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Trevor Mendola

Mrs. Bouc9 h

Honors English 11

October 3, 2017

Catholicism and Other Religions

Although Catholicism contains all of the truths of the universe, other religions and

cultures have some sort of understanding of these truths as well. The Catholic mission is to

spread the Gospel to all people. This quest for unity is nonexclusive and designed to include all

of humanity, as they are all God’s people. The Vatican II documents, Lumen Gentium and Nostra

Aetate show that God seeks unity among all people and that religious truth exists in every

religion.

The truth of God is revealed through Scripture, Christ’s teachings, the Church, and

through the moral truths of other religions. Lumen Gentium states that people who have

knowledge of God are obligated to follow Him if they seek salvation. It is stated that “Whoever,

therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter

or to remain in it, could not be saved” (The Second Vatican Council para.14). People who have

heard of God and know that Christ is necessary for salvation will not be given salvation if they

chose not to accept Christ in their lives. Lumen Gentium also affirms that:

All the Church’s children should remember that their exalted status is to be attributed not

to their own merits but to the special grace of Christ. If they fail moreover to respond to

that grace in thought, word and deed, not only shall they not be saved but they will be the

more severely judged. (The Second Vatican Council para. 14)

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Anyone who claims to follow God but does not live accordingly will not reach salvation since

they did not actually live how God had intended. Those who are members of the Church but

perform no acts of charity will be judged harshly as well (The Second Vatican Council para. 14).

It also states that "Those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own do not

know the Gospel of Christ of His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by

their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience" (The Second

Vatican Council para. 16). In short, Lumen Gentium says that, although certain people have not

received and most likely will not receive the Gospel, they still have a chance at salvation as long

as they acknowledge that there is a being who created everything and they live a life in the

footsteps of Christ, even if they do not know Him; however, other religions and cultures do have

truths that are common with Christianity, two of the most important truths of all faiths are the

questions “Where did we come from?” and “Where are we going?” (Pope Paul VI para. 1). The

truths of Christianity can be found in other religions as well and Catholics are expected to build

connections with other faiths based on that common ground.

Catholics should strive to find the similarities between themselves and people of other

religions and spread the faith to all the peoples of Earth. Many people on Earth have not received

the Gospel yet and therefore, it is the combined goal of Christians to spread the faith to those

people. Lumen Gentium proclaims that “Those who have not yet received the Gospel are related

in various ways to the people of God…the plan of salvation includes those who acknowledge [a]

Creator” (The Second Vatican Council para. 16). Lumen Gentium also expects Catholics to make

an effort to spread the faith to those who have not been exposed to Christianity, as Christ asked

his Apostles to “make disciples of all nations” (The Second Vatican Council para. 17). This goal

of making disciples is a difficult task. The Church wants to examine her relationship to non-
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Christian religions. She wants to have unity among all men and women by finding what different

religions have in common and building on that (Pope Paul VI para. 1). Nostra Aetate profoundly

proclaims that “We cannot truly call on God, the Father of all, if we refuse to treat in a brotherly

way any man, created as he in the image of God” (Pope Paul VI para. 5). Someone cannot be so

bigoted that they refuse to accept other people while still professing that they love God and have

a deep and loving relationship with Him. To truly believe in God, one must truly believe in the

lifestyle He expects one to have (The Second Vatican Council para. 14). The Church’s one

fundamental purpose is to spread salvation to all, and to do so its people must spread the Gospel

to all and be all-inclusive.

The Native American origin myths have many similarities to the Catholic creation

stories. “The Walam Olam” is the creation story of the Delaware people. The story starts with the

words, “At first, in that place, at all times, above the earth” (Line. 1). This is very similar to how

the creation story in the Bible begins, “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the

earth” (“Genesis.” 1:1). Also, “The Walam Olam” depicts a being, the great Manito, creating

every aspect of the world, “He made the extended land and the sky. He made the sun, the moon,

the stars…He gave the first mother, the mother of beings. He gave the fish, he gave the turtles,

he gave the beasts, he gave the birds” (Line. 4-13). This format is exactly like how God creates

the Earth in the Christian creation story:

Then God said: Let there be light, and there was light… Then God said: Let there be a

dome in the middle of the waters, to separate one body of water from the other… Then

