Perhaps the greatest perceived obstacle to world peace is religion. A torrent of books have been recently published that argue for the demise of religion–Christianity, Islam, Judiaism, etc. U.S. politics and the war on terror have only fueled anti-religous sentiment, whether anti-Christian or anti-Islam. However, in his triology (The Next Christendom, The New Faces of Christianity, God’s Continent) Philip Jenkins has compellingly argued for the revitalization of world religions, especially Christianity. Thus, many people have accepted religion but relegated it to the private life, refusing admission into the public square. Biblical Christianity will not permit a privitazation, but claims to affect the whole person and ways of life. So it goes with atheism, Buddhism, etc. All belief or anit-belief systems–religions of thier own–color every person’s way of living. The all important question is not “How can you be exclusive?” but “Whose exclusive beliefs are most compelling, peace-promoting, society-renewing, and true?”
The death wish or privitazation of religion is not the solution to world or personal peace. In his sermon, “Exclusivity: How can there be just one true religion?” Tim Keller of New York’s Redeemer Church addresses common objections to the exculsivity of religious claims and the Christian response.