religious elements within these traditions that I experience as good, true and beautiful. One is able to integrate and incorporate elements from the religious other into one's individual religious identity so that one might truthfully and authentically speak of having a multiple religious identity as an individual human person.


This multifaceted process is a type of transformation by integration of religious otherness and difference. One's religious worldview is enhanced, expanded and illuminated by these blesssed exchanges during interfaith encounter. such that multiple religious identity is not only possible but actual in the lives of people all over the world.

A New Article I Wrote Published in SIS Journal

A recent article I've written has just been published in the peer-reviewed journal Studies in Spirituality, which approaches the subject of religious spirituality from a scholarly-academic perspective. My article is an outline and critical comparison of the Buddhist "perfection of wisdom" in The Perfection of Wisdom in 8000 Lines and the Christian "righteoused by faith" in Paul's letter to the Romans - both as paradigms of ultimate transformation.

To view abstracts and ordering information, visit here.

Dialogue on Oneness with Fellow Unity Colleague Ogun Holder

Ogun Holder and I have been exchanging ideas in a dialogue concerning the nature of Oneness. Check out the posts on his blogsite Living in the Question.

Palin Calls Planned Islamic Center Near Ground Zero a 'Provocation'

For those who aren't yet aware, a new Islamic community center is being built and facilitated near Ground Zero where the Twin Towers used to be. The Cordoba Project, framed and named through inspiration from the YMCA and JCC (Jewish Community Center) formats in these respective traditions and called Cordoba after the Spanish city in the middle ages that fostered fruitful relations between all the Abrahamic faiths, is to be a community center designed to serve the local community and reach out to neighboring religions and cultures in the spirit of dialogue and collaboration toward equality, justice, and peace. It's really about improving Muslim-West relations.

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is the chair of the Cordoba initiative and founded the American Society for Muslim Advancement, which was the first U.S. program focusing on bring together Muslims and non-Muslim through the avenues of academia, policy, current affairs, and culture.

However, though the Cordoba Project is actually a force for good, truth, and justice dedicated to fostering greater understanding across communities, cultures, and religions, Sarah Palin has denounced these efforts as "provocation" and against the "interests of healing" (The Hill, 7/18/10).

I believe Palin has grossly misunderstood the intentions and possibilities of the Cordoba initiative. Rather than spreading rumors and distorted tropes, perhaps she could gain a bit more insight through seeking to better understand and learn from the principles and actions of this very important and peace-making project.

For more, read the whole article by Ben Geman at The Hill.

Serene Jones' Open Letter to Glenn Beck

Feminist theologian and president of Union Theological Seminary, Serene Jones, has written an open letter to Glenn Beck as a response to Beck's advocacy to his audience to steer clear of churches and synagogues that use the term "social justice" in their communications.

The main gist of the letter is an announcement that Bibles are being sent to Beck with the many references to social justice highlighted in the text and an explanation as to why these Bibles are being sent - to inform him and his audience that human rights and social action are part and parcel of the biblical tradition.

Read Jones' open letter at the Huffington Post.

Conservative Christian Case for Separation of Church-State

Jimi Jobin, an alumnus of the evangelical Liberty University and pastor of Terra Nova Faith Community in Las Vegas, has written an article giving a very convincing argument as to why conservative Christians should uphold and celebrate our forefathers' constitutional inclusion of religion-government separation.

Jobin makes the overarching point that the American colonists and our founders experienced time after time church-sponsored or run states (e.g. The Holy Commonwealth of Massachussetts - Puritans/Congregationalists, southern states - Anglican, Pennsylvania - Quakers) and the oppression and persecution that this most often elicited. So, they made sure that this wasn't going to occur when they were outlining and formulating the Constitution for the Union and thus included the first clause (no establishment clause) of the 1st Amendment.

It's a very compelling and informed open letter, and shows that there are some conservative Christian brothers and sisters who do recognize the importance of the separation between church and state. We should never keep religion out of public life, but it has no place in our governing structures, for sure.

Read the article at Religion Dispatches.

John Dominic Crossan Speaking in Australia

For those interested in New Testament studies and historical Jesus scholarship, bible scholar and member of the Jesus Seminar, John Dominic Crossan will be speaking in Carlton, Victoria, Australia from Tuesday August 31 - Friday September 3, 2010. This event is sponsored by the Progressive Christian Network of Victoria.

Dr. Crossan's lectures will address three fundamental questions:

1) What does it mean that, before Jesus ever existed, there was already a human being in that Mediterranean world whose titles were Divine, Son of God, God Incarnate, and God from God?

2) What is the difference in content when Caesar and Christ are both proclaimed as "Savior of the World"--if we have only one world, why two Saviors?

3) Finally, is the God of the Christian Bible violent or non-violent? And, if both, do we conflate those twin visions or--and how--do we decide between them?

Though I won't be able to go, simply the content of these questions to be addressed leads me to believe that these lectures and discussions will be very intriguing and informative concerning early Christian thought, ancient near-eastern culture, and the personalities of Jesus and Paul.

Click here to read more about event details.