Re: Conciliatory moves over Easter

yl-ruil wrote, quoting Raymond Brown:

> So I try to respect other people's religions and,
> following the exhotation of Paul, to be all things
> to all people.
>
> Ah, isn't there a phrase that it's impossible to be
> all things to all people.
Yes but it doesn't mean the same thing :-)

In ancient times religion was a very nationalistic
thing - people worshipped the gods so that their
nation would be favoured over others, and the nature
of worship was intimately tied to culture. Into this
world Christianity came, and one of its basic
tenents was and is that religion is _not_ a question
of culture, that it _transcends_ culture, that no
culture is favoured by God. St Paul is saying that we
should demonstrate our acceptance of other cultures
when we interact with them, and thus affirm this
basic Christian teaching.

Concerning paganism and Christianity and so on ...
I'm very aware of many issues because, myself a
Christian, I have one _very_ deep friendship in
particular with a wiccan, and we regularly talk
theology. Although I talk about the deepest aspects
of my faith, it's very rare indeed that we disagree
on anything - emphatic confirmation is the usual
pattern of our discussions. Whenever I quote the
Bible, "I love that one!" is typical of her
response. Now, pagans are a diverse bunch and she's
_very_ much on the border of Christianity, and thus
not representative of paganism as a group (yeah, I
know perfectly well there is no such thing as a
typical pagan) ... Anyway, there's a lot I could
say on the subject - I'd be willing to do so in
email.

Adrian.
http://www.flinders.edu.au