In God We Trust?

This passage from Diana Eck's book, Encountering God, gave me a glimmer of hope that my family may in fact be able to reconcile and accept my non-belief in juxtaposition to their theistic beliefs of which I no longer subscribe.

It is important to note, however, that some numerical minorities do not have an exclusivist consciousness at all. The native peoples of the Americas, for example, while being protective of their rites and lifeways, also see the truth in other ways and paths. Over forty years ago, Chief White Calf of the Blackfeet of Montana offered a critique of Christian exclusivism that was very expressive of Native American attitudes. As an old man, in the summer of 1958 he told the story of creation to one Richard Lancaster, whom he called his son.

I am Chief White Calf of the Blackfeet, and I am one hundred and one years old, and I give you this story that I got from my father, Last Gun, who got it from the old men of the tribe...You are my son and I give it to you. Only once before I tried to give this story. There was a missionary and I called him son and gave him a name and tried to give him this story but he would not take it because he said that this is not the way things were in the beginning. But I was not proud to have him for my son because he says there is only one path through the forest and he knows the right path and he does not know there are other paths. And I am one hundred and one, and I know that sometimes many paths go to the same place. 1

Deep conviction about one's own path need not be exclusivist. It might be simply the evangelical or neo-orthodox enthusiasm for one's own roots, one's own people, or one's own tradition. Traditions and people of faith are continually revitalized by the return to roots and energy of new revival movements. But exclusivism is not just ardent enthusiasm for one's own tradition. It is coupled with a highly negative attitude toward other traditions. Like the missionary who would not even listen to White Calf's story, the exclusivist does not participate in dialogue, does not listen openly to the testimony of others. Exclusivism, has to do not only with how we hold our own convictions, but also with how we regard the convictions of our neighbor. In a world of close neighbors, the exclusivist has a real problem--one will likely meet those neighbors. One might discover they are not anathema after all. Or one might discover that they are equally ardent exclusivists.
...The Christian exclusivist insists that the truth of Christ excludes all others: Extra ecclesiam nulla salus--outside the church, no salvation. This voice has sounded long and loud in the churches--so much so that many imagine it is the only way Christians think about the matter.

1. Cited in William Kittredge and Annick Smith, eds., The Last Best Place: A Montana Anthology (Helena: Montana Historical Society, 1991), p.26.

Eck, Diana L., (1993). Encountering God: A spiritual journey from Bozeman to Banaras. Beacon Press: Boston, Massachusetts.