As Christians we are taught that Jesus said that he was, "The Way, the Truth and the Life" and that no-one could come to the Father except through him. For those of us who live in a multicultural, multi faith environment this begs the question of what happens to people of other faiths. Are they condemned by their failure to believe or are all religions the same: just different ways of experiencing God?

Christian theologians identify three basic positions on this question. Particularism holds that only people who hear and respond to the Christian gospel can be saved. Inclusivism suggests that God is most truly revealed in Christianity but salvation is attainable through other forms of religion. Pluralism holds that all religious traditions are equally valid paths to the same core reality.

Whilst different in their outward trappings I  find deep connection between the mystic forms of religion by which I mean practices that seek a direct experience of God by quietening the mind and waiting on God's will.

Bhuddism does not recognise a God but there are strong parallels between the practice of meditation, also present in the higher forms of Hinduism, and Christian contemplative prayer or the Quaker doctrine of the inner light. I have sat in meetings for silent prayer where Bhuddists and Quakers were equally at home. If we are made in the image of God it seems clear that the need to seek him out would be a common experience transcending cultures and belief systems. We are taught, "Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you." This suggests, to me at any rate that anyone sincerely committed to seeking God should experience something of his revelation however incomplete.

There are also strong parallels in moral teaching and the 'religions of the book' Christianity, Judaism and Islam draw upon the same Abrahamic traditions with Jesus recognised in the Quaran as a prophet if not the Son of God. It's tempting therefore to conclude that all religions are a reflection of man's need for God and as such of equal value and that the only things that divide us are the outward, man made trappings of religion which owe more to history and culture than God's revelation.

Unfortunately, however attractive an idea in our multicultural, multi faith society, this does not sit well with the key Christian teaching, core to my personal beliefs, that we are saved not through our own merit or efforts but through the intervention of God in the person of Jesus.

There are things I struggle with in other religions: the apparent multiplicity of God's in Hinduism, the worshipping of idols (strongly forbidden in Christianity, Judaism and and Islam although elements of Catholic practice seem distinctly ambivalent on this point). I feel uncomfortable with the authoritarianism of Islamic teaching and seeming readiness to judge and condemn others which is at odds with my understanding of Christianity if not, unfortunately, with the practice of Christians over the centuries and even in our own time. On the other hand some of the most generous, charitable and righteous people I have ever known have been Muslims. Are they condemned for their failure to accept Christ as saviour?

Christ tells a parable in Matthew 21: 28-32 of a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, "Son, go and work today in the vineyard." He said he wouldn't but changed his mind and did. The second son promised he would go but didn't. Jesus asked which of the two did his Father's will and the answer of course is the first. Similarly it is the hated Samaritan, an outcast who practiced a different form of Judaism who comes to the aid of a traveller whilst the religious pass by on the other side.

I firmly believe that Christ is "The Way' but the question for me is 'Can you travel on the right road without knowing its name'?

I don't believe that the good Jew, the good Muslim, the good Hindu or the good Sikh can be saved by their good works because I don't think that's the path to salvation for any of us but I believe in a God whose ultimate goal is our reconciliation with himself and I have faith that by whatever means we will ultimately be reconciled.