Recent Islamic thinkers have independently come to conclusions parallel to those of Rahner, while critiquing various pluralist theories as entailing the sin of unbelief (kufr), the rejection of Islam. Religious Pluralism and the Some-Are-Equally-Right View., Yandell, Keith. Religious diversity - differences within and between religious groups in a society - has re-entered the sociology of religion in new and powerful ways. Facts and Theories of Religious Diversity, Abe, Masao. The gods and lords will stay at the provisional levels of truth and reality, the levels which a fully enlightened person, as it were, sees beyond. This encompasses the idea that physical reality, the terrestrial plane, is contained within and controlled by a more real intermediate plane (that is, the subtle, animic, or psychic plane) which is in turn contained and controlled by the celestial plane. Morales, Frank [Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya]. Diversity is a wide array of people that come from different backgrounds, lifestyles, social experiences, races, and religions. Since the latter twentieth century many Roman Catholic theologians have explored non-exclusivist options. In some sense these three are one, however, the Truth Body manifests or acts as various Enjoyment Bodies, which in turn manifest or act as various Transformation Bodies. Perhaps these are the angels, devas, and heavenly Buddhas of the religions, great but nonetheless finite beings. A theory of religious pluralism says that all religions of some kind are the same in some valuable respect(s). (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). The rest of the population is made up of folk religions (5.3%), Buddhists (0.6%), and Jews (.2%). It is difficult to make a fully clear distinction between exclusivist and inclusivist approaches. (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, he will not do. al. On the one hand, it is difficult to consistently distinguish inclusivism from exclusivism, because the latter nearly always concedes some significant value to other religions. The religious composition and social context varies considerably by generation. Such would be the work of a religiously embedded and committed theology of religious diversity, not of a general philosophy of religious diversity. Judaism and Other Faiths., Datta, Narendra [Swami Vivekananda]. As a result, he became convinced that basically the same thing was going on with these others religious followers as with Christians, namely, people responding in culturally conditioned but transformative ways to one and the same Real or Ultimate Reality. 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. An informed Christian must concede that Jews and Muslims too believe this, and that they teach it as a central doctrine. marriage and civil partnership. A Muslims Proposal: Non-Reductive Religious Pluralism. 2006. Similarly, in Christianity, one must realize that ones self is a sinner in need of Gods grace. (Legenhausen 2002). 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. Nor can he be fruitful and multiply while living as a celibate Buddhist monk. What sense, for instance, would it make for a Zen Buddhist to undergo the Catholic rites of confession and penance? 1919) In his view, the common core of religions is a tiered worldview. Thus, Christian exclusivists usually allow that those who die as babies, the severely mentally handicapped, or friends of God who lived before Christian times may avoid hell and attain heaven despite their not being fully-fledged, believing and practicing Christians. (Long 2005), Building on the speculative metaphysics of Alfred North Whiteheads (18611947) Process and Reality (1929), and work by his student Charles Hartshorne (1897-2000), theologians John Cobb and David Ray Griffin have advocated what the latter calls deep, differential, and complementary pluralism what is here described as ultimist. (Cooper 2006, ch. It is a matter of dispute whether certain famous Sufi Muslims such as Rumi (1207-73) and Ibn Arabi (1165-1240) have held to some form of religious pluralism. However, more recently, it has been argued that all religious doctrines, even Mahayana ones, are expedient means, helpful non-truths, ladders to be kicked away upon attainment of the cure, here understood as a non-cognitive awareness of the ultimate reality. (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. (Sharma 1990) This modern Hindu outlook has proven difficult to formulate in any clear way. From African Americans to Russian Americans . More Empathy Religious and spiritual understanding and beliefs about medicine and healthcare may support or conflict with evidence-based medicine. (Netland 2001, 23-54) Theories of religious diversity have largely been driven by attacks on and defenses of such claims, and discussions continue within the realm of Christian theology. (OConnor 1999; King 2008; Bogardus 2013), Others object that given the transcategoriality or ineffability of the Real, even with the above qualifications, there is no reason to think that interaction with the Real should be ethically beneficial, or that it should have any connection at all to any religious value. Diversity in religion is one of the world's strengths, not one of its weaknesses. Thus, famously, in a papal bull of 1302, called by its first words Unam Sanctam (that is, One Holy), Pope Boniface VIII (r. 1294-1303) declared that outside the Roman Catholic church, there is neither salvation nor remission of sins, and it is altogether necessary to salvation for every human creature to be subject to the pope. (Smart 1996) Religious traditions differ along all these dimensions. Such views are consistent with exclusivism in the sense that Roman Catholic Christianity is the one divinely provided and so most effective instrument of salvation, as well as the most true religion, and the true religion in the sense that any claim which contradicts it official teaching is false. 