One frequently hears that religion in North America is no longer a major factor in the lives of many people, and that religion is increasingly less influential in determining the moral and social values of society. At the same time, one notices a movement towards alternative forms of religion, the so-called New Age religions, and, at least in the Christian Church, a revitalization of evangelical and fundamental Christianity. If there is a skepticism about religion, it seems directed more at established institutional religions, which many claim no longer speak to the particular needs of people living at the beginning of a new century. Indeed, the problems confronting humankind at the end of the twentieth century seem so enormous that one might legitimately conclude that they are simply beyond the answers religion can provide. One must not, however, presume that the experience of the Church in the United States and Canada is typical of what occurs elsewhere in the world, as one notes, for example, the spread of Islam in Africa. At the very least, one might conclude that the signals are mixed, and that religion, however it is defined, continues to be important in people's lives.

In Canada we no longer live in a single-religion society, and there is every likelihood that one's neighbour could be Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, or Christian. The differences among traditions, say, Christianity, which insists on a personal God, compared to Buddhism, which recognizes no supreme deity, suggest that the word "religion" refers to a range of experiences that go well beyond the relatively narrow confines of a single tradition. At the same time, these varied religious experiences do address common issues and concerns, and aspire to answer the big questions concerning beginnings and endings. These questions are, moreover, driven by a pervading sense of incompleteness and anxiety driven by a sense of alienation from that which is of ultimate value. The anxiety is especially acute as we enter a new century, and one might therefore argue that religion ought to play an even more important role in the future. It remains that dimension of human experience whose single aim is to provide a path by which each of us can say, "I am complete," and therefore, "I am contented." In Christianity, we exist separate from God, and only become "worthy" in a renewed relationship with God through His Grace. In Hinduism, we must remove the ignorance that insists on an independent self separate from the single divine nature of Brahman.

This common ambition does not, however, eliminate the fundamental differences among religions that often place one tradition in opposition to another. Presuming a common concern about what it means to be human, none of the world's religions can ignore the reality of pluralism or presume an exclusivity that relegates the majority of humankind to the position of outsiders. The need to accommodate differences has never been greater, even though we know that the exclusivity of the western religions runs counter to the inclusivity of the eastern ones. At the same time, one must avoid reducing all religions to some form of vague, universal religion that takes away the individual richness of tradition. Nor can one simply presume that religious differences are culturally derived, the implication being that the fundamental nature of all religions is the same. Perhaps the best for which one can hope is that we recognize the validity of any religion for the individual believer, and that in the commitment to one's own tradition we recognize a common, human experience. Perhaps, too, we must recognize that by appreciating and understanding a tradition other than one's own, we have an opportunity to enrich our own individual religious beliefs, even as we must be cognizant of not eroding the tradition in which our individual lives take root.

David Atkinson is President and Vice-Chancellor of Brock University.