Christianity cannot “COEXIST” with other religions
The COEXIST ideology imagines a world where all belief systems are equally valid paths up the same spiritual mountain. It’s an unrealistic worldview with just enough tolerance to keep the peace but not enough discernment to recognize the truth.
I was idling at a red light, contemplating whether I would stop at Starbucks on my way to work, when my eyes drifted to the back of a bumper sticker-clad Prius. The all-too-familiar “COEXIST” sticker caught my eye. You’ve seen it. It’s the one where the letters are cobbled together from an interfaith sampler platter—Christian crosses, Muslim crescents, Jewish stars, peace signs, and a few symbols that may have been borrowed from the periodic table.
At first glance, its message is innocent enough, a Hallmark-worthy attempt at a vision of world harmony. It seems to say, “Can’t we all just get along?” But when you think about it, you realize it’s about as coherent as trying to mix oil and water—or better yet, mix oil, water, and a lit match. It’s not just naive. It’s theologically ridiculous. God was clear when he said, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Ex 20:3). The first commandment doesn’t leave much wiggle room for sharing a platform with rival deities.
The COEXIST ideology imagines a world where all belief systems are equally valid paths up the same spiritual mountain. It’s an unrealistic worldview with just enough tolerance to keep the peace but not enough discernment to ask if any of it is true.
The Bible, however, has a slightly less inclusive take. Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn 14:6). That’s not a message that plays well in a game of interfaith bingo. If Jesus is the exclusive way to the Father, all other paths, however sincerely trod, are dead ends.
The bumper sticker brigade must think Jesus was offering little more than a suggestion rather than an authoritative proclamation. Peter preached, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Ac 4:12). He wasn’t offering a friendly suggestion to consider Christianity among other spiritual options like you’re choosing between vanilla and rocky road at the ice cream shop. It’s an all-or-nothing claim that excludes all other claims to divine truth and salvation.
But the COEXIST message isn’t wrong only in its fundamental theology. It’s woefully simplistic about human nature. The Bible doesn’t paint humanity as a cooperative bunch just waiting for the correct motivational quote to start holding hands and singing “We Are the World.” Paul describes the condition of humanity this way: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (Ro 3:10-12). Our problem is that we are inherently at odds with God and each other because of sin. We’re not ideologically divided; we’re spiritually dead.
The solution to this problem cannot be found by combining a few religious symbols. There’s a cosmic conflict at play—a war not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Eph 6:12). Middle ground between the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of Satan doesn’t exist. We’re either gathering with Christ or scattering. The Bible doesn’t permit us to hold hands in some grand spiritual neutral zone.
The only genuine coexistence we’ll ever experience is found in the body of Christ. “For Christ himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility” (Eph 2:14). It’s through the cross that true reconciliation happens, not just between people, but between people and God. In Christ, barriers fall, and unity is possible, not because we all agreed to disagree but because Christ paid the ultimate price to reconcile sinners to a holy God. We can’t manufacture this peace with bumper stickers or wishful thinking.
While I appreciate the sentiment behind the COEXIST sticker, true peace doesn’t come from an alliance of competing worldviews. It comes from one truth, one Lord, and one Savior who, through his sacrifice, accomplished what no human effort or interfaith dialogue ever could. Sadly, that’s not a message we often see on the back of a Prius. But you will find it at the foot of the cross, where all enmity ends and genuine coexistence begins.