Julie said: "... any conclusions about multi-faith situations ... ?"

We didn't touch on the multi-faith issue at the Bossey seminar, although I have been doing one day a week - as well as weekend cover - for the Bradford Hospitals (multifaith) Chaplaincy Department. That has been nothing but a positive experience!

I've been reading some of Brian McLaren's stuff over the last couple of months, though. One of the characters (in 'A New Kind of Christian') makes these assertions:

"... in the long run, I think the world is better off for having all these different religions – better than having no religions at all, or just one (even if that one was ours). It makes me wonder if these other religions might have a role much like Paul described for the Old Testament law in Galatians – they serve as teachers or caretakers that preserve a culture until Christ can come to it with His Good News. They aren’t the enemy of the Gospel, in my mind, any more than Christianity is the enemy ..."

And:

"I believe that Jesus is the Saviour of the world. I believe that one day every knee will bow to Him and every tongue will confess that He is Lord. I believe that He really is the Way, and that if we believe in Him and follow Him He’ll bring us to the Father. But, too often, when we quote the verse about Jesus being the way, it sounds like we’re saying He’s in the way – as if people are trying to come to God and Jesus is blocking the path and saying, ‘Oh no you don’t! You have to get past me first.’ I really don’t think that’s what Jesus meant when He described Himself as ‘the Way’."

And:

"My understanding of the Gospel tells me that religion is always a mixed bag, whether it’s Islam, Buddhism, Judaism or even Christianity. Some religion reflects people’s sincere attempts to find the truth, but some of it represents people’s attempts to evade the truth through hypocrisy. Some of it reflects glimpses of God that people get through nature, through experience, through the fingerprints of God in their own design and in the design of the universe – like Paul talks about in Acts 19 or Romans 1. But some of it represents our own ego, our own pride, as we try to suppress the truth and look holy while we do it. Even the apostle Peter had to be told by Jesus – once – that he was the mouthpiece of Satan! And I don’t think that Christianity has, on the whole, proved itself much better than Peter. But that’s the whole point of the Gospel, isn’t it – that we’re all in a mess, whatever our religion, all in need of the grace of God ... Jesus is the Saviour. Christianity isn’t. The church isn’t. Jesus is."

I don't know if that helps. But it's worth thinking about!