It's not Always Black and White

Why are so many people uncomfortable with the idea that many problems don't have a single solution? Give an example of a current controversy in which there are different factions arguing that theirs is the one RIGHT answer and explain why there is in reality no one right answer to the issue.

There are, speculatively, over 40 different organized religions and faith groups in the world today. Views within the “churches” are wide in spectrum, and some carry no commonalities at all. For example, most followers of Christianity, (The worlds most largely practiced religion) believe that there is one God, and that Jesus Christ was his Son incarnate, come to earth to pay the blood price for mankind’s sin. Most denominations within the Christian religions believe that Jesus Christ is the only way into heaven. Yet as singular as Christianity seems, according to religioustolerance.org, “One source estimates that there are 34,000 separate Christian groups in the world.” Given just that example, how can we determine yes, or no; black or white? The whole area is “grey” to begin with. Once we factor in all of the other religions that believe theirs to be the gateway to salvation, we have a whole other mathematical improbability to contend with. This is exhibit A in my attempt to address the question “Why are so many people uncomfortable with the idea that many problems don't have a single solution?” Religious beliefs and practices are so far wide, that though mostly every religion declares their belief to be “The One”, there are too many nuances within each denomination that make this determination impossible.

Jehovah Witnesses' fall into the category of Christianity. They do not believe in the trinity and they believe Jesus Christ was once the archangel, Michael. Catholics also fall into the category of Christianity, they do believe in the trinity, and do not believe that Jesus Christ was Michael the archangel. There are many other differences of opinion to point out within the various denominations, but the key point here is that each of those denominations believes that their given group is the chosen one. Many folks want to say its black and white, but they do not realize that they are smack dab in the middle of the grey area themselves. Harvey Cox, a professor at Harvard Divinity says, “The thing that is forgotten in these discussions is that any single religious tradition is itself already a composite," His book, "The Secular City," ( 1965). “Is considered a theology classic. He considers the idea of isolated religious traditions to be "a big myth." Cox continues with, "What we have are streams that have been fed by other streams and have fed other streams all along," he says. "Even what is advertised by clerical leaders as the kind of ‘pure package' is already the result of the collage."

Some people within the Christian faith even stray from the box and pick up wisps and whatnot’s from other religions, pulling them into their own practices. Take for example the Jew who practices yoga, or the Christian who meditates. Each person, or faith seems to pick out bits and pieces that are conducive to their own lifestyle. Some Christians celebrate Christmas traditionally as the birth of Christ, shunning the neopagan Santa Claus, others delve into the merriment, and combine the two, others celebrate only the pop culture driven holiday.

I understand that some people want to attest that a certain religion is the only one that God has deemed worthy, but with all of the branches, stems, leaves, and derivations, there is no clear answer as to what religion, if any is the end all, be all. It is all grey area. Likely the religion that one has encumbered is just a branch off another branch, etc, etc. All religions are in someones black area, or someone else's white area, or are we all just a part of the same painting in different hues? I think that seem's likely, I'm hopefull that it's in fact true.