One True Faith?

Which of the world’s major religions can we call "the one true faith?" Or does any such thing exist? Paul Tillich, one of the most influential and visionary Christian theologians of this century, says this in his History of Christian Thought: "The uniqueness of every individual and every period makes it necessary that there be many religions." Now, this stands in opposition to the commonly-voiced opinion, "our Lord created one faith; we have split it into many." But did Jesus actually intend that we all worship in the same way? Let’s look at His own words about "one church or many." St. Mark reports this conversation between St. John and Jesus: "Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part." (Mark 9:38-40). From this, it certainly appears that Jesus himself knew of and allowed for a diversity of religious groups. Later, He even told his disciples, "other sheep I have, which are not of this fold." (John 10:16).

Perhaps, then, we should not spend a great deal of time debating "the one true faith." Instead, we might consider that each faith has received special gifts by the Spirit, just as each of us has received diverse gifts by this same Spirit (1 Cor. 12:8-10). "For," as St. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:13-14, "by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many." And again, in Romans 12:4-5: "For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." Just as God has called each member of a particular house of worship to serve Him in different ways, so has He called different faiths to do His work in the world in different ways. I pray then, that regardless of our many and diverse ways of worship, we come to know the mystical Body of Christ as the blessed company of all faithful people.