One of the reasons I explained the Gospel is so that you can have a reference to the core of Christianity.
Exclusivity is one of the biggest problems skeptics have with Christianity. Skeptics believe:
1. It's arrogant to say your religion is superior
2. It's dangerous
They believe all religions are equally good and valid for meeting the needs of their particular followers and that claims to have "the truth" will only lead to strife, division, and conflict.
I agree that religion can be one of the main barriers to world peace. Each religion informs its followers that they have "the truth" and this naturally leads them to feel superior to those with differing beliefs. Religion tells its followers that they are saved and connected to God by devotedly performing the truth and this moves them to separate from those who are less devoted and pure in life. Therefore, it is easy for one religious group to stereotype and caricature other ones and...spiral down into the marginalization of others or even to active oppression, abuse, or violence against them.
There are 3 basic approaches civic and cultural leaders around the world use to address the divisiveness of religion:
1. Outlawing it (control or forbid religion), which results in more opression (i.e. Soviet Russia, Communist China, Khmer Rouge, and in a different way Nazi Germany). All were determined to stop religion from dividing society or eroding the power of the state but actually resulted in more oppression. According to Alister McGrath, "...the greatest intolerance and violence (of the 20th century) were practiced by those who believed that religion caused intolerance and violence."
Also, efforts to suppress or control it often serve only to make it stronger.
2. Condemning it (socially discourage any religion claiming to have "the truth" by making it foolish or appear dangerous)
It's inconsistent and/or hypocritical.*
a. "All major religions are equally valid and basically teach the same thing."
The assumption is incorrect. The doctrinal beliefs about the nature of God in all the major faiths are significantly different and in opposition with one another. Also, the insistence that doctrines don't matter is really a doctrine in itself.
b. "Each religion sees part of spiritual truth, but none can see the whole truth."
The claim itself has an appearance of humility that truth is much greater that any of us can grasp but is actually an arrogant claim. "How could you possibly know that no religion can see the whole truth unless you yourself have the superior, comprehensive knowledge of spiritual reality you just claimed that none of the religions have?"
c. "Religious belief is too culturally and historically conditioned to be 'truth'."
This claim may be true but must include itself. Therefore, it cannot be used to argue that all truth is completely relative or else the very argument refutes itself.
d. "It is arrogant to insist your religion is right and to convert others to it."
Again, the claim itself is arrogant and "exclusive".
3. Keeping it private (keep religion out of the public sphere).
It's impossible and unrealistic to come out into the public square and leave one's convictions about ultimate values behind. Everyone lives and operates out of some narrative identity (aka worldview, faith-assumptions, beliefs, religion) whether it is thought out and reflected upon or not. What is religion but a set of beliefs that explain what life is all about, who we are, and the most important things that human beings should spend their time doing...All who say "You ought to do this" or "You shouldn't do that" reason out of such an implicit moral and religious position.
Christianity is different:
Christianity has within itself remarkable power to explain and expunge the divisive tendencies within the human heart. It's an exclusive belief system that can still respect people of other faiths because:
1. Christians believe all human beings are made in the image of God and so are capable of goodness and wisdom.
2. Christians believe all are sinners, imperfect and fallen in every way.
3. Christians believe "God's grace does not come to people who morally outperform others, but to those who admit their failure and who acknowledge their need for a Savior."
4. At the very heart of what Christians believe is the reality that a man died for his enemies, praying for their forgiveness.