The City of Our Beliefs

I had the pleasure of visiting the beautiful city of Dubrovnik, Croatia. It is a coastal city surrounded by high mountain ranges, rich with history, and honestly, just stunning.

I was on a tour of the Old Town, drinking wine and enjoying amazing food. Our guide was a PhD student in olive oil, of all things. At one stop, while we were sitting at a restaurant talking, the topic of religion came up. I know, shocker, right?

He explained that the two main religious traditions in Dubrovnik are Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox. The city itself, he said, is all Roman Catholic. Whether that is true or not, I do not know. I did see a Jewish synagogue in the Old Town, so clearly there is more to the story.

Still, his comment took me by surprise.

I asked, “Are there no Protestant churches?”

He laughed and immediately shook his head no.

I asked again, “No Protestants in Dubrovnik?”

“No,” he said.

Now, whether that is completely true, I do not know. But what he said next was interesting. He told me the only Protestant he knows is his sister-in-law, and she is always going on and on, annoyingly, about how Jesus loves us and died for us.

I am guessing she is evangelical. 🤣

At that point, our food arrived, and we were back into the tastings. But I walked away from that conversation intrigued.

Where I am from, almost everyone I engage with and am friends with is Protestant. I come from the Baptist and evangelical tradition. Even as I make new friends outside of that tradition, they are often still Protestant in some form.

It made me think: Do I have any friends who are Roman Catholic? Eastern Orthodox, for that matter?

What kinds of walls have I created for myself, where the only thoughts I have about God are shaped by the tradition I am in?

Sure, I can read books or watch videos about what other traditions think about God. But that is not the same as having a friend you care about, and who cares about you, challenge your point of view about how you read the text or think about God.

It is like we have built our own walls around our precious city of thought and belief.

What would it look like to tear down some of those walls? To step outside the safety of our theology and hear from, learn from, and sit with people who think differently?

What kind of world would that be?

Just saying.