Dialogue, truncated

Simon: I think we need to reexamine our Christianity. It's not a perfect thing, but we must engage the world in a manner in which people come to understand the necessity, or the desirability of it. Situations change, and we have to adapt to them. How we relate to the world must reflect the situation in which we find ourselves. I think, therefore, we should make sure as many people as possible have access to the images and stories of Vishnu, so that they can better understand their own transformations and experiences.

Thomas: Vaishnavism isn't Christianity.

Saul: Is it even possible to be Christian, Thomas? Why don't you prove your Christianity, pony boy?

Thomas: I'm just saying that you can worship Vishnu and Jesus at the same time, but your faith in Vishnu sort of negates your claim to Christianity.

Saul: The Christian vision is not practicable, so why don't you just grow up?

Thomas: That may very well be true, and I probably still have more growing up to do, but I think it's curious that Simon calls his Vaishnavism Christianity, when it's not. Whether or not Christianity is all one thing, or can have different interpretations, I'm not sure the worship of Vishnu can actually qualify as Christian.  Christianity has varied over the ages, but its practice depends upon a clear, almost universally exclusive relationship to the Christ. Vaishnaivism does not. A Hindu who worships Vishnu as his primary god can still believe in Shiva, and the Christ. The Christian who worships Vishnu, especially as a means of supposedly spreading the good news of Christianity, or because the environment is not suited to Christian practices, ceases to be one, no?