1933) and English convert to Islam, Martin Lings (1909-2005) who was a biographer of Muhammad. People over age 40 are more likely to identify with a religion or engage in religious practices. It is impossible that all three experiences are veridical. [This entry examines the origins and differing patterns of development of the world's major religious traditions, as well as the varying patterns of interaction between these religions and the social, political, and economic frameworks with which they coexist. (Long 2005) The slogan may also imply that all religions feature veridical experience of that one object, by way of a non-cognitive, immediate awareness. All religions are equal? Buddhism has long been very doctrinally diverse, and many schools of Buddhism argue that theirs is the truest teaching or the best practice, while other versions of the dharma are less true or less conducive to getting the cure, and have now been superseded. Thus, for example, the earliest Buddhist and Christian sources prominently feature staunch criticisms of various rival teachings and practices as, respectively, false and useless or harmful. (McDermott and Netland 2014) Other Protestants choose forms of inclusivism similar to Rahners (see 4b below). This celestial plane is a personal God. Several caveats must be issued when observing religions across the world prior to describing the demographic characteristics of large religious groupings and highlighting their internal diversity. Thus, the Hindu intellectual Ram Mohun Roy (1772/4-1833) held that Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity, when understood in their original, non-idolatrous and non-superstitious ways, all teach the important truths about God and humankind, enabling humans to love and serve God. Subjectively, those other people have similar grounds for belief. Contrary to widespread depictions of religious blocs of uniform practices, values and concerns, it is essential to emphasize the plurality of . 1) Race as a negative social construct: physical appearance is used to discriminate, to exclude, to exploit, to abuse, and/or to profile, as in educational systems, traffic and criminal systems, housing and banking/mortgage lending, and medical care. (Datta 2005; Morales 2008) It has been argued that whether and how a Hindu embraces a theory of religious pluralism will depend crucially on what she takes Hinduism to be. (Dupuis 2000, 91-2). Religious Pluralism., Schmidt-Leukel, Perry. This diversity is increasing, even in communities that have previously been relatively homogeneous. Similarly, in Christianity, one must realize that ones self is a sinner in need of Gods grace. Cobb and Griffin assume that there is no supernatural intervention (any miraculous interruption of the ordinary course of nature) by God or other beings. Some Buddhist texts teach that there can be a solitary Buddha (pratyekabuddha), a person who has gained enlightenment by his own efforts, independently of Buddhist teaching. (Sharma 1990) This modern Hindu outlook has proven difficult to formulate in any clear way. (Plantinga 1999, 288-303), Subsequent papal statements have moved cautiously in Rahners direction, affirming the work of the Holy Spirit not only in the people in other religions, but also in those religions themselves, so that in the practice of what is good in those religions, people may respond to Gods grace and be saved, unbeknownst to them, by Christ. However, his theory seems to depend crucially on the existence of many human problems, each of which may be solved by participation in some religion or other. In this and in a later book Heim asserts that such a plurality of ordained religious goals is implied by the doctrine of the Trinity. It is more real than all that comes from it. Another way in which pluralism can be naive is the common assumption that absolutely all religions are good in significant ways, for example, by improving their adherents lives, facilitating interaction with God, or leading to eternal salvation. Such theologians, prominently Hans Kng (b. Local variations in Protestant practices and ethnic differences among the white settlers did foster a religious diversity. Nor can he be fruitful and multiply while living as a celibate Buddhist monk. Early bishop Ignatius of Antioch (c. 35-107) writes that if any follow a schismatic [that is, the founder of a religious group outside of the bishop-ruled catholic mainstream] they will not inherit the Kingdom of God. (Letter of Ignatius to the Philadelphians 3:3) Leading catholic theologian Origen of Alexandria (c. 186-255) wrote: outside the Church no one is saved. (Dupuis 2001, 86-7) Yet Origen also held, at least tentatively, that eventually all rational beings will be saved. Later on, Hick firmly settled on the view that this Real should be thought of as ineffable. Scholars distinguish seven aspects of religious traditions: the doctrinal and philosophical, the mythic and narrative, the ethical and legal, the ritual and practical, the experiential and emotional, the social and organizational, and the material and