(The Dalai Lama is coming to USC on May 3, hosted by my office - click here for more info)
(I'll be preaching at Simi Valley United Church of Christ on Sun May 15, 10 am)
(Click here to see a video of my recent trip with students to the US/Mexican border near Tucson)
Happy Pluralism Sunday, May 1!
Bell vs. Hell
Rob Bell, pastor of a large evangelical congregation in Michigan, was looking at an art display about world peace in his church. It included a picture of Gandhi. Someone, apparently offended that a picture of a Hindu was hanging in a Christian church, put a note by the image saying that Gandhi is in hell. This bothered the pastor deeply, and contributed to his publicly-declared conclusion that Jesus' redemption may be universal. applying to "doctrinally correct" Christians and to non-Christians, including Gandhi, alike. (There's an article about his epiphany in the current issue of TIME magazine, 4/25/11.) A fellow pastor, reacting with offense at Bell's change of heart, said "Farewell, Rob Bell" - suggesting that by abandoning the doctrine of hell, he had exiled himself beyond the evangelical bounds.
Well, their loss is our gain.
Welcome, Rob Bell, to progressive Christianity, where the threat of hell has never been part of the vocabulary! Bishop Carlton Pearson, a Pentecostal black pastor with a big church in Tulsa, went through a similar transformation, and equally was vilified for it. One of my favorite lines of his is this: "It's time to get the hell out of Christianity!" Eternal punishment is an idea that gets in the way of the love that is God.
Who wants to go to a Christian heaven where Gandhi isn't welcome? His spiritual journey toward nonviolent social change began with his reading of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. I and countless other people have been attracted to Jesus by this Hindu who took the gospel so seriously. Is hell where the great Sufi Muslim mystical poet Rumi belongs? Is the Buddha writhing in eternal torment? Is Rabbi Abraham Heschel, advocate for civil rights in America, roasting in sulphur for failing to say that Jesus was his personal Lord and Savior?
In the TIME article, Bell's book, LOVE WINS, was derided by Albert Mohler, head of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Mohler said "when you adopt universalism and erase the distinction between the church and the world, then you don't need the church, and you don't need Christ, and you don't need the cross. This is the tragedy of non-judgmental mainline liberalism...." If belief in hell is what keeps the church alive, that would be bad news for Christianity. But it isn't true. Left out of Mohler's calculus is the fastest growing religious demographic category in America: the religiously unaffiliated, many of them disgusted by preaching about eternal damnation. If we can get hell out of the church, there will be room in the pews for people who have been turned off from Christianity in the past.
May 1 is Pluralism Sunday, a time for churches around the world to manifest a kinder, gentler, more inclusive Christianity, where followers of other religions are not only tolerated, but embraced as partners in creating the kingdom of heaven on earth. It's a day when Christians give Gandhi a permanent get-out-of-hell-free card. And when Muslims give Christians a window into their understanding of the beloved community. It's a day for Buddhists to chant in Christian churches, a day for Christians to listen to Sikhs singing devotional kirtan music, and a day for Christians to visit Hindu temples. A day to forget about hell, and enjoy a heavenly harmony of the world's faiths!