The intense urge of most human beings for most of history to search for ways to satisfy their religious hopes and aspirations is not going to disappear or diminish in importance. Human spirit yearns for an experience of wholeness and meaning that transcends the inherent constraints of the bodily journey from life to death. If Hitchens means that this persistent quest has resulted in powerful religious institutions, religious groups, and religious practices and beliefs that have significantly contributed to the violence, intolerance, bigotry, prejudice, and ignorance of human society, then he is absolutely correct. As a member of the Christian community, I believe that an honest reading of our history largely confirms Hitchen’s accusation.

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This week’s question asks if the reader, including me, believes in life after death. The question implies that, after weighing and balancing one’s own experience and knowledge, a decision, a choice, can be made on the question of whether there is, or is not, life after death. Which answer is true for you, the questioner asks.

The question reminds me of a story Stanley Hauerwas tells from his days of teaching a marriage course at the University of Notre Dame. Hauerwas promised his students that he was going to provide them with one absolute truth about marriage. This was an absolute that they could write down and always depend on when the going got rough in their marriage. The reason I love this story is that I have been married to my wife, Win, for over 50 years and I believe that what Hauerwas asked his students to write down is absolutely true. Hauerwas told the young men and women in his class to write down: “You always marry the wrong person.”

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Several of the regular contributors to this site are far more qualified than I to comment on the similarity or dissimilarity of the core themes in the messages of the world’s great religions. I can say that my own experience and study suggest that no matter the degree of similarity in message there are other differences which have enormous and far reaching influence on the way the message of the major faiths is understood and lived out.

One such difference is the political and cultural context in which the message is proclaimed. Within the Anglican Communion many African Christian leaders keep telling Episcopalians in the USA, that their African view of the Christian faith is strongly shaped by their colonial history and by the present reality of sometimes violent relationships with the Muslim majorities in their countries. I have seen and heard similar reactions in urban congregations embedded in turbulent neighborhoods, experiencing rapid change in the majority groups resident therein. The Scripture lessons read each Sunday are probably the same as those read in the settled, comfortable, churches on the other side of the city. Surprisingly, even the sermons and educational programs may be very similar. But, for people in the congregation, the filters for listening and the experiences for framing and interpreting the message are quite different.

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