artistic. Another, without saying that people may be saved through membership in them, affirms various positive values in other religions, including true teachings, which serve as divinely ordained preparations for reception the gospel. Such would be the work of a religiously embedded and committed theology of religious diversity, not of a general philosophy of religious diversity. The term exclusivist was originally a polemical term, chosen in part for its negative connotations. A common form of negative pluralism may be called verificationist pluralism. This is the view that all religious claims are meaningless, and as a result are incapable of rational evaluation. The Politics and Practice of Religious Diversity engages with one of the most characteristic features of modern society. One goes so far as to say that the Holy Spirit offers to all [humans] the possibility of being associated, in a way known to God, with the Paschal Mystery [that is, the saving death and resurrection of Jesus]. (Gaudium et Spes 22, quoted in Dupuis 2001, 162) Some Catholic theologians see the groundwork or beginning in these documents for an inclusivist theory, on which other religions have saving value. The Epistemological Challenge of Religious Pluralism., Ignatius of Antioch, The Letter of Ignatius to the Philadelphians, in, King, Nathan. Legenhausen, Hajj Muhammad [Gary Carl] Why I am not a Traditionalist. 2002. No Wasted Journey: A Theological Autobiography., Stenmark, Mikael. (Neuner and Dupuis 2001, 329), Since the Vatican II council (1962-5), many Catholic theologians have embraced what most philosophers will consider some form of inclusivism rather than a suitably qualified exclusivism, with a minority opting for some sort of pluralism. There are even cases of Buddhists seeking to turn devotees of other religions traditions into anonymous Buddhists who worship Buddhist deities without realizing that this is the case. (Burton 2010, 11), Forming his views by way of a detailed critique of various core and identist pluralist theories, Baptist theologian S. Mark Heim (b. On the other hand, many theorists want to adopt the friendly and broad-minded sounding label pluralism for their theory, even though they clearly hold that one religion is uniquely valuable. This is because they cannot be empirically verified, that is, their truth or falsity is not known by way of observational evidence. When employees feel that they are valued and that their contributions are . All religions, then, are equal in that they are responses to the ineffable Ultimate Reality which equally wellor for all we can tell equally wellbring about an ethical improvement in humans, away from self-centeredness and towards other humans and the Ultimate Reality. In modern times, it tries to equalize other religions in the same ways it equalizes the apparently contrary claims and practices internal to it. A more inclusive and equitable workplace can lead to increased employee engagement, satisfaction, and productivity. (Dupuis 2001, 127-9) Whether these non-Catholics are thought to be in the church by a non-standard means, or whether they are said to be not in the church in reality but only in desire, it was held that they were saved by Gods grace. This sort of pluralism, following Gunon and Schuon, has been championed by Iranian philosopher Seyyed Hossein Nasr (b. 4. ), which argues that previous versions of Buddhist teaching were mere expedient means, that is, non-truths taught because in his great wisdom, the Buddha knew that at its then immature stage, humanity would be aided only by those teachings. They hope that each religion can, while remaining distinct, begin to construct global theologies, influenced by the truths and values of other religions. Literature since 1950 focuses on the truth or rationality of religious teachings, the veridicality (conformity with reality) of religious experiences, salvific efficacy (the ability to deliver whatever cure religion should provide), and alleged directedness towards one and the same ultimate religious object. Diversity refers to all of the ways in which people differ, including primary characteristics, such as age, race, gender, ethnicity, mental and physical abilities, and sexual orientation; and secondary characteristics, such as nationality, education, income, religion, work experience, language skills, geographic location, family status, The unaffiliated represent close to 5%. First, some religious claims can be empirically confirmed or disconfirmed. Hinduism., de Cea, Abraham Vlez. 3) To say that it is either, Hick realizes, would be to hand an epistemic victory to either the monotheists or the absolutists (ultimists). This led to both the questioning and the defense of various exclusivist traditional Christian claims. Smith holds that in former ages, and among primitive peoples now, such a worldview is near universal. This in some sense manifests as, acts as, and is not different from a host of Enjoyment Bodies (Sambhogakaya), each of which is a Buddha outside of space and time, a historical Buddha now escaped from samsara and dwelling