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, This was a polemic against non-Mahayana versions of Buddhist dharma (teaching). It can be argued that Abe is an inclusivist, maintaining that Buddhism is the best religion, rather than a true pluralist. A core pluralist claims that all religions of some kind share a common core, and that this is really what matters about the religions; their equal value is found in this common core. They hope that each religion can, while remaining distinct, begin to construct global theologies, influenced by the truths and values of other religions. 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. 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. (Dupuis 2000, 91-2). The nation's population is growing more racially and ethnically diverse - and so are many of its religious groups, both at the congregational level and among broader Christian traditions.But a new analysis of data from the 2014 Religious Landscape Study also finds that these levels of diversity vary widely within U.S. religious groups.. We looked at 30 groups - including Protestant . 4. The following are the characteristics of diversity: Linguistic Diversity Regional Diversity Religious Diversity Linguistic Diversity A typical Rabbinic view is that although non-Jews may be reconciled to God, and thus gain life in the world to come, by keeping a lesser covenant which God has made with them, still Jews enjoy a better covenant with God. Roughly, pluralistic approaches to religious diversity say that, within bounds, one religion is as good as any other. (Dupuis 2000, 161-5) Some Catholic theologians have seen the seeds or even the basic elements of inclusivism in these statements, while others view them as within the orbit of a suitably articulated exclusivism. It is far from clear that Heim is correct that this stance will be consistent with the claims of the home religion. 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. Importantly, he construes the various religious goals as experiences obtaining in this life and continuing beyond. Smith holds that in former ages, and among primitive peoples now, such a worldview is near universal. It is more real than all that comes from it. In the terms explained above, a religion claims to have a diagnosis (section 1 above). Characteristically Religious Feelings Awe, a sense of mystery, a sense of guilt, and adoration are "religious feelings" which tend to be aroused in religious believers when they come in the presence of sacred objects, in sacred places, and during the practice of sacred rituals. Such theologians, prominently Hans Kng (b. Immigrant Asians were slightly more likely than U.S.-born Asians to be homeowners in 2019 (60% vs. 56%). sex. Religion is a system of beliefs and moral norms that serve as spiritual guide for the human being; the mythology that composes them and their main characteristics vary between culture and culture. (Dupuis 2001; Meeker 2003; section 3c below) Similarly, Buddhists usually allow that a person may gain positive karma, and so a better rebirth, by the practice of various other religions, helping her to advance, life by life, towards getting the cure by means of the distinctive Buddhist beliefs and practices. If the core is veridical experiences, all religions will enable ways to perceive whatever the objects of religious experience are. In the Decree for the Copts of the General Council of Florence (1442), a papal bull issued by pope Eugene IV (r. 1431-47), for the first time in an official Roman Catholic doctrinal document the slogan was asserted not only with respect to heretics and schismatics, but also concerning Jews and pagans. 2; see section 3c below). Diversity also includes characteristics such as professional skills, working style, location, and life experiences. 