Some have pointed to a quotation from
Mohandas Gandhi to declare that “Religions are different roads converging to
the same point. What does it matter that
we take different road, so long as we reach the same goal. Wherein is the cause for quarreling?”
But this view is misguided and incompatible with Christianity. After all, there is only one means of reaching the “same point” of reunification with God— that is through the salvation offered by Jesus Christ.
Moral pluralism is incompatible with Christianity because our sense of morality is derived from the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Bible itself. There is no room for other gods. As 1 Timothy 2:5 teaches, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.”
The problems with pluralism were brought into focus with a recent Huffington Post article which, despite the publication’s pluralist bent, could not help but acknowledge the ghastly horrors that the Islamic system of “morality” has forced upon the women of Afghanistan.
The article focused on the experience of “Khadija,” a female lawyer who had practiced law under a laxer regime of Islam but now faces the loss of her bar license for the “crime” of being a woman. As the article recounts:
“Khadija
majored in Islamic law, passed the bar exam, and spent four years working as a
criminal defense attorney. However, when
the Taliban came to power she was no longer allowed to work and was forced to
remain at home with a backlog of cases from her clients. The Taliban justice ministry took lawyer
licensing control from Afghanistan’s independent bar association and asked
lawyers to renew their licenses to work under the Taliban. But women don’t have the right to take the bar
exam or renew their licenses anymore.”
While the Taliban are known for practicing a highly radicalized form of Islam— which is not necessarily representative of every professed Muslim— this kind of insidious misogyny is embedded in Islamic tradition. This claim is not mere conjecture, it is evident from polling conducted in several countries with large Muslim populations:
For
example, 96% of Muslims in Malaysia, 94% in Afghanistan, 93% in Tunisia, and
69% in Russia completely or mostly agree that a wife must always obey her
husband under all circumstances, no matter how immoral or vicious his demands. The kind of genuine patriarchy exemplified in
Afghanistan is incompatible with the teachings of which Christian men are often
reminded in Ephesians 5:25-28: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved
the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the
washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant
church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and
blameless. In this same way, husbands
ought to love their wives as their own bodies.”
In this example, we can clearly see the differences between the love Christian men and women are taught to have for one another through the true God and the subjugation of women that is allowed under the false teachings of “Allah.”
There is one source of morality. There is one God and one religion. That is the God of the Bible and the God of Christianity. Christians must not fall prey to the siren song of moral pluralism, lest they condone atrocities like those experienced by the women of Afghanistan and miss the solid reality of the Supreme Creator and Ruler of all.
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