It's time to stop saying “All faiths are different paths up the same mountain”

Guest author: Abbie Haug, Communications Manager at Cohesion Strategy and Masters of Theological Studies student at Harvard Divinity School.

“All faiths are different paths up the same mountain.”  

It’s a phrase you’ve probably heard once or twice. This sentiment is often shared with good intentions and a genuine belief in promoting unity and understanding. You may have even said it once or twice; I know I used to.  

But why do I no longer adhere to this way of thinking, and how does it connect to the bridgebuilding, pluralism, and belonging work of Cohesion Strategy?  

Growing up in Fargo, North Dakota, in a predominantly white and Protestant Christian community, I had a unique childhood experience that continues to profoundly shape my perspective. When I was in elementary school, my family welcomed two foster sisters who were Muslim religious refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina.  

I was a young child when I first learned about my sisters’ experiences with religion. Sitting around our kitchen table, I heard about the genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina where Muslims were persecuted because of their ethno-religious identity by Christian neighbors, and I also heard my sisters’ experiences: the death of their mother, their firsthand experiences with violence, and their displacement from home. 

As a child, it didn’t make any sense. It was painful and horrifying to learn such things had happened to my loved ones, to my family. Even today, as an adult studying religion, ethics, and politics, I still struggle to make sense of such realities. 

During similar periods of my childhood, I became increasingly involved at my Lutheran Church and had incredibly positive experiences. I attended services multiple times a week, volunteered at camps, taught Sunday school, and formed my oldest friendships. My church community provided a strong sense of connection and support, fostering an environment of love and belonging during periods of my life when I deeply needed it.  

Growing up with my experiences and the knowledge of my sisters’ experiences, I was often confused and shocked. I couldn't understand how some experiences with religion and faith could be so positive, while others led to such violence and pain.

How can religion be both a source of community and goodness and a source of pain and violence? What makes the difference? How can I promote the positive aspects of religion while mitigating the negative? 

These questions guided my academic journey in college. Initially, I studied political science, but I quickly found my true passion in religious studies. In my religion courses, we explored many of the same themes as in my political science classes —community, equity, and difference — but through the lens of ethics, rituals, and values. This approach resonated, offering a richer and more compelling way to understand the complexities of human society and the role of religion within it. My academic background led me to work at the Aspen Institute’s Religion and Society Program (where I first worked with Allison Ralph!) and to my current studies at Harvard Divinity School.  

But how does this connect back to the common sentiment that “all faiths are different paths up the same mountain”?  

Let’s start by acknowledging that there are some positive aspects to this statement. This phrase aims to challenge the notion that some religions are superior to others. It strives to level the playing field and promote equality among various beliefs. This is critical work and not to be discounted.  

However, to live in our world of increasing diversity, we need more than just equality. We need intentional acknowledgement of and engagement with our differences.  

While the phrase - “all faiths are different paths up the same mountain” - promotes equality, it also flattens important distinctions between religions and assumes that everyone should accept all theology as true, regardless of their own beliefs. If we expect everyone to fit neatly into the same categorizations and disregard their differences, we risk miscommunication, marginalization of diverse communities and beliefs, and polarization.  

What we need is work that isn’t afraid to engage with difference. We need work that sees our distinctions as an important component of our diverse, living reality. Not as something to be flattened and ignored.  

I dream of a future where we can hold two things true at once: the shared values and similarities of religions and their complexities and differences. It is in this future that we will be able to promote positive community building across religions while mitigating the reality of religion being used to promote violence and hate.  

It is this future that I work towards and why I am proud to work at Cohesion Strategy.  

Next time my neighbor—or your uncle, high school friend, or partner—uses the phrase “all faiths are different paths up the same mountain,” I am inclined to pause the conversation and invite them to consider the harm of flattening the differences among communities. I hope you will as well.