in a Buddha-realm. As to religious diversity, Abe suggests that we view the dynamic activity Emptiness (also called Openness) as ultimate, and as manifesting as various Gods, that is various monotheistic deities, and Lords, which are human religious teachers, whether manifestations of a god, as in the case of Jesus, or just pre-eminent servants of a god, as with Moses or Muhammad. Dabblers and hobbyists freely stitch together unique quilts of religious beliefs and practices, but such constructions seem to make little sense once a believer has accepted any particular religion. Most religions are theistic in the sense that they posit the existence of a personal Supreme Being (God) or set of personal deities, although within some belief systems normally labeled religionsfor example, Buddhismthere is no belief in such a being. Even God, the greatest concrete, actual being in this philosophy is, in the end, an all-encompassing unity of experience, and is to be understood as a process of Creative-Responsive love. (Griffin 2005b; Cooper 2006, ch. The Many Gods of Hick and Mavrodes,, Hick, John. 2; see section 3c below). In all these ways, they argue that their ultimist pluralism is superior to other pluralisms. Particularly central to any religions teaching are its diagnosis of the fundamental problem facing human beings and its suggested cure, a way to positively and permanently resolve this problem. This seems incompatible with Heims agnosticism about which, if any, of the diagnosed problems is the fundamental one. (Netland 2001), Others object that Hicks pluralism requires arbitrarily reinterpreting religious language non-literally, and usually as having to do with morality, contrary to what most proponents of those religions believe. The historical Buddha, the man Gautama is, in this doctrine, a Transformation Body (or Apparitional Body, Nirmanakaya) of one of these, as are other Buddhas in time and space. (Hick 1982 ch. Hick doesnt argue for the salvific or cure-delivering equality of all religions. It is not hard to find religions or religious cults which would not plausibly be thought of as good in the way(s) that a pluralist has in mind. Thus Christians, for example, imagine that in prayer they interact with the ultimate, a monotheistic god, but in fact they interact with angels, and perhaps different Christians with different angels. Further, it respects and does not try to eliminate all these differences, and so makes genuine dialogue between members of the religions possible. With truth, the problem is that it is hard to see how the core claims of the religions could all be true. An improvement upon naive pluralism acknowledges differences in all the aspects of religions, but separates peripheral from core differences. These connections between theory and character which are believed by some to provide practical arguments for or objections to various theories need to be argued for. pregnancy and maternity. Again, if a Christian diagnosis is correct, that humans are alienated from and need to be reconciled to God, yet some manage to attain Nirvana, they would still lack the cure, for it is no part of Nirvana that one is reconciled to God. sexual orientation. As explained above (section 3c) a major impetus for this has been statements issued by the latest official council (Vatican II, 1962-5). (Dupuis 2001, 170-9; Neuner and Dupuis 2001, 350-1). This would be the view of many naturalists, who hold that all religions are the product of human imagination, and fail to have most or all of the values claimed for them. It is not Reasonable to Believe that Only One Religion is True., Cohn-Sherbok, Dan. (On the majority inclusivism, see section 4b below.) These, however, are mere associations; there seems to be no obvious entailments between the theories of religious diversity and the above qualities. Wide distances, poor communication and transportation, bad weather, and the clerical shortage dictated religious variety from town to town and from region to region. (Krkkinen 2003, 197-204, 309-17). Generally, a belief should affect your life choices or the way you live for it to be included in the definition. al. This baptism of desire was officially affirmed by the Roman Catholic Council of Trent in 1547. (Smart 1996) Religious traditions differ along all these dimensions. (Burton 2010; Kiblinger 2005; and section 4c below) But in modern times, some have constructed a novel and distinctively Buddhist pluralism using the Mahayana doctrine of expedient means (Sanskrit: upaya). Facts and Theories of Religious Diversity, Abe, Masao. There are three serious problems with verificationist pluralism. The context of this statement was not a discussion of the fate of non-Christians, but rather a political struggle between the pope and the king of France. Such a person is outside of the tradition, yet obtains the cure taught by the tradition. One of Lucy's patients is a Buddhist man whose family immigrated from China before he was born. (Heim 1995, 163) This is consistent with the Christian thinking that the end pursued by Christians is in fact better than all others; thus, heaven is better than Nirvana. In other contexts, religious pluralism is a normative principle requiring that peoples of all or most religions should be treated the same. Nevertheless, the homeownership rate is on the rise among Asian Americans, increasing from 53% in 2000 to 59% in 2019. 