God said: Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin, so that the dry land

may appear… Then God said: Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures,

and on the earth let birds fly beneath the dome of the sky… Then God said: Let the earth
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bring forth every kind of living creature: tame animals, crawling things, and every kind of

wild animal. (“Genesis.” 1:2-27)

In the pictures for “The Walam Olam” when the evil enters the world, it is depicted as a serpent

(Lines 14-21). Satan is depicted as “[A] snake [that] was the most cunning of all the wild animals

that the Lord God had made” (“Genesis.” 3:1). Similarities between “The Walam Olam” and

“Genesis” show that the Delaware people had truths about creation that resemble the creation

story of the Bible. In “The Navajo Origin Legend,” it is stated that “[When] First Man and First

Woman entered [the enclosure], the gods said to them: ‘Live together now as husband and wife.”

In the Bible, God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suited to

him…This one shall be called ‘woman’” (“Genesis.” 2:18-23). The Navajo believed that their

gods had made man and woman perfect for each other, which Christians know is the truth from

the Bible. Lastly, the creation story “Earth on Turtle’s Back” from the Onondaga people has

some similarities to the Christian creation story. It begins with the saying, “Before Earth was

here” (Caduto and Bruchac), which is, again, similar to how the Bible begins with, “In the

beginning” (“Genesis.” 1:1). Also, whenever human is introduced to Earth, it says, “Life had

begun on Earth” (Caduto and Bruchac), which shows the Onondaga’s knowledge of how

important humanity is. Overall, these details in the Native American origin stories, and their

similarities to “Genesis,” illustrate how these people may have had a deep understanding of

God’s truth, but just interpreted it in a slightly different way.

Although the Puritans believe in God, they have a different understanding of what He is

like. The Puritans believe in a concept known as predestination, the belief that one’s final

destination, whether it be Heaven or Hell, has already been determined and no choices they make

in life truly matter. Johnathan Edwards’ sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,”
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perfectly illustrates the skewed view of God that the Puritan people have. First, Edwards says,

“There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of

God.” Catholics believe that God created humans because He is love, and He created humans so

that He could have something to share His infinite love with. Next, Edwards claims that "Men's

hand cannot be strong when God rises up." Although Catholics know that God is infinitely more

powerful themselves, they also do not believe that God tries to be more powerful than Him. He

wants humans to choose to love Him, He does not forcefully make humans love Him. Also, in

his sermon, Edwards states that "[Humans] are now the objects of that very same anger and

wrath of God." Christianity believes in a loving and merciful God, not some angry ruler full of

wrath and hatred. However, the end of Edwards’ sermon takes a more hopeful route that is bares

much more resemblance to the Christian view of God. He proclaims that “Now [humans] have

an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open, and

stands in calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners” (Edwards). This final statement

shows that Puritans are hopeful of God’s mercy and have some understanding of God’s truth.

Puritan belief may be askew and not fully comprehend the message of God, but the end of

Edwards’ sermon shows that they have some understanding of the Gospel.

God has revealed Himself to all people in different ways. The Native American origin

stories show a differently interpreted yet similarly conceptual view of the creation of the world.

The view that Puritan people have, although slightly skewed, shows that they have some

relationship with God. The Vatican II documents tell Catholics that their mission is to spread the

true message of the Gospel to all people. In order to accomplish this goal, Catholics must make

an effort to find the religious truths in other religions to build connections with them.
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Works Cited

“Genesis.” New American Bible Revised Edition. Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2011.

“The Walam Olam.” Internet Sacred Text Archive, John Bruno Hare, 2010. http://www.sacred-

texts.com/nam/index.htm.

Caduto, Michael J., and Joseph Bruchac. “The Earth on Turtle’s Back.” Keepers of the Earth,

http://greermiddlecollege.org/wp-

content/uploads/2013/08/earth_on_the_turtles_back.pdf.

Edwards, Johnathan. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Christian Classics Etheral

Library, Calvin College, copyright Harry Plantinga. 1993-2015,

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/edwards/sermons.sinners.html.

Pope Paul VI. Nostra Aetate. The Vatican, 28 Oct. 1965. Class packet.

The Navajo. “The Navajo Origin Legend”. Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience.

Edited by McKay et al, Prentice Hall, 1991. Class packet.

The Second Vatican Council. Lumen Gentium. The Vatican,

www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-

ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html.