He was speaking on the occasion of the installation of the new Dean of Washington National Cathedral the Rev. Samuel Lloyd.

"How one comes into a relationship with God has taken on a meaning that it did not have in my younger years."

Some 250 people promptly walked out during Dr. Regas' homily disgusted at his remarks. Titling his sermon, "Interpreting Christ in a Pluralistic World" the guest preacher said the church he longed to be a part of is one with a radically inclusive spirit. "During most of my priesthood of nearly a half century I have tried to have an inclusive spirit at the heart of my work-and I'm still learning."

Acknowledging that the Episcopal Church faces serious global challenges to its proclamation of full justice in the church of its gay brothers and sisters, Regas said his hope was is to bring us all into a closer identity with the inclusive spirit of Jesus.

Regas cited the author Carl Sandburg who said the most despicable word in the English language was exclusivism. "Exclusivism. It means to exclude, to shut out, to keep out, to dispose, to resist admission to the outsider. Exclusivism is a terrible word because it is a terrible reality. Everyone has experienced it at some point and at some level in our life-some at minor places; others have been traumatized by vicious exclusions."

Regas said that Christianity is often presented in the most exclusionary ways. "In today's Gospel, John puts words on Jesus' lips that have led Christians through the centuries to claim an exclusive way to salvation. 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.' That is one of the most difficult verses in the Bible to interpret adequately." Those who claim that Christianity is the exclusive way to a saving faith cling tenaciously to this verse, he said.

"I can no longer think about Jesus as the only way to God and to a saving faith. How one comes into a relationship with God has taken on a meaning that it did not have in my younger years."

Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father (to God) except through me." If my reflections on this verse are to have integrity, I must speak as though my close rabbi friends and my Muslim colleagues are sitting right there in a pew in front of me. Those good people in whom I've seen the glory of God."

Regas said he simply refused to hold the doctrine that there is no access to God except through Jesus.

"Although the majority of American Christians probably believe that salvation is possible only through faith in Jesus Christ, I find this to be a profound distortion of what Jesus was about in his ministry."

"My reading of the Bible points me to a God whose love is inclusive and universal. This thought is very significant because it was this proclamation of universal love that got Jesus into trouble. The flags of exclusivism were flying all around Jesus, and he steadfastly resisted each one of these seductive invitations to belong to us only and exclude the rest. Jesus loved them all. He put his arms around everybody-and they killed him."

Regas blasted the Religious Right saying they had drowned out everyone else with their absolutist claims. "They have the truth and the rest of us are living under false claims. Now faith in Jesus has come to be known as pro-rich, pro-war, and pro-American. Bill Moyers says these Religious Right advocates have hijacked Jesus. The very Jesus who offered kindness and mercy to the prostitute and hospitality and love to the outcast. This Jesus has been hijacked and turned into the guardian of privilege instead of the champion of the dispossessed."

Regas said he had given his life to a different Jesus. "The love I see at work in Jesus is inclusive, a love that reaches out to everyone. Nobody is outside the pale. And yet in the name of this loving Christ, some of the most vicious acts of exclusion are perpetrated. Christianity is not the only guilty party. So much tragedy throughout history and into this present hour has come out of those religions that find their core message in exclusivism."

"Not only is this exclusive claim that Christ is the only way to God and a saving faith a distortion of the total biblical message, it is the source of the most deadly conflicts over the centuries down to this present hour. The terrible effects of the Christian exclusionary claims to salvation have not been confined to the horrendous persecution of Jews. We have mounted deadly crusades against Muslims, and Christians have killed other Christians in the brutal wars of religion-all in the name of bringing others to the correct understanding of how God is uniquely known in Jesus Christ. The arrogance of conviction. God be merciful."

"Today, I proclaim to you that until this murderous and arrogant history is faced with a genuine spirit of repentance; until we Christians confess that our exclusionary theology has led Christian groups, Christian leaders and churches as a whole to unspeakable sins against other Christians, other religions and against God-until we face squarely and honestly this truth about Christianity, there can be no possibility for the Christian Church to be an unequivocal force for peace and justice in this radically pluralistic age."

Regas urged his hearers to move to a different level. "If Jesus is to be real to me, I must move beyond the constrictions of an exclusive interpretation to the liberation of pluralism. You start toward the pluralist position the moment you imagine that the one you call God is greater than your understanding of God. The pluralist position begins the moment you suspect that the God you have come to know in Jesus listens to the earnest prayers of people whose God we do not even understand."

Regas blasted traditional evangelism. "We Christians do not bring God to these non-Christian faiths. God is already there actively at work. In the presence of some Muslims and Jews I've come to know and respect, I sometimes think I hear those words God spoke to Moses by the burning bush addressed to me: "George, George, take off your shoes-for the place where you are standing is holy ground."

"Yes, I know-this is a radical change for Christians. No tradition can claim the truth as a private property. Pluralism is not just diversity. It is open engagement and participation in dialogue with those who are different and remain different. And in the engagement we catch a glimpse of the glory others see in the sacred.

"I don't believe Jesus is the only truth about God so that we consign other forms of faith to the dungeons of error and heresy, but I do believe Jesus is a window through which I can look out upon God, upon the nature of the creation and upon the reality of human existence."

Regas said he was drawn to this pluralist position because he thought that it was only in this deep respect for the traditions of others that we can survive the conflicts of the twenty-first century.

"I don't speak of Christ in exclusive terms but I speak of my commitment to Christ as exclusive. I see God in my Muslim, Jewish, and Buddhist friends and the power of their faith-but I'm committed to Jesus. Christ is the only one for me. That is love language not doctrine."

The service included readings from the Koran and Hebrew scriptures, and had open communion.

END