What religion…err denomination are you?

Not long ago, I was walking into a hospital and a woman in wheel chair asked me “what religion are you?” Dozens of people have asked me this question over the years, but with a couple of exceptions, none of them were actually asking me which religion I was. They were asking what denomination I belong to. In the vast majority of cases, it was obvious to the questioner that I was a Christian (wearing a penguin suit or a friar’s habit does that, it also gets me great compliments every year around Halloween!), but it wasn’t obvious to them which denomination or tradition of Christianity I belonged to.  

In other words, Roman Catholics and Baptists, Methodists and Lutherans, Anglican and Mennonites, are all members of the same world religion: Christianity; albeit, they are members of different denominations within that one religion. Members of different religions would be Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, and Wiccans, for example. Do you see the difference? Christianity is a very diverse religion, but there are core beliefs and common practices across denominations. Similarly, most other world religions have a variety of denominations or schools within them.

Who cares? One black eye, among many, of the Christian faith, has been the division among Christians. Jesus prayed in John 17:21 (NRSV), referring to his followers, “that they may all be one.” Claiming that our fellow sisters and brothers are members of an entirely different religion does not encourage Christian unity. Also, older generations will remember (and there are still communities where this dynamic is present) when cooperation or marriage between members of different Christian denominations was almost unheard of. Thankfully, that has changed, a bit.

So the next time someone asks you what religion you are, you can answer, in a couple of ways. 1) “I think you mean what denomination I belong to? I’m a Christian and part of a Lutheran Church” or 2) “I’m a Roman Catholic Christian” or “I’m a Baptist Christian.” Etc.  Or the next time someone says “We are different religions. I’m Catholic and you’re Assembly of God” you can reply, “No, we are both Christians, but members of different Christian denominations.” This little practice can help us move us a little closer toward the “oneness” that Jesus prayed for.