Why are you reading this Religion section column?

Are you casually interested in the assorted religious views of a variety of religious writers? Or are you seriously searching for authoritative truth regarding the basic issues of life? If the latter is your motivation, how will you know when you’ve found it? Which Voices columnists will you trust?

There are significant differences among those of us who write this weekly piece, you know – even on essential issues.

If you read this column regularly, you’ll inevitably discover what every student of comparative religion already knows: Someone has definitely got it wrong. Not every religion can be right, any more than two contradictory statements can both be true.

The Christ of Christianity staked a claim on this point 2,000 years ago. He included “whosoever will” on his salvation invitation list. But he was an absolute exclusivist when it came to who was qualified to send out such a list. He maintained that he was the only way to God. He declared himself alone to be the truth.

Of course, to one extent or another, every other distinctive faith system in the world is also exclusivist. Even those who most fervently declare themselves to be inclusive are categorically intolerant of others who happen to disagree with that particular point of view.

The conviction that one’s viewpoint is the correct viewpoint appears common among religious commentators. It’s probably what motivates sincere clergy and theological writers like myself to add our voice to the endless cacophony of religious noise already reverberating around the planet. We all insist we’re right, even at the risk of being called arrogant. But, of course, neither conviction nor sincerity alone constitutes truth.

Someone might ask: “Does any of this really matter, anyway?” And the answer is, “Yes.” The stakes couldn’t be higher.

Religion isn’t sports, where you only have to live with failure until the next game. Religion isn’t politics, where you only have to live with negative results for four more years. In religion, it’s for keeps. It’s

forever.

In religion, it might be “lights out” at the moment of death, or a real hell that lasts forever. It’s either just molecules and chemicals in the universe, or perhaps a personal God to whom all of us shall one day give an account. Who can afford to be wrong about such matters?

Traudl Junge served as Hitler’s personal secretary from 1943 to 1945. In a taped interview for an A&E documentary, she stated that during those years she was thoroughly convinced in the cause of Nazism. In fact, she remained convinced right up to that infamous last day in the bunker. Then Hitler summoned her in for some last words. She says that she thought to herself: “Ah, now, he’s finally going to explain it all.” She says that she was “so excited” as the Fuhrer began to dictate to her his political will. She was thinking that now, she alone, in all the world, would be the very first person to hear this man’s previously undisclosed reasons for what had happened. Her heart was actually “bumping” in anticipation. But then, of course, as it turned out, there was no explanation. Hitler just began repeating the same old worn out lines, at which point, Junge says, it suddenly struck her – “what a monstrous mistake it all was.”

Is that story meant to somehow equate Nazism with misguided religious thinking? Hardly. The analogy is too weak for that. Hitler, with all of his power, was only able to kill physically. No Nazi was ever able to determine the eternal fate of a human soul. God alone has that power. That is why Jesus warned people to

“fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

The implications are fearsome indeed. When it comes to knowing whose truth is really true, we had better be getting it right. No one can realistically risk discovering that the philosophy or worldview to which he or she subscribed in life was all a monstrous mistake.

The wise man of Proverbs ups the ante with this warning: “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”

Do you know which religious views are correct, which spiritual voices are misleading, and which holy books are trustworthy? Can you explain why in a few simple lines? If so, write to me. I’d be interested in reading your response.

If not, stay tuned in 2005.

The Rev. Daryl E. Witmer is founder and director of the AIIA Institute, a national apologetics ministry, and associate pastor of the Monson Community Church. He may be reached at AIIAInstitute@aol.com or through ChristianAnswers.Net/AIIA. Voices is a weekly commentary by five Maine columnists who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life.