Actually, they don’t. Take the Catholic faith, for example. I was a Catholic School kid. We were taught that the only way the Church could guarantee salvation was the only way it knew–the way Christ taught and what Christ promised. Therefore, they couldn’t advise people they would be just fine being Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, non-Catholic because the Church could NOT make promises for those other beliefs. What it could do is say that when the Church fails to reach all or anyone, everyone is in the hands of a merciful God, and let it go at that.
The Catholic faith has worked for me as the foundation and jumping off place. But the Church can only do so much. As Theresa of Avila (another lifelong Catholic) put it in her book The Interior Castle the Church can meet people on the front step of the Castle, and welcome one into the foyer and perhaps even into the first room of many on that first level. The other six levels are up to the individual.
Think of it this way. If you lived in a castle and all your favorite rooms were on the upper levels, does that mean you should never step foot on the first floor or in the entry way again?
