In an increasingly interconnected world, religious plurality is no longer a distant concept but a lived reality. Neighbours, colleagues, classmates, and even family members often belong to different faith traditions. For Christians, this raises important questions: How should we understand the world’s religions? What do they teach? And how does Christianity relate to them—both in dialogue and in truth claims?
This discussion is not merely academic. It is pastoral, cultural, and deeply spiritual. Christianity does not exist in isolation, yet it makes claims that are both universal and exclusive. Navigating this tension with clarity, humility, and love is one of the Church’s great responsibilities today.
A Brief Landscape of World Religions
Judaism
Judaism is the root from which Christianity emerges. Christians share the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) and the belief in one sovereign God. The crucial difference lies in the identity of Jesus. While Judaism awaits the Messiah, Christianity proclaims that the Messiah has come.
“He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” (John 1:11, KJV)
N.T. Wright notes that Christianity is best understood not as a rejection of Judaism, but as its fulfillment:
“Jesus did not come to start a new religion but to bring Israel’s story to its climax.”
Islam
Islam shares with Christianity belief in one God (Allah), reverence for figures such as Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, and a strong moral framework. However, Islam denies the divinity of Christ and the doctrine of the Trinity.
Christianity, by contrast, stands or falls on the identity of Jesus Christ:
“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.” (1 Timothy 3:16, KJV)
Billy Graham once observed:
“The entire message of Christianity is summed up in the person of Jesus Christ.”
Hinduism
Hinduism is diverse, encompassing many philosophies, practices, and deities. It often views truth as plural and ultimate reality as impersonal (Brahman), with salvation understood as liberation (moksha) through cycles of rebirth.
Christianity differs fundamentally in its linear view of history and its personal God who seeks humanity:
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, KJV)
Ravi Zacharias, who often engaged Hindu thinkers, said:
“Christianity is not about finding God, but about God finding us.”
Buddhism
Buddhism largely avoids questions of God, focusing instead on suffering and its cessation through enlightenment. While Christians appreciate Buddhism’s moral seriousness and compassion, the absence of a personal Creator and Redeemer marks a significant difference.
Jesus’ invitation contrasts sharply with self-enlightenment:
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28, KJV)
Sikhism
Sikhism emphasises belief in one God, moral living, justice, and service. These shared ethical values resonate with Christian teaching. However, Sikhism does not accept the incarnation of God in Christ or salvation through the cross.
Christian faith insists that redemption is not earned but received:
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8, KJV)
Traditional African Religions (TARs)
Traditional African Religions affirm belief in a Supreme Being, the spiritual realm, community, and moral accountability. Many African theologians have noted that these beliefs prepared the ground for the gospel.
However, Christianity challenges fear-based spirituality and ancestral mediation by proclaiming Christ as the sole mediator:
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:5, KJV)
African theologian John Mbiti famously wrote:
“Africans are notoriously religious,”
yet Christianity reorients that religiosity toward a redemptive relationship with God through Christ.
New Religious Movements
Movements such as Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses use Christian language and Scripture but redefine core doctrines—particularly the nature of God and Christ. Historic Christianity has consistently affirmed:
“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” (Hebrews 13:8, KJV)
Shared Values and the Call to Dialogue
Across religions, we find common ethical concerns: justice, compassion, prayer, self-discipline, and care for others. Pope Francis has repeatedly emphasised respectful dialogue:
“Interreligious dialogue is a necessary condition for peace in the world.”
Christians are called to engage others with gentleness and respect:
“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer… with meekness and fear.” (1 Peter 3:15, KJV)
Dialogue, however, does not require dilution of conviction.
The Christian Truth Claim: The Exclusivity of Christ
Christianity’s most challenging assertion is also its central hope:
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6, KJV)
C.S. Lewis framed this claim memorably:
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher… He would either be a lunatic—or else he would be the Devil of Hell.”
Ravi Zacharias echoed this apologetic clarity:
“Jesus did not claim to show a way; He claimed to be the way.”
Christianity does not argue that other religions lack moral insight or sincerity, but that salvation is not achieved by human effort, philosophy, or ritual. It is God’s act in Christ.
Conclusion: Conviction with Compassion
In a pluralistic world, Christians are called to hold together truth and love, conviction and humility, mission and dialogue. Understanding world religions helps believers engage wisely and respectfully, but Christianity ultimately invites every person to encounter not an idea, but a Person.
Billy Graham summarised this balance well:
“Our task is not to argue people into the Kingdom, but to love them into an encounter with Christ.”
As Christians engage the world’s religions, the goal is not triumphalism, but faithfulness—to the gospel, to truth, and to the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ.
