Collaborating with non-Christians for Social Justice- Please Reply

There are three issues that have presented a real challenge for the Christian Church since the beginning of the twentieth century.  These issues continue to exist and will not go away. How we as a Church deal with them will depend not only on our convictions, sincere as they may be, but also on the root of our convictions.  In other words, we will have to ask ourselves "On what do we base our convictions about those things which we believe and hold true and dear?  The three issues are:


1.  Divergent Christian communities (denominations)- The Church, since its inception, has to contend with the fact that there are diverse points of view as to doctrine, conduct, and ministry.  Not all churches have the exact theological viewpoints on all things, nor do they all have the same standards for Christian living, nor do they all have the same philosophy of ministry.  Uniformity of perspectives would be ideal, but it is not real.


2.  World Religions-There are faith communities in the world whose beliefs systems do not necessarily resonate with that of the Christian Church.  Some of these faith communities are pre-Christian, i.e. they were in existence long before the Christian Church began, and others developed after the Christian Church was established.


3. Interfaith Collaboration- The question has been, to what extent can Christians and non-Christians not only dialogue with each other, but also work with each other in society?  The more pointed question would be "to what extent can we as Christians collaborate with non-Christians in order to promote social justice?


There are many Christians who are so convinced of the truth of their belief system, that they automatically close all doors to even conversing with non-Christians.  They tend to believe that any type of conversation, dialogue, or collaboration will result in an erosion of the standards of the Gospel.  They are afraid that we will end up with a "watered-down" Christianity.


An example of what I am saying is a dialogue that I've had on Facebook with a Christian lady who believes that we cannot cooperate with the Nation of Islam for social justice because of their belief that God was incarnated in the person of Wallace Farrad Muhammad vs. the Christian doctrine that God was incarnated in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  Interestingly enough, she pointed to Martin
Luther King and the Civil Rights movement as a model of Christians working against injustice. When I pointed out that Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, and people of other faith groups collaborated with Dr. King in the Civil Rights movement, she indicated that this was okay because none of these groups preach racial hatred like the Nation of Islam does.  When I indicated that I had never heard of any leader in this community preaching racial hatred, she reverted back to their doctrine of God's incarnation in Wallace Farrad Muhammad.


Can and should Christians work with non-Christians on social justice projects?  This writer would humbly submit that we should.  If social justice is the main element of the Gospel, and there are people who resonate with the spirit of the Gospel, even if they do not claim the name of Christ, the differences of religious ideology should not become a barrier to working together for the cause of justice.  Neither should working together for the cause of justice become the occasion for Christians to proselytize non-Christians, i.e. recruit them away from their belief systems in order for them to become Christians.  I believe that our example of commitment to justice and liberation, as well as our walking hand in hand with non-Christians is more than a sufficient witness to the message of the Gospel. 


Please share you thoughts with us on this issue.  Tell us if you think that Christians and non-Christians can collaborate and why or why not.


Grace and peace,


Rev. Dr. Juan A. Ayala-Carmona