Religion and Fellowship
Recently, a person (who shall remain anonymous) wrote in the following question: Is it okay to eat other people's food if they practice a non-Christian religion? For example, I ordered some Chinese food the other day; after they brought the food, I noticed the Buddha statute in the corner, and my thought was, "I probably should not have eaten here." Is it wrong for me to eat this food, knowing they serve Buddha? Am I being disloyal to God? The short answer is that, if it offends your conscience, you might want to dine elsewhere. But let's take a broader look.
Where do you buy gasoline? Does the money go to an Arab—a Muslim who believes it is all right to persecute Christians? Or does it go to someone like Hugo Chavez (who has passed on)? Or maybe some rich, greedy oil company profits from your purchase? Are you personally supporting any of these? Let's take another example: Some already think that if they shop at Wal-Mart, they are supporting the Communist Chinese government. And what about clothing and tennis shoes manufactured by those who operate sweat shops in Asian nations?
Now, what about restaurants? If an establishment has a Buddha in the corner, that might be a tipoff that some of his proceeds will be spent on false religion. Would a restaurant called Ali Baba's indicate that the owner sends some of his profits to finance terrorists? One restaurant in this area has a conspicuous Catholic theme, including—not only Italian film stars—but pictures of the pope in the Vatican and visiting various cities. But these are only a few places that make known their associations. What about those who do not? How many restaurants are owned by atheists? Maybe they give a portion of their profits to People for the American Way or Planned Parenthood? The point is, Christians are not responsible for what businesses do with their money. We are buying goods or services from them. They are responsible for the way they spend their profits.
Some may be Communists, atheists, crass materialists, or practitioners of immorality (maybe they will gamble away a significant portion of their profits). They will give an account of their behavior to God just as we will (2 Cor. 5:10). Now, if they have a sign that indicates half of the proceeds of sales on a particular day will go to something a Christian cannot support, that's another matter. But surely such an event is rare. We do not have fellowship with atheists, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, or any other religion if we eat in their restaurants or buy their products. The open market is a place where goods and services are offered at reasonable prices. To eat at a Chinese restaurant or a Greek restaurant does not mean we are fellowshipping any religion in which they might be involved. It was different to eat in an idol's temple in the first century (1 Cor. 8-10); that situation did involve religious fellowship. Such is no longer the case.