Should Christians Worship and Pray together with Non-Christians?

Last updated on: November 16, 2016 at 8:17 am by Roger E. Olson

Should Christians Worship and Pray together with Non-Christians? 2016-11-16T08:17:16-05:00 Roger E. Olson

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This Thanksgiving Day (November 24) many Christians across America will attend “Union Thanksgiving Services”—prayer services held mostly in Christian churches to thank God for his blessings. These are called “Union” because they involve pastors and laypeople from various denominations. When I was a child in the 1950s and 1960s, in two different cities (we moved from one to another when I was eleven), my family attended such Thanksgiving Day services. They were usually held on Thanksgiving Day morning around 10:00 or 11:00 while the turkeys roasted in the ovens. They were sponsored by the cities’ Evangelical Ministers Alliances. This was one of the main events planned and organized by those alliances. Such Union Thanksgiving Services were held in different evangelical churches whose pastors belonged to the alliances. The city Evangelical Ministers Alliance was then almost always somehow associated with the state affiliate of the National Association of Evangelicals. They included only Christians who identified formally or informally with the NAE’s Statement of Faith which is a very broad, basic statement of traditional Protestant doctrine.

Then, when I was an adult, married and with a family of my own, my family and I belonged to a Baptist church in a major American metropolitan area that was more or less evangelical but did not belong to any particular ministerial alliance such as the Evangelical Ministers Alliances of the cities where I grew up. That Baptist church sat on a corner of a large city block that included a large Lutheran church and a large Catholic church. Nearby, in the same neighborhood, were Presbyterian, Methodist, Pentecostal and Orthodox churches. That Baptist church participated in an annual neighborhood Thanksgiving Day Service that rotated among the neighborhood churches. The pastors and priests took turns reading Scripture and praying during each Thanksgiving Day Service.

No church I attended then—as a child, youth or young adult—would have dreamed of including in its Thanksgiving Day Service, or any other service or prayer or worship held under its auspices, non-Christian leaders. Of course non-Christians were welcome to attend these services; nobody stood at the door to exclude them! But non-Christians, including (in our eyes) Unitarians, would not have been given any leadership role “on the platform” during such a union service of prayer.

None of that is to say that including non-Christians in leadership roles in Thanksgiving Day Services is absolutely new. Even when I was a child and youth in the 1950s and 1960s we evangelicals heard rumors of “liberal churches” doing that. But that was one reason we were “evangelicals”—even organizationally in terms of having state and city Evangelical Ministerial Alliances. We would never have countenanced worshiping together with, praying together with, non-Christians in a worshipful context. (I suspect even then many evangelical pastors would have and perhaps did pray a Christian prayer “in the name of Jesus” in some other type of context where non-Christians also prayed—if they were specifically invited by civic leaders. But not in our churches during a service of worship of our God opened with an invocation.)

Now, having said that about my evangelical past, I have to admit many evangelicals then and some now were/are conflicted about the special case of Jews. Many Pentecostals, for example, were then and are now passionate “Christian Zionists.” And they/we were “pro-Semite” in the sense of believing that Jews have always been and still are “God’s chosen people.” We Pentecostals, in contrast to some other evangelical Christians, believed that whoever blesses Jews will be blessed by God and whoever harms them will be judged harshly by God. So we tended to seek out and patronize professional and retail services owned and operated by Jews. And we supported the Jewish state of Israel and, on pilgrimages to that country, attempted to establish ties with Israeli Jews. I think we were conflicted about Jews’ status in relationship with God, but we tended to think that they had a special status among non-Christians—one that we had trouble articulating. But if asked bluntly “Do you believe Jews worship the same God as you Christians worship?” many of us would have said yes. We most definitely would not have said the same about members of other non-Christian religions.

*Sidebar: The opinions expressed here are my own (or those of the guest writer); I do not speak for any other person, group or organization; nor do I imply that the opinions expressed here reflect those of any other person, group or organization unless I say so specifically. Before commenting read the entire post and the “Note to commenters” at its end.*

It may have happened, but I do not remember—in my past, growing up and being a younger adult—seeing a Christian church advertise a Thanksgiving Day Service to include not only diverse Christians, not only Jews, but Unitarians (many of who do not consider themselves Christian), Muslims, Hindus, Bahá’ís, and Jains—all praying and worshiping together. Now I am seeing it. As a Christian theologian I ask myself about the appropriateness of this. Is it theologically appropriate for Christians to worship together with (not only engage in dialogue with or pray among in a civic event such as I described earlier) people who reject Jesus Christ as the only God incarnate and only Savior of humankind? Is it theologically appropriate for Christians to worship together with people whose entire worldview is different (e.g., polytheism, pantheism, etc.). And, if so, where do we draw the line—as to including religious (or non-religious) people in such a united prayer service inside a Christian church and under its aegis? Would the Christian organizers of such an event invite and pray together with, say, Wiccans? Wiccans at least claim to belong to a world religion, even if one not very organized: “Mother Goddess religion” or “neo-paganism.” They adamantly deny they are Satanists and I, for one, holder of a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from a major national research university and having met and had dialogue with many Wiccans and having studied their religion in depth and detail, agree. They do not worship Satan. At least not intentionally.

