You may have seen a bumper sticker on a car, covered with many different symbols. If you look closely, you will see that the symbols are like letters of the alphabet, and they spell the word “COEXIST.” That is supposed to be a message for all religious people. Someone wants all of us to “coexist,” which I think means that we should all get along.

So, is that possible? Can different religious beliefs and communities coexist and get along, or harmonize?

Maybe.

When I was a boy, I lived in a very religious family. I will skip most of the details, but we went to church twice on Sunday, and there was usually a boys’ or girls’ club on a weeknight.

I had some very good friends, two other boys, in another family. We always walked to and from school together, five days a week.

I didn’t know, but at some time, people from a religious group, with religious literature, knocked on their door and their mother answered. You can guess what kind of religious group it was.

My friends’ mother eventually converted to that other religion, and sometimes she would come knocking on our door. I still remember the loud arguments she had with my mother, with open Bibles on both sides.

And people from different religions are supposed to coexist.

I also remember that day, when the three boys, including me, were walking home together, and laughing and talking about things. Suddenly, my best friend stopped talking and walked away from me. I asked him what was wrong, and he told me that he and his little brother had to get away from me.

I walked home alone that day, and I don’t think that fits the word on the bumper sticker.

If you want to see a conversation about coexisting, this video might be interesting for you:

You might have some questions or objections, if you watched the video. I have some, and this is one: I am writing as a Christian, and I’m glad that I was not a part of that video conversation.

This is one of my objections: Imagine me telling a Hindu — after you die you will go to a Christian heaven, and you will be with Jesus forever. I understand that Hindus believe in reincarnation. It would be insulting to force my beliefs in Jesus and Heaven on people who want to believe something else.

That is not coexistence, but it seems the Christian was supposed to tell others that they were going to heaven, even if they wanted to believe something else. It seems like disrespecting other people’s beliefs is being passed off as coexistence.

There is a different kind of coexistence, and we were told about this a long time ago in the Bible. Jesus told us how to live with people who disagree with us, and even more, how to live with “enemies.”

Jesus was very clear, God cares about everyone, including those who make themselves our enemies. That’s a step up from getting along with people who might have different ideas from us.  

The words in the Bible are:

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5: 43 to 48)

Let them be different. They might even be enemies to us. Our responsibility is to love those other people, including the worst of them. God loves them, and we follow and obey God.

I don’t believe that all religions can coexist. The history of the world shows that.

We are told to love the worst people that we know. Obviously that includes people who believe something different from us. We don’t compromise and merely coexist — we love the way God loves.

That is a lesson worth learning.