c. 1998 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) _ Save a little more space in heaven.

While God still holds all the cards, a proposed Presbyterian catechism says Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and others might be destined for the life of eternal peace and happiness many Christians used to envision only for themselves.

“How God will deal with those who do not know or follow Christ, but who follow another tradition, we cannot finally say,” says the proposed Study Catechism for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). “We can say, however, that God is gracious and merciful.”

The proposed Presbyterian catechism is a particularly striking example of a growing trend of openness among many mainstream churches toward people of other faiths.

The 14-page catechism _ along with a five-page First Catechism for younger churchgoers _ will be presented in June to the church’s General Assembly, its highest decision-making body.

If approved, they will be sent to the denomination’s 11,000 churches as study documents. Eventually, if they prove a hit in the pews, the catechisms could become part of the church’s authoritative Book of Confessions.

Unlike some catechisms of old, where declarations of faith were meant to be memorized and anathemas were hurled at churches with different beliefs, the proposed Presbyterian catechism is conversational in tone and doesn’t claim to have all the answers.

During a season when Christians celebrate their belief in the resurrection of Christ and continue reflecting on how that event gives them hope of eternal life, the new catechism asks some tough questions that are in the back of many believers’ minds:

“Will all human beings be saved?” “How will God deal with the followers of other religions?”

During the Reformation, the immediate successors to French theologian John Calvin _ including those to whom the Presbyterian Church traces its ancestry _ answered the question with the doctrine of double predestination that said from the beginning of time God designated some people for eternal happiness and others for eternal perdition.

The doctrine was influential in early American Protestantism but was viewed by others as too harsh. A revised theological perspective developed, holding that heaven is open to all if they accept God’s offer of salvation.

Today, many Christians believe professing faith in Jesus Christ as savior is the only way one will reach heaven. This belief gives many an urgent mandate to convert people of other faiths to Christianity.

The proposed Presbyterian catechism is less certain about who will be among the elect.

Since God rules, the catechism states, only God knows if there are any limits to salvation. “And no judge could possibly be more gracious than our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,” the catechism adds.

Instead of dividing humanity into groups of those who are bound for heaven or hell, the proposed catechism emphasizes the belief that Jesus died for all people, according to the Rev. George Hunsinger of Princeton Theological Seminary, one of the drafters of the proposed catechisms.

“This way it makes everyone elect, and everyone judged by Christ,” Hunsinger says. “You don’t have to give up hope for anyone, not even for yourself.”

Once church members take the position non-Christians aren’t necessarily lost for eternity, the focus on interfaith relations shifts from conversion to dialogue, according to some church leaders.

In the proposed catechism, Presbyterians are instructed to avoid either compromising their beliefs or being narrow-minded.

“In short, I should always welcome and accept non-Christians in a way that honors and reflects the Lord’s welcome and acceptance of me,” the catechism says.

The question of how to approach people of other faiths is “probably one of the fault lines that runs through not only the Presbyterian church, but in most Christian churches,” said the Rev. Charles White, a Presbyterian minister from California who was a founder of the North American Interfaith Network.

As far back as 1903, one of the predecessor bodies of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) amended the Westminster Confession _ the church’s primary confessional statement _ to add the declaration that “God desires not the death of any sinner, but has provided in Christ a salvation sufficient for all.” In the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church declared Muslims were included in God’s plan of salvation.

For his part, White said he goes back to the example of Jesus.

“He dared to love all those around him, regardless of whatever tradition they happened to be from,” he said. “There was no one that was excluded from his love.”

DEA END BRIGGS