Where to draw the line with such inter-religious worship events/prayer services inside Christian churches (whether on Thanksgiving Day or otherwise)? What about Mormons/Latter Day Saints? What about Tibetan Buddhists? What about adherents of Christian Science?

My concern is not at all to criticize or condemn anyone for organizing and hosting such an inter-religious Thanksgiving Day or other worship/prayer service. Not at all. It is only to ask whether specifically Christian theological reflection goes into the decision and organizational planning. And, if so, what theological belief about Jesus Christ go into it? What Christology is reflected—intentionally or unintentionally–in such an event? Is it “pluralism”—the belief promoted by, among other Christian theologians John Hick and Paul Knitter, that Jesus Christ is only one savior among many? And, if so, how does that escape reducing Jesus Christ to something other than God incarnate and divine Savior—such as a mere human prophet? And what is Christianity without belief in Jesus Christ as “God and Savior” (the one belief required by the World Council of Churches for membership)?

I think my job as a Christian theologian is at least to ask such questions and such questions should not automatically be taken as criticism or judgment. I worry about the condition of theology in American Christianity (because I’m an American Christian). How much serious, “thick” theologian consideration and reflection goes into decisions made by Christian churches? Often, not much, I’m afraid.

Let me illustrate with a personal anecdote. A few years ago the church where I was then a member went through an agonizing process of deciding what to do about the traditional rules for membership. The church was Baptist and, like most Baptist churches, did not admit to full membership Christians never baptized as believers upon public confession of faith in Jesus Christ. Over some time several wonderful Christians who had experienced only infant baptism became involved in the church and eventually asked for full membership but refused to be, using their terms, “re-baptized.” They argued that it would be a denial of their infant baptism as anything more than infant dedication. The traditional Baptist response to that would be “right.” However, that Baptist church, of which I was a long-time member and occasional teacher and preacher, organized a “Discernment Team” composed of diverse members to consider whether to admit to full membership persons with only infant baptism. (Note that the issue was not mode of baptism but only infant versus believer baptism.) At that time I was the only theologian who was a member of the church. (There were biblical scholars, church historians and other Christian scholars but not any specifically theologians.) I made a point of going to the pastors and nominating committee and volunteering to serve on the Discernment Team. I was turned away. When I asked some members of the nominating committee and a couple of the pastors why I was not invited to serve some of them said “This isn’t a theological matter” (when I pointed out that they were declining to appoint to the Team the only theologian in the congregation). I was absolutely dumbfounded by that response. I still am. Church membership isn’t a theological matter?

My worry, that I have expressed here several times before, is that the majority of Christian churches in the United States are making important theological decisions without profound theological reflection. They are just drifting along, making very important shifts and changes, without theological thought influencing them. For example, in songs chosen for congregational singing the decision is, I’m convinced, usually based more on other-than-theological criteria. (For example, I have been in churches where some of the songs sung congregationally or by the choir—and chosen by trained church musicians–absolutely contradict the stated beliefs of the church if not biblical and orthodox Christianity itself! In one especially notorious case a closing hymn blatantly contradicted the sermon—immediately after the sermon! When I asked the worship leader about that and pointed out the contradiction he said to me “Only you would notice that.”—in a very condescending and disdainful tone of voice.)

Please note that in raising these questions about inter-religious worship and prayer under the aegis of a Christian church, in its worship space, presumably dedicated to the worship of God as revealed in and through Jesus Christ, I am not questioning anyone’s salvation. Salvation is solely God’s business. Only God can decide whether a person is saved or not. I am only raising a question about the implications of such prayer and worship services for the church’s Christology and asking whether Christology entered into the decision to plan, organize and/or participate in the service.

*Note to commenters: This blog is not a discussion board; please respond with a question or comment solely to me. If you do not share my evangelical Christian perspective (very broadly defined), feel free to ask a question for clarification, but know that this is not a space for debating incommensurate perspectives/worldviews. In any case, know that there is no guarantee that your question or comment will be posted by the moderator or answered by the writer. If you hope for your question or comment to appear here and be answered or responded to, make sure it is civil, respectful, and “on topic.” Do not comment if you have not read the entire post and do not misrepresent what it says. Keep any comment (including questions) to minimal length; do not post essays, sermons or testimonies here. Do not post links to internet sites here. This is a space for expressions of the blogger’s (or guest writers’) opinions and constructive dialogue among evangelical Christians (very broadly defined).

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