In what seems to be a never-ending battle these days between objective truth and subjective truth, and reality vs alternative realities, religion is now fully on the table of truth mongering, along with just about every other discourse out there.
And as wonderful as this may sound to the world of subjective truth, the claim that all religions are equally valid is flat-out fallacious claim. Specifically, it almost completely disregards philosophy, objective truth versus subjective truth, and that spirituality actually isn’t infinitely malleable.
Further, it is clear that, sadly, the Deeprak Chopras and Oprah Winfreys of the world have done quite a job of selling the masses conflated worldviews and rewrites of history, in order to promote “what’s it in for me?” spirituality.
Which, in turn, leads to primarily “what’s in it for me?” views of relationships and human interaction in general.
Sorry, folks, but not all truths are equal. That’s not how reality works.
While I do understand the importance of healthy skepticism and not just blindly following a belief — there *is* such a thing as absolute truth, and it is predicated on *objective truth*.
As for interfaith parallels, or having a unity among them — yes, certain universal truths can be found in various religions. Yet that doesn’t mean all religions are equally valid. Moreover, it actually does the various religions a disservices to equalize them as a “it doesn’t matter which one you choose, because they are basically the same”.
Except that they are not. Christianity, for example, is the *only* faith that is entirely built on the ultimate love and sacrifice for humanity.
And that is in accord with thousands of years of Covenants that God established with humanity, all leadiing to the ultimate Covenant of Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection for our sins. Which are built on the original sin: our arrogant entitlement. That is, we thinking we can supplant God with our own entitlement to godhood.
It is the problem that keeps on giving until today: When we turn our spiritual walk inward and instead of outward to God, we become a “what’s it in for me?” / “whatever makes you happy” society, based on made-up realities and moral malleability. Well, we have been running that experiment here in the U.S. since the birth of the civil rights movement — and it is no coincidence that truth has been massively corrupted along the way, as well as relationships and the nuclear family.
And while the leaders of the spiritual-but-not-religious movement keep trumpeting false claims and alternative histories about religions and spirituality, folks like me are trying to clean up the intellectual mess created because of subjective truths being confused with correct information.
I certainly can’t impose a belief on you or anyone else out there — but I invite everyone to study very carefully what each religion actually espouses, and then form your belief based purely on objective truth.
That said, to those of you who have not explored the fullness and solid truth of the Catholic faith, I invite and encourage you to do so. Catholicism has been consistent its theology for 2000 years now and is firmly built on a balance between faith and reason. And ultimately, the true meaning of sacrifice, love, atonement, a moral life, and being a selfless individual who wants to build and nurture a relationship with God.