Could it be possible for people ‘of the same spirit’ to join together across their creedal boundaries?

In the best-selling book Suite Française, set in occupied France in the early 1940s, author Irène Némirovsky introduces her readers to a Viscountess Montmort. The Viscountess feels she has a mission to uphold the Christian morals of the village of Bussy. There is a teacher in the village who although a confessed atheist, seems to live an exemplary life. The Viscountess is not best pleased with this combination. ‘If she drank or had lovers you could understand her lack of religion,’ she complains to her husband, ‘but just imagine the confusion that can be caused in people’s minds when they see virtue practised by people who are not religious.’

It can be puzzling – even irritating – when people with the ‘wrong’ beliefs appear to be doing the right thing. As the Viscountess says, it can cause confusion. Should we judge people by their labels (what we imagine they believe) or by how they actually are and what they actually do?

In the Christian gospels Jesus seems firmly of the view that people’s behaviour was the best test of from where they drew their inspiration and motivation. You could tell by their fruits from which tree they came. ‘No good tree bears bad fruit,’ he said, ‘nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. People do not pick figs from bushes or grapes from briers.’

An incident is described when Jesus’ disciples come across a man who is casting out demons in their master’s name. They promptly ask him to desist ‘because he is not one of us’. But when John reports this to Jesus, he replies, ‘Don’t stop him, for whoever is not against you is for you.’

This is a broadness of approach and a risk-taking generosity of attitude I don’t always have towards people who are not ‘one of us’. Yet increasingly in meeting people in different ecumenical or inter-faith settings I find it possible to distinguish between people who have a certain spirit in and about them and those who do not. And that dividing line does not fall along conveniently-labelled camps.

Russian author and philosopher Grigory Pomerants commented that, with people today committing acts which are in such apparent contradiction to their basic faith beliefs, it is no longer adequate to ask ‘of what denomination are you?’ or ‘of what religion are you?’ But rather, he says, the question should be, ‘of what spirit are you?’

Could it be possible for people ‘of the same spirit’ to join together across their creedal boundaries? In a recent commentary on this website Muslim writer and reformer Tariq Ramadan seemed to be suggesting this when he called for a new ‘we’, a ‘new coalition of men and women , citizens of all religions – and those without religion – who would undertake together to resolve the contradictions of their society’. Members of this new ‘we’ would be people of integrity and shared values who would ‘join forces in a revolution of trust and confidence to stem the onrush of fear’.

In the same vein, Britain’s Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks, asks whether we can find it in us ‘to love, not hate, the people not like us?’ The urgent question for today, he says is, ‘Can we, believer and non-believer, join hands to become agents of peace against those who seek to globalise war?’

For myself there is no way I would wish to diminish the importance of the foundational creeds of my (Christian) faith. They are life-giving. But I do at the same time ask for the gift of discernment to recognise and respond to the spirit of God at work in others of different backgrounds and approach. And to have the courage to accept the good and positive things they do as proof enough of their sincerity and genuineness. ‘By their fruits you shall know them’.

NOTE: Individuals of many cultures, nationalities, religions, and beliefs are actively involved with Initiatives of Change. These commentaries represent the views of the writer and not necessarily those of Initiatives of Change as a whole.