Guidelines for
Understanding
Another Religion

As we investigate any religion or system of thought, it will be helpful to look for the following five essential elements: lifestyle, assumptions, intentions, authority, and value system. Identifying these elements will create for us a larger and clearer picture of the religion.

Lifestyle: Observe the lifestyle of the people who embrace a particular religion. Observe the ways they live, work, and worship (if they worship at all); what they look like, what they eat, how they dress; the ways the religious system is organized or unorganized; its status in society; and how it views the roles of men, women, and children.

One of the best ways to do this is to meet people who embrace the religion and let them tell us about themselves. Ask people what they do rather than what theybelieve. Often, people cannot readily tell us what they believe; they may not know what they believe. They may not have been trained to explain their beliefs or what their religion formally teaches. They may be reluctant to talk about their religion, perhaps because they are embarrassed or because they are not sure of our motives. Although people may not be able or willing to tell us what they believe, they often will be both able and willing to talk about what they do, why they do it, and what it means to them.

Assumptions: Determine the assumptions of a religion by looking for the mindset, the worldview, the foundational presuppositions with which the system begins. These assumptions may not necessarily be provable or acceptable to anyone other than the followers, but they are the basic ideas that hold the religion together: the nature of reality, of God, of humanity, and the human condition.

Intentions: Recognize the system's primary and ultimate goals, for itself and for the individuals who embrace it. What do the adherents expect the religion to provide for them along the way? What do they anticipate the religion will accomplish for them in the end? For example, in Christianity, believers in Jesus Christ expect that God will provide them forgiveness of sin, restoration to fellowship with God, daily direction and blessing, and ultimately eternal life. Other religions focus on other aspirations and goals. People in other religions are not necessarily looking for forgiveness of sin or a future life in heaven. Instead, they may be searching for release from suffering or fear, and anticipating a future existence that involves reincarnation, extinction, a state of bliss, becoming divine, or absorption into Ultimate Reality. Learn to identify what people expect their religion to do for them.

Authority: Inquire about the basis, guide, or rationale for what the followers believe and practice. In Christianity authority comes from Jesus Christ. as he is made known in the Bible, illuminated by the Holy Spirit. Authority resides in the living word (Jesus Christ) and the written word (the Bible). For some Christians authority may also involve tradition, experience, or reason. In other religions authority does not necessarily reside in a person or a book. In these religions determine if authority comes from sacred writings, tradition, divine revelation, instruction from ascended masters or spirit beings, mental discipline, or personal intuition.

Value System: Identify the ethics, morality, and principles of conduct of a religion. Look for its understanding of right and wrong, its concept of sin (or whatever is perceived to be the basic human problem), and how that is resolved. Determine the criteria for the proper relationships among individuals and within society. Are values based on the character of a divine being, the teachings of a religion's leader or founder, the welfare of the community, the exigencies of the moment, or needs of particular individuals within the group? What has value in the religion: people, the earth, time, work, material things, knowledge, religious beliefs, religious practice, world peace?

Although these elements of a religion may not be immediately evident when we first encounter the religion, with a little effort we can readily bring the component parts into sharper focus. We may not be sympathetic with a particular religion's beliefs or goals, but we can have an intellectual grasp of the religion that will enable us more adequately to understand the people who embrace it. If a religion remains "strange" to us, the people who embrace that religion will also remain strange and remote. But, as we understand the people and know something significant about their background and outlook, we can more fully live out the gospel in relation to them.

This insert may be freely photocopied and distributed. For additional copies, and more information about interreligious dialog and AREOPAGUS MAGAZINE, please address your inquiries to P.0. Box 33, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong.

This text is adapted from a document written by Maurice Smilh. Used by permission of the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.