A new religious roadmap.

When you go into a business conference, there is a glass bowl for you to drop your name-card. It is one way to connect your business to the attendees in the conference. 

In Han Fook Kwang’s article today, entitled “Let’s talk openly about religion - yours and mine“, it brings to mind that name-dropping exercise I mentioned above.

Han attended the inaugural International Conference on Cohesive Societies (ICCS) recently, and being a recent Catholic convert, he said that he is a “novice in the understanding of (his) own faith but it grows as (he learns) about other religions.”

Like a business conference, you step into one to share your faith with many of different faiths. Figuratively speaking, you drop your name-card in the diversity bowl and hope that someone will pick it up and read about your faith.

He added: “Participants of the three-day event came from all over the world and were not afraid to talk about tricky problems that made you think deeper about your own faith and what it means to live in a world with different ideas of the divine.”

Indeed, he has a point when he said that “religious people have to reclaim their speaking rights, not just in their own churches, mosques and temples, but out in the open.”

He quoted Professor Karen Armstrong saying “while faith is a private matter as it ultimately is about your spiritual life, it is not enough just to recognise the transcendence of God and retreat into your private space thereafter.”

Han calls it the “diversity-is-strength spirit”.

Mm...I wonder, and wonder in earnest, are the days of monotheism basically numbered? 

If it is or is imminent, it is rather ironic because if you survey history of religions, it started first with gods of our ancestors. They co-existed peacefully with gods of nature, the weather and the sky.

As we advanced in sophistication, the gods became more like us and they lived in huge colonial-like mansions called the Pantheon. One family of gods led by their temperamental and horny patriarch, Zeus, resided at Mt Olympus. And mind you, the Zeus' household had all the makings of a Korean or American drama. Think Beverly Hill 90210 or Jersey Shore and their daily, endless bickering, and you get the idea how gods behave during that time. 

But such polytheism did not last forever even if those who worshipped them believed they were eternal. 

In fact, as a side-note, those Jesus-followers were considered atheists because of their refusal to acknowledge the many gods of their time. ”Atheist“ was a name given to the early believers because they subscribed to one god and no one else. 

You can stretch it to say that the meaning of monotheism and atheism were paradoxically one and the same. At that time, polytheists existed in the majority while theists (or monotheists) were in the minority. 

Over the years, the description “atheist” changed in its definition from describing one who rejects many gods (except one) to one who rejects all gods.

So, from a faith in one god, an atheist changed in form and substance into a faith that has no faith in any gods (and now, it seems like this rejection of all gods has turned into a resolute but quiet acknowledgment that one is none other than a god - go figure).

But that is atheism, and I admit I have digressed a little. I therefore continue with the irony I started with in this post, that is, from ancient gods and nature’s gods, to many gods, all competing for our idolization and holy patronage, and thereafter, to one god and no other gods. 

One broad sweep of the historical landscape gives us this quick rundown: from many personal gods living under many households’ roofs, to many impersonal gods coming out in public to live in harmony under one roof, and to one personalised god amongst a number of personalised gods living in constant tension and wars under different territorial roofs. And now....

And now, with the interfaith dialogue, and with people of many faiths coming together in a name-card-dropping kind of melting-pot conference seeking to understand their own faith better by understanding the faiths of others, we have arrived (full circle?) at a new level of religious sophistication, that is, we are back to polytheism - many gods coming out in public sharing one space under one roof?

So, this time, needless to say, it is no longer about mutual elimination (or competition to the death like the time of the crusaders) due to the exclusivity of one’s truth claim. It is now about peaceful co-existence, to achieve deeper understanding, mutual respect, and as Han calls it, the goal of diversity-is-strength. 

Truly, can we all get along? I think we can, just as long as we stop acting like atheists (or monotheists) of the past, and start opening our eyes, ears and hearts to the faiths of our neighbours. 

Alas, have we finally ”civilised” all the gods of competing faiths to live under one transcendental roof?

In other words, are we back to the days of Mt Olympus? 

But the difference is that, gone are the days where the votaries of many faiths are constantly finding ways and means to deepen the religious divide, which is reminiscent of the many squabbles of the Beverly Hills cast or the Kardashian family. But it’s now about pursuing understanding, resilience and reconciliation in the timeless tradition of the Little House on the Prairie, Happy Days or the Partridge Family.