Originally published in Vanguard, April 1987 Print
by Joe Pearce
THIS PHOTOGRAPH shows the Rev. Inderjit Singh Bhogal ― he's the one with a handkerchief on his head! ― of the Wolverhampton Inter-Faith Group. 'Reverend' Bhogal is the first Sikh to become a Methodist minister. Here he is seen in discussion with members of Wolverhampton's non-Methodist Sikhs at an 'inter-faith' meeting held at the end of January.
Should one laugh or cry at this 'ecumenical experience'? Either way, laughing or crying aside, and regardless of any religious convictions, it simply doesn't stand up to intellectual examination.
The point is that 'inter-faith' is as destructive of faith as internationalism is destructive of Nationalism. For example, if one has faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, one must believe that Mohammed is not a Prophet of God since Mohammed denied Christ's divinity. Likewise, a Moslem, because he believes in the prophet Mohammed, cannot believe that Christ is the Son of God. Thus, a belief in Christianity must, of necessity, negate Islam; and a belief in Islam, in turn, must, of necessity, negate Christianity
Further examples could be given, such as the belief in one omnipresent God negating, of necessity, the belief in many different Gods. Thus a belief in Hinduism negates a belief in either Islam or Christianity and vice versa.
Yet these simple and logically indisputable truths are just as relevant to the secular world as they are to the sacred. In short, even agnostics and atheists could learn much from the cold and impartial application of logic. After all, this ecumenism is only egalitarianism in clerical garb. It is indicative of the intellectual malaise which has afflicted white civilisation.
What then is ecumenism, in the sacred sense, and egalitarianism, in the secular sense? It is not, as its proponents claim, in any way 'progressive'. On the contrary, intellectually and socially speaking, it is utterly regressive. It signifies a belief that the highest truth is the lowest common denominator. The bringing down of all ideas to a level which everyone can understand. A belief in everything which in reality is a belief in nothing. In short, ecumenism and egalitarianism are, intellectually speaking, the equivalent of the primeval soup!
In a practical sense both are so illogical that those who believe in either ecumenism or egalitarianism may as well tell us that black is the same as white. Yet, come to think of it, that's exactly what they are telling us!