People often ask about other religions: ‘Aren’t all religions basically the same? Don’t all faiths lead to God; aren’t they all just different paths up the same mountain? What makes one religion better than another?’ Perhaps you’ve heard the fable about the blind men and the elephant, which is often cited as a picture of religious tolerance; that truth is perceived differently by different people.
‘The Blind Men and the Elephant’ is a story of six blind men (or men who are in the dark) who touch an elephant to learn what it is like. Each one feels a different part and creates their own version of reality from that limited experience and perspective. Each provides only a part truth and it’s often suggested that it is only in religious tolerance and a coming together of all the major religions do we find the whole truth. The problem is, although that might work in describing different parts of an elephant, it doesn’t work in describing the way to God. It is true that all the major religions in the world have things in common but it is also true they differ massively on several fundamental points.
The story was made into a poem by John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887). Here’s his version of Blind Men and the Elephant:
It was six men of Indostan,
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.
The First approach’d the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
“God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!”
The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, -”Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me ‘tis mighty clear,
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!”
The Third approach’d the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
“I see,” – quoth he – “the Elephant
Is very like a snake!”
The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee:
“What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain,” – quoth he,-
“‘Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!”
The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said – “E’en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!”
The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Then, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
“I see,” – quoth he,- “the Elephant
Is very like a rope!”
And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
All ‘other religions’ are the wrong path! How can we say that? Because Christianity is not a part of the elephant; it is the elephant! The fact is, all the major religions of the world contain some truth and they all share certain morals and things in common, but that does not mean all religions lead to God, regardless of how genuine or sincere people of different faiths might be. Being devout or sincere doesn’t mean that people are right; people can be sincere and still be sincerely wrong… just look at suicide bombers!