How to deal with “those others” is a perennial question. At one end of the spectrum is Jesus’ initial response to the pagan woman. His mission, he asserted, was to the lost sheep of Israel. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” At the other end of the spectrum you have Solomon treating all the gods as of equal value to Yahweh, the God of Israel. His logic seems to be that the differences are incidental. Jesus eventually finds the divine middle ground — yes, difference in belief matter but every human being is the same, a child of God and precious in God’s sight.
