I’ve kept quiet about this because I know that I’d be shunned by my fellow Christians, but I’ve long liked the “coexist” bumper stickers. Not only are they creative and simple, but they also represent something that I think is truly central to the Christian story: relationship with those who are different from us.
Many Christians, I think, reject this bumper sticker because they fear that it gives consent to alternative understandings of God, creation, and hope. “If I have that bumper sticker than I am saying that there’s truth in Hindu belief system.” or “Coexist is clearly extreme relativism, it says that everything’s true.” or something along those lines. I don’t disagree that this is probably what many who own the sticker actually believe. But I do not think that this absolves Christians from coming to terms with the validity of its message. We have far too often drawn lines of distinction around us, creating our identity based on who or what we are not. I think this is not only destructive but also not in tune with the God who crossed many barriers in order to dwell amongst us.
When I see the sticker I am reminded that Jesus followers are invited to love all peoples, to find places of connection across cultural and religious barriers, they’re invited to be peoples of peace, to be boundary crossers, good listeners, to be gracious, creative, and humbly confident in discussing truth, reality, and hope*. I like the Coexist bumper sticker because it invites those types of actions. It reminds us that we’re a part of a larger world, that there is a massive diversity of thought, action, and perspective. I may not agree with the potentially oppressive** belief system of Hinduism but I can see the beauty of God in those that practice it and be willing to engage in dialog with them without feeling a need to place judgment on them.
With all that said I would like to conclude by saying that while I love the coexist sticker and what it stands for, I think that it completely 100% falls short. I do not reject it because it’s wrong but because it is not hard core enough. In absolutely no way are we called to simply coexist! There’s no hope in coexisting! To agree to coexisting is to give up on reconciliation. There’s hope in reconciliation, in relationship, in unity, in communion together. The metaphor that Christianity holds to is an image of the lion and the lamb lying together: former enemies finding peace and mutual comfort together. That image is not coexistence, it is communion.
Dear Jesus followers, don’t dislike the coexist sticker because you think its relativistic crap. Reject it because it falls short of what we truly desire! We’re invited to be much more hardcore than coexistence, we’re invited to the challenge of reconciliation. We have a choice of living in opposition, in coexistence, or in communion with our neighbors. My hope is that we choose the latter.
*yes, that was an incredibly long sentence!
**I call Hinduism oppressive, potentially unjustly, because it seems to me that its belief system has little to say to the imbalance of power that exists in cultural systems that allow extreme poverty and oppression. To me it seems that Hinduism at its core tolerates the status quo and thus supports oppressors. Sadly at times in history this can be said of Christianity as well. The difference, in my humble opinion, is that status quo supporting-oppressive Christian regimes are clearly incongruent with the center of Christianity—Jesus.
Lets get this out of the way right up front: I love Jesus. I do. I love worshiping Jesus. I think its good to tell him that I love him. I think its good to remind myself that he loves me too. I do.
