Is Faith the Final Frontier for DEI?

Are religion and faith taboo topics for DEI!

Wish me luck! I want to talk about faith. And this is a really hard one to get right.

I consider myself to be inclusive. I work hard on being inclusive and a proactive ally. I believe in celebrating and valuing the difference of those around me.

I am also a Christian. I won’t classify myself with any of the big Christian labels – evangelical or liberal or anglo-catholic or any of the others (NB deliberately lower case!) because the labels mean very different things to different people.

So, here’s my problem.

At the heart of any belief system (whether organized religion, denomination, sect, or indeed absence of belief, such as atheism) is the understanding that everyone else is wrong.

And not just wrong, but that my system is correct and everyone who doesn’t agree with you is misguided, mistaken or ignorant.

Monotheistic beliefs (those where there is one god) cannot accept each other’s approach, let alone a polytheistic belief system (multiple gods or perceptions of gods); and neither can compromise with an atheist. 

I believe thinking-people can move beyond the fanaticism that leads to violence, but at a fundamental level (fundamental – another dangerous word!) each believes that the other is wrong. This is a value based conversation – in DEI conversations we always try to emphasize that this about difference not better/worse, but when it comes to belief it is ONLY about better/worse.

Faith and absence of faith is irrational (faith requires an acceptance of something without evidence; absence of faith is hampered by the inability to prove a negative – i.e. the absence of something(s)) – it is therefore largely emotional.

And here’s the thing – when you have an emotional position that is valuable to you, you want naturally to persuade the people who you respect, like and are open to being friends with,

You may think I’m deluded, but I want you to experience God’s love in the way I do. I want you to have the same hope that I know. My atheist friend sincerely wants me to stop wasting my time on Sundays (and if only they knew about all the other time….!) and focus on the here and now.

It seems to be that the problem is in the label. There are 1.9 billion people in the world who are classified as Muslims. That’s 1.9 individuals and the only thing they have in common is the label. There is no ‘Muslim perspective’ on a topic or an argument because 1.9 billion people can’t agree on anything.

When you judge a belief system as a system level, it can only lead to conflict and disagreement. There is no Christian perspective on same-sex relationships, there is no Buddhist perspective on mindfulness – there are individuals, who identify in a particular belief system who have an opinion – some sensibly, thoughtfully argued and presented, others completely irrational and yet others ridiculous.

‘Multi-faith’ dialogue conferences annoy me, not so much because of the content of the discussions, but because someone is there claiming to represent my views of belief and how it relates to other systems of belief.

At an individual level, we can discuss our differences, we can explore openly why we disagree and can accept that when it comes to faith, there is no logic. There is hope and ‘gut feeling.’

The principles we have have for DEI must apply to all areas – belief is not an exception. BUT we seem much more reluctant to talk about it. We seem much more ready to apply a religious stereotype to people with or without belief than would be acceptable to an ethnic group, for example. We must value the individuality of a person, accepting their presentation of their identity without projecting our values on to them and forcing them into our categorization of what ‘should’ be right.

I’d be very interested to hear other people’s opinions