Religion is not a buffet

Some things flat out don’t make sense. For example, a friend mentioned attending an “all-denominational church” where there was no dogma, no doctrine and no exclusion of any beliefs.

I had trouble understanding this rather wishy-washy approach to religion. Because it seems that if you try to embrace everything, you end up believing in nothing.

I can’t imagine someone subscribing to the view that all political systems are equal, so that it would make no difference if you lived in a communist country rather than, say, the United States.

People who actually live in communist countries can attest to a lack of religious freedom, for one thing, plus many violations of basic human rights. A chilling example is the prohibition against having more than one child in China.

Still, when it comes to religion, many people don’t want to take a stand. They want to attend the Church of Anything Goes, where no one dares to define the basic beliefs.

Many such congregations talk about the need to respect all prophets, including that person called Jesus.

Unfortunately, Jesus himself would not have attended the Church of Anything Goes, because he was very definite in his beliefs about God, prayer and the after-life.

And he definitely told people he was more than a prophet. In fact, he went to his death for claiming to be God.

Still, my friend says she respects Jesus as an enlightened and good teacher. Which led me to mention that she might want to consider the famous dictum of C.S. Lewis in “Mere Christianity.”

There, Lewis used logic to show that it makes no sense to call Jesus a great moral teacher.

You see, Jesus made some rather outrageous claims about himself: He said that he could forgive sins; he said that he and the father were one. And he said he would judge the world at the end of time.

Lewis notes there are three possibilities: “Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.”

If you read the Gospels, you have to admit that Jesus clearly was not insane, and he was not a malicious and deceitful person. Therefore, Jesus must have been exactly who he claimed to be.

And that’s why he was crucified: Not because he was another prophet, but because he said he was the son of God.

Since his death, millions have gone to terrible deaths rather than deny Jesus. And today, Christians around the world are still being martyred for their faith.

How many people would die for, say, someone like Aristotle or Plato? They were wise teachers indeed, but they certainly haven’t inspired the fierce devotion that Jesus has.

In fact, many congregations that bill themselves as open-minded are really just social clubs. And this is also fine, if you are simply looking for a place to meet people, drink coffee and maybe light a few candles now and then.

After all, it is fine to have an open mind, as G.K. Chesterton noted, but at some point that mind needs to clamp down on something true.

People looking for a religion need to know what the beliefs are. Do we believe in one God or many gods? Do we accept Jesus as divine? Is there an afterlife? And what rules shall we follow?

It is sad but true: Saying that anything goes when it comes to religion means, at heart, that nothing really matters.

Lorraine Murray’s latest book is “Confessions of an Ex-Feminist.”

lorrainevmurray@yahoo.com