A. Catholic's response to Maher's 'Survey'

1. What religion is the truth and if any, is it the only truth?
Jesus Christ established the Catholic Church as the true Church therefore it is objectively the true religion being the fulfillment of the Old Law (Old Testament). Religious truth, i.e., the true religion by its essence is one since God is one and it would be contradictory to say that all religious beliefs are true. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ says:
“I am the vine: you the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing. If anyone abide not in me, he shall be cast forth as a branch and shall wither: and they shall gather him up and cast him into the fire: and he burneth. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will: and it shall be done unto you.In this is my Father glorified: that you bring forth very much fruit and become my disciples.” (John, Chapter 15)
There are many other passages in the N.T. which say something similar.
2. What is your perception and beliefs about people who believe in no god, or believe in some other things like mother nature, natural selection, or any other things?
There is nothing personal that I have towards people who do not believe in the Catholic Church but I can only say that beliefs which contradict what the Church has always taught are not correct. Now the question is do people even search for the truth. Someone who does not even believe in God does great violence to his reason for the existence of God can be known through the use of reason. Those who believe in some type of “force” whether they call it “mother nature” or what not, although they are being more logical than the atheist are a bit confused. This “force” or whatever they call it must of necessity be a personal intelligence because of the great complexity and order in the universe. (I am not talking about "intelligent design" I am not even sure how it is used by some) I am not too knowledgeable about natural selection so I cannot really say much about it but all I will say is that the soul that exists in the human species must have been created by God since it is a spiritual substance and cannot come out of nowhere. Christ wants all to come to a knowledge of the truth hence Catholics pray that all may come into His fold but this must be done with mercy and compassion but without watering down what Christ teaches through His Church. Simply put, the Catholic must have a supernatural love for non-Catholics.
3. What do you think will be the consequence of people who do not believe in jesus christ as a lord, or doubt his existence in the first place for that matter?
If someone dies in a state of disbelief in Jesus Christ’s Divinity they will not enter the kingdom of Heaven. I did not make this up but Christ Himself said it many times in the Gospels:
“He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.” (Matthew, 12:30)
“If you love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)
“He that hath my commandments and keepeth them: he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father: and I will love him and will manifest myself to him.” (John 14:21)
“If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love: as I also have kept my Father’s commandments and do abide in his love.” (John 15:10)
“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned.” (Mark 16:16)
There are other passages which show the same.
The key though is that this condemnation is due to someone’s willful rejection of Christ. God gives sufficient grace for all to be saved, if someone refuses those graces he will be condemned. God wants us to freely come to him and does not force wills. If God has revealed Himself in a certain way doesn’t it follow that He must be followed accordingly?
4. What do you think of the muslims, jews, Hindus, and other? do you think they belong to religions that were sent by god like christianity? or do you think they are gone astray and in need of some missionary work?
As individuals I love those in the above mentioned religions but obviously their doctrines are at odds with Catholicism. God cannot be the author of all these religions for it does not make any sense. If I say God is x, y, and z, and someone else says that He is a, b, and c, and they are saying two totally different things then they cannot possibly be the same. What do I think of Muslims? I want to reiterate I have nothing against Muslims as people but their beliefs I can never accept. There are indeed similarities between Islam and Christianity but the one key difference concerns the very nature of Jesus Christ. Islam says that Jesus did not die on a cross, that He was replaced by someone else (correct me if I am wrong) while Christianity says that He willfully died on the Cross for our Redemption. This is a huge difference!! There are a thousand other differences. Same with Judaism which has never accepted Jesus Christ, and with Hinduism which teaches a plurality of gods, or even if you say they believe in one central god they believe in “sub-gods”, and their idea of reincarnation clearly contradicts the Christian notion of the uniqueness of each individual soul. And their idea of mercy for souls is quite at odds with Christian charity. All these religions cannot possibly have God as their author. So yes, they have gone astray which is why the Catholic Church has always stressed missionary work.
5. Do you believe in hell and heaven, and if so, who will go to hell and who will go to heaven?
Yes, it is quite simple. God rewards the good and punishes the evil because God is just. You ask “who will go to hell and who will go to heaven”. Frankly I don’t know if you want me to start pointing fingers. Only God knows. However God has clearly specified how He is to be worshipped. I understand many people believe in heaven but very few people believe in hell as if hell contradicts the goodness of God. God is not some tyrant who gets a chuckle out of sending people to hell. As I said before, God gives sufficient grace for all to be saved. He does not desire anyone to be damned. Yet if anyone has the grave misfortune of spending an eternity in hell they will know exactly why they were sent there. I should be more specific in laying down a statement I made before on Jason’s blog http://mindlessravings777.blogspot.com/2005/08/salvation-of-non-catholics-by-alex.html but the Church teaches that “outside the Church there is no salvation” and this follows from the premise that Christ established one Church, the Catholic Church [although I know many would disagree with this, I am only stating what the Church teaches]. There are some distinctions that have to be made for this dogma, a dogma which every Catholic has to believe but you can check Jason’s blog to see what I said regarding that dogma. Since I had this quote handy I shall just let you read what one of the Pope had to say about this dogma. Pope Pius IX (Quanto conficiamur moerore):

And here, Our Beloved Sons and Venerable Brethren, We must mention and reprove a most serious error into which some Catholics have fallen, imagining that men living in errors and apart (alienos) from the true faith and from the Catholic unity can attain to eternal life. This, of course, is completely opposed to Catholic doctrine. It is known to Us and to you that those who labor in invincible ignorance of our most holy religion, and who, carefully observing the natural law and its precepts which God has inscribed in the hearts of all, and who, being ready to obey God, live an honest and upright life, can, through the working of the divine light and grace, attain eternal life, since God, who clearly sees, inspects, and knows the minds, the intentions, the thoughts, and the habits of all, will, by reason of His goodness and kindness, never allow anyone who has not the guilt of willful sin to be punished by eternal suffering. But it is a perfectly well known Catholic dogma that no one can be saved outside the Catholic Church, and that those who are contumacious against the authority of that same Church, and who are pertinaciously separated from the unity of that Church and from Peter's successor, the Roman Pontiff, to whom the custody of the vineyard has been entrusted by the Saviour, cannot obtain eternal salvation.

God forbid, however, that the children of the Catholic Church should in any way ever be the enemies of those who are in no way joined to us in the same bonds of faith and of charity. But let them [the Catholics] rather strive always to take care of these people when they [those outside the Church] are poor or sick or afflicted by any other ills. Primarily, let them strive, to take these people out of the darkness of error in which they unfortunately live, and bring them back to the Catholic truth and to the loving Mother Church that never ceases to hold out its maternal hands affectionately to them, and to call them back to its embrace so that, established and strengthened in faith, hope, and charity, and bringing forth fruit in every good work, they may attain eternal salvation.

Now I could have easily given you short answers but the Catholic faith has a rich theology even so I did not do justice to those answers. Anyway I hope this helps. Ultimately salvation is a gift from God that the individual must work towards and must freely want. No one can force someone to accept the Catholic faith for if they do so it is not a free act. God wants us to freely love Him.