2013, 333) For instance, if Theravada Buddhism is correct that humans are trapped in the cycle of rebirth by craving and ignorance, even if one goes to a heavenly realm upon death, such as envisaged by non-Buddhist religions, one is still trapped in samsara, in this realm of suffering, albeit at a higher tier. (Mawson 2005), Historically, Buddhist thought about other religions has almost never been pluralistic. The slogan was nearly always, in the first three Christian centuries, wielded in the context of disputes with heretical Christian groups, the point being that one cant be saved through membership in such groups. There are numerous cultures in the world, understood as different visions of the cosmos , of humanity itself and of the world, with their traditions, imaginaries, languages and representations. Still other Catholic theologians have found these moves to be positive but not nearly different enough from the more pessimistic sort of exclusivism. In contrast, each of the various religions claims to have discerned the one fundamental problem facing humans, namely, the problem from which other problems derive. Diversity and discrimination Appropriating Immanuel Kants distinction between phenomena, how things appear, and noumena, things in themselves, Hick postulated that the Real is ineffable and is not directly experienced by anyone. For example, people have empirically disconfirmed claims that Jesus will visibly return to rule the earth from Jerusalem in 1974, or that magical ghost shirts will protect the wearer from bullets, or that saying a certain mantra three times will protect one from highway robbers. Stenmark views it as most similar to identist pluralism (see 2e below). These objects of religious experience are mind-dependent, in that they depend for their existence, in part, on people with certain religious backgrounds. Heim notes that pluralists like Hick insist on one true goal or salvation which is achieved by all the equally valuable religions, a goal which is proposed by the pluralist and which differs from those proposed by most of those religions. In contrast, exclusivist approaches say that only one religion is uniquely valuable. 1919) In his view, the common core of religions is a tiered worldview. Appropriating Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian language, Smith says that this spirit is the Atman that is Brahman, the Buddha-nature that appears when our finite selves get out of its way, my istigkeit (is-ness) whichwe see is Gods is-ness. (Smith 2003 ch. These three Creativity, God, Cosmos are such that none could exist without the others. State University of New York at Fredonia However, they nearly always have at least one criterion for excluding religions as inferior in the aspect(s) they focus on. (Yandell 2013), Again, it has been objected that Hick, contrary to many religions, downgrades religious practice and belief as inessential to a religion, the only important features of a religion being that it is a response to the Ultimate Reality and that it fosters the ethical transformation noted above. Diversity, Divisions, Religion, Caste, Secularism, News, Theocratic states, Terrorism, Fundamentalism, Extremism, Congress, BJP, Communism. (b. 6). Recently called restrictivism, this position insists that explicit knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ is necessary for salvation, and there is no hope for those who die without having heard the gospel. Religious diversity - differences within and between religious groups in a society - has re-entered the sociology of religion in new and powerful ways. Morales, Frank [Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya]. This sort of core pluralism was propounded by some members of the Theosophical Society such as co-founder Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-91) in her widely read The Secret Doctrine (1888), and by French convert to Sufi Islam Ren Gunon (1886-1951) and those influenced by him, such as the eclectic Swiss-German writer Frithjof Schuon (1907-98). But doesnt Christian tradition demand that each person eventually either achieves fellowship or union with God, or is irrevocably damned? (Plantinga 1999, 124-5; Neuner and Dupuis 2001, 305) Note that this might still be interpreted with or without the various non-standard ways to obtain church membership mentioned above. The religious composition and social context varies considerably by generation. This unified consistency may be hoped for in terms of truth, or in terms of practice. 1928) and Paul Knitter (b. Keywords: nation-state, religious diversity, social life, global conflicts, peace building. It offers a fall from primordial spirituality into modern spiritual poverty, cured by adopting the outlook sketched above.