Christian Pluralists

Cindy Mercer Photography

It seems that new ways to define "Christian" are all the rage. As I was driving back from Dallas on Friday, January 12, I was listening to NPR's "Morning Edition." Now, not only do we have "Half-Christians," we also have "Christian Pluralists." We really can have our cake and eat it!

In the report, entitled, "Experiencing Other Faiths to Find One's Own," Judy Woodruff says,

"If Gillian Siple had to describe herself in one word, it would be 'spiritual.' A senior at Davidson College in North Carolina, Siple spent the past year traveling and studying in Asia and Europe, immersing herself in religions other than her own."

"Amid an abundance of information about religion easily available via the Internet and television, she says, 'maybe the youth of today aren't sure if the way of their parents is perhaps the way that they want to follow, and I think that's wonderful.'"

"With a small group of students, Siple, a religion major, lived in China, Thailand and India. She meditated in monasteries and ashrams, lived and studied among Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus — not your typical study-abroad program."

Read the rest of the report here.

Paul demurs:

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me” (1 Corinthians 15:1-8).