 Bob Marley was a rastafarian, and his religion is different than mine, but when I listen to songs like "One Love," "Natural Mystic," and "Redemption Song," I hear prophecy in his words. Bob Marley said that if he had one wish, it would be for all mankind to live in peace. I share that wish with him. The fact that our religious beliefs differ, doesn't mean that his words were not prophetic. I believe God used him to spread a message of peace and universal love. Just because someone practices a different religion than I do (Rastafari, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, or Islam) doesn't mean that God isn't using them in the same way I'm trying to allow Him to use me.
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"From the beginning, Christian Revelation has viewed the spiritual history of man as including, in some way, all religions, thereby demonstrating the unity of humankind with regard to the eternal and ultimate destiny of man. The Council document speaks of this unity and links it with the current trend to bring humanity closer together through the resources available to our civilization. The Church sees the promotion of this unity as one of its duties: "There is only one community and it consists of all peoples. They have only one origin, since God inhabited the entire earth with the whole human race. And they have one ultimate destiny, God, whose providence,goodness, and plan for salvation extend to all.... Men turn to various religions to solve mysteries of the human condition, which today, as in earlier times, burden people's hearts: the nature of man; the meaning and purpose of life; good and evil; the origin and purpose of suffering; the way to true happiness; death; judgment and retribution after death; and finally, the ultimate ineffable mystery which is the origin and destiny of our existence. From ancient times up to today all the various peoples have shared and continue to share an awareness of that enigmatic power that is present throughout the course of things and throughout the event of human life, and, in which, at times, even the Supreme Divinity of the Father is recognizable. This awareness and recognition imbue life with an intimate religious sense. Religions that are tied up with cultural progress strive to solve these issues with more refined concepts and a more precise language" (Nostra Aetate I-2).
Here the Council document brings us to the Far East- first of all to Asia, a continent where the Church's missionary activity, carried out since the times of the apostles, has borne, we must recognize, very modest fruit. It is well known that only a small percentage of the population on what is the largest continent believes in Christ.
This does not mean that the Church's missionary effort has lapsed - quite the opposite: that effort has been and still remains intense. And yet the tradition of very ancient cultures, antedating Christianity, remains very strong in the East. Even if faith in Christ reaches hearts and minds, the negative connotations associated with the image of life in Western society (the so-called Christian society) present a considerable obstacle to the acceptance of the Gospel. Mahatma Gandhi, Indian and Hindu, pointed this out many times, in his deeply evangelical manner. He was isillusioned with the ways in which Christianity was expressed in the political and social life of nations. Could a man who fought for the liberation of his great nation from colonial dependence accept Christianity in the same form as it had been imposed on his country by those same colonial powers?
The Second Vatican Council realized this difficulty. This is why the document on the relations between the Church and Hinduism and other religions of the Far East is so important. We read: "In Hinduism men explore the divine mystery and express it through and endless bounty of myths and through penetrating philosophical insight. They seek freedom from the anguish of our human condition, either by way of the ascetic life, profound meditation, or by taking refuge in God with love and trust. The various schools of Buddhism recognize the radical inadequacy of this malleable world and teach a way by which men, with devout and trusting hearts, can become capable either of reaching a state of perfect liberation, or of attaining, by their own efforts or through higher help, supreme illumination" (Nostra Aetate 2).
Further along, the Council remarks that "The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. The Church has a high regard for their conduct and way of life, for those precepts and doctrines which, although differing on many points from that which the Church believes and propounds, often reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all men. However, the Church proclaims, and is bound to proclaim that Christ is 'the way and the truth and the life' [Jn I4:6], in whom men must find the fullness of religious life and in whom God has reconciled everything to Himself" (Nostra Aetate 2).
In another passage the Council says that the Holy Spirit works effectively even outside the visible structure of the Church (cf. Lumen Gentium I3), making use of these very semina Verbi, that constitute a kind of common soteriological root present in all religions (Crossing the Threshold of Hope, pages 78-81). |
I was raised Catholic, that's what I believe in. The realization that God made himself human in the form of Jesus Christ has sustained me, in a world that can be very confusing. We are made up of mind, body, and soul. Although, all three influence my writing, I think the soul influences me the most. I believe that's the part of me that is connected to God, and when I am open to it, that's when God communicates through me the most. 
When I listen to bands like, U2, Bob Marley, Van Morrison, Wyclef Jean, and Lauryn Hill, I feel a similarity with the way they try to communicate through their music. Their music and lyrics are filled with spirituality, and inspire me. Though they may have different religious beliefs than I do, I feel a common fundamental element exists in what we are all trying to do; to be an instrument of God through our music. 