Once a catechumen asked the priest who was preparing him for Baptism if all religions are the same. The priest told him no, that if they were all the same, there wouldn’t be different religions.
“What makes them different?” the young man asked. “Several things,” said the priest. “For example, the founder: the Catholic Church was founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is God made man to save us. The other religions, except for the Jewish one, were founded by men like Luther, Muhammad, Joseph Smith, etc.”
“But I’ve heard, even from Catholics, that all religions are the same,” said the young man. “Why do they say that?” “They say that,” replied the priest, “because it’s easier to fit our lives to the religion that suits us if all religions are the same.” “How? I don’t understand,” said the young man.
“Very simple: if all religions are the same, then I am free to choose what I like from each religion and put all the things I like together to make my own religion according to my desires. That is precisely what many founders of religions did. So, for example, I can include compassion because I like it, but not include sin and repentance, because I don’t like it. In other words, believing that all religions are the same is the perfect excuse to do what I like in my life, to choose the doctrines I want to practice from each religion, instead of doing what is right.”
Those who equate all religions, or those who say that the Catholic Church must change this or that because they disagree, are the ones who, instead of repenting of their sins and making the effort to change, want everyone else to change so they can keep living without repenting, and without stopping to harm themselves and others. They cause others to sin and do evil actions (cf. Mt 13:41).
Acting like they know more than God, who transmitted the commandments and the doctrine found in the Gospel through His Son Jesus Christ, and wanting to change His doctrine, is nothing other than wanting to poison the soul with doctrines contrary to the faith.
In contrast, we must fully accept the doctrine of the Gospel and seek to conform our lives to it. Thus, we nourish our souls with the doctrine transmitted by Jesus Christ, accepting it integrally and trying to live in accordance with it. By nourishing our faith, we make our souls stronger each day to resist the assaults of the Evil One, who seeks by every means to kill the life of faith in us.
Hence, it is important that we strive each day to strengthen our faith and not weaken it. To strengthen our faith, we must exercise it every day, because the more we use our faith, the stronger it grows, and the less we exercise it, the more we weaken it.