3 There are many ethnic groups in the United States, due in large part to its immigrant population; each of these groups contributes to America's cultural heritage. Consider the claim that the cosmos was intentionally made. It would seem that that, for example, a Christian to accept this ultimist pluralism, she will have to reinterpret what many Christians will regard as a core commitment, namely, that the ultimate reality is personal. Some characteristics of religion are the worship of gods or prophets, beliefs in a system of norms and values, symbology or places of worship. Has Normative Religious Pluralism a Rationale?. The Religious Diversity Index is divided into four ranges: very high (the top 5% of scores), high (the next highest 15% of scores, which works out to 16% because of tie scores), moderate (the next 20% of scores) and low (the bottom 59% of scores). While such naive exclusivist positions are rarely expounded by scholars, they frequently appear in the work of pluralists and inclusivists, held up as unfortunate, harmful, and unreasonable theories which are in urgent need of replacement. While some characteristics of diversity include age, gender, the color of the skin. (Krkkinen 2003; Netland 2001) The most famous of these has been the view (held by some Christians) that all non-Christians are doomed to an eternity of conscious suffering in hell. An exclusivist stance is often signaled by the claim that there is only one true religion. Other religions, then, are false. A naive person may infer from this that no claim, or no central claim of any other religion is true, but all such are false. Influential German theologian Karl Rahner (1904-84), in his essay Christianity and the Non-Christian Religions, argues that before people encounter Christianity, other religions may be the divinely appointed means of their salvation. All the theories discussed in this article are ways that (usually religious) people regard other religions, but here we discuss them abstractly, without descending much into the details of how they would be worked out in the teachings and practices of any one religion. 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. 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. The second part contains answers to questions linked to the treatment of differences in religious education in Croatia and characteristics of teachers that can be linked to this theme. 2-4; Meeker 2003), Hicks identist religious pluralism has been objected to as thoroughly as any recent theory in philosophy. Others find it excessive that Smith accepts other traditional doctrines, such as that Platos Forms are not only real but alive, that in dreaming the subtle body leaves the body and roams free in the intermediate realm, belief in siddhis (supernatural powers gained by meditation), possession by spirits, psychic phenomena, and so on. Griffin and Cobb seem to attribute the deepest insight to those who think the ultimate reality is an impersonal, indescribable non-thing. An improvement upon naive pluralism acknowledges differences in all the aspects of religions, but separates peripheral from core differences. On the Plurality of Religious Pluralisms., Long, Jeffery D. Anekanta Vedanta: Towards a Deep Hindu Religious Pluralism., Long, Jeffery D. Universalism in Hinduism., Mawson, T.J. Byrnes religious pluralism., Meeker, Kevin. It is not Reasonable to Believe that Only One Religion is True., Cohn-Sherbok, Dan. 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. While elements within it have been sectarian and exclusivistic, modern Hindu thought is usually pluralistic. A comprehensive demographic study of more than 230 countries and territories conducted by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life estimates that there are 5.8 billion religiously affiliated adults and children around the globe, representing 84% of the 2010 world population of 6.9 billion. In the first case, a person who is killed in an accident on her way to be baptized would nonetheless be in the church. According to Pew, it has a Christian majority (52% of the population), while the other half of the population is formed by two sizeable minorities: Hindus (close to 20%) and Muslims (about 15%). Religious Pluralism., Schmidt-Leukel, Perry. Following these same steps, our second . For example, both Christians and Buddhists have adopted religious-diversity-celebrating rhetoric while clearly denying anything described above in this article as a kind of pluralism about religious diversity. (OConnor 1999) This exclusivism is compatible with both exclusivism and inclusivism in this article. Diversity recognises that everyone is different in a . With truth, the problem is that it is hard to see how the core claims of the religions could all be true. 3) The highest level in some sense is the human Spirit, the deep self which underlies the self of ordinary experience. But it is very rare for a scholar to go beyond merely assuming or asserting some sort of causal connection between the various theories about religious diversity and the above virtues and vices. This diversity is increasing, even in communities that have previously been relatively homogeneous. In Mahayana Buddhism, the ultimate reality, a formless but active non-thing, is Emptiness, or the Truth Body (Dharmakaya). John Cobbs Whiteheadian Complementary Pluralism., Hasker, William. (Hick 2004, ch. The term exclusivist was originally a polemical term, chosen in part for its negative connotations. Abes views have been criticized by other scholars as misunderstanding some other religions claims, and as privileging Mahayana Buddhist doctrines, insofar as he understands these doctrines as being truer than others. Swedish philosopher Mikael Stenmark explores what he calls the some-are-equally-right view about religious diversity, and discusses a version of it on which Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are held to possess equal amounts of religiously important truths. Among these purported facts, for Hick, is that the great religions equally well facilitate the ethical transformation of their adherents, what Hick calls a transformation from self-centeredness to other-centeredness and Reality-centeredness. It is arguably the doctrinal and philosophical aspects of a religion which are foundational, in that the other aspects can only be understood in light of them. This sort of pluralism, following Gunon and Schuon, has been championed by Iranian philosopher Seyyed Hossein Nasr (b. Later on, Hick firmly settled on the view that this Real should be thought of as ineffable. (Burton 2010). However, they nearly always have at least one criterion for excluding religions as inferior in the aspect(s) they focus on. An ethnic group refers to people who are closely related to each other through characteristics such as culture, language, and religion. This is because they cannot be empirically verified, that is, their truth or falsity is not known by way of observational evidence. Heim strenuously objects to pluralist theories that they impose uniformity on the various religions. This seems incompatible with Heims agnosticism about which, if any, of the diagnosed problems is the fundamental one. Nationality includes, for example, being a British, Jamaican or Pakistani citizen. Finally, Hick revises his view: the monotheistic gods people experience are mental projections in response to the Real, and not real selves, but since religious people really do encounter great selves in religious experience, we should posit personal intermediaries between humans and the Real, with whom religious people interact. (Byrne 2004; Feuerbach 1967). The traditional Islamic perspective is that while in one sense Islam was initiated by Muhammad (570-632 CE), Islam in the sense of submission to God was taught by all prior prophets, and so their followers were truly Muslims, that is, truly submitted to God. Worldwide, more than eight-in-ten people identify with a religious group. Religion diversity can simply refer to the development of religions that depend on the cultures. Race Race is a protected characteristic that refers to an individual's race, colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins. 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. 6). 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). At the same time, they argued that many people who are outside the one church cannot be blamed for this, and so will not be condemned by God. Although you may be nervous about broaching the subject, it is important to discuss religious diversity so . In contrast, any non-pluralist theory of religious diversity is associated with many arguably bad qualities. It is a mistake to think that the ultimate is any substantial, self-identical thing, even an ineffable one. Yet other religious mystics perceive the Cosmos, that is, the totality of finite things (the body of the World Soul). One prominent scholar argues that the neo-Hindu position on religious diversity (that is, modern Hindu pluralism) is not the view that all religions are equal, one, true, or the same. Further, Hick presupposes the correctness of recent socially liberal ethics, for example, sexual liberation, and thus rules out as inessential to any religion any conflicting ethical demands. A muted ally in this was the influential religious scholar Mircea Eliade (1907-86), whose work focused on comparing mythologies, and on what he viewed as an important, primitive religious outlook, which separates things into the sacred and the profane. 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. Thus, Augustine of Hippo (354-430) and Fulgentius of Ruspe (468-533) interpreted the slogan as implying that all non-Christians are damned, because they bear the guilt of original sin stemming from the sin of Adam, which has not been as it were washed away by baptism. Another naive exclusivist view which is rejected by most theorists is that all who are not full-fledged members of the best religion fail to get the cure. (Griffin 2005a) They do, however, take seriously at least many of the unusual religious experiences people report. Finally, because of their fit with many traditional religious beliefs and commitments, sometimes exclusivism and inclusivism are considered as two varieties of confessionalism, views on which one religion istrue andwe must view other religions in the light of that fact. (Byrne 2004, 203). A similar pluralism is advanced by Japanese Zen scholar Masao Abe (1915-2006). In principle, it would seem that an exclusivist or inclusivist may have all or most of the good qualities, and one who accepts a theory of religious pluralism may have all or most of the bad qualities. Colour includes, for example, being black or white. Still, given that Muhammad is the seal of the prophets, his teachings and practices should, and some day will supersede all previous ones. However, he maintained that people in the religions interact with it indirectly, by way of various personae and impersonae, personal and impersonal appearances or phenomena of the Real. Preparation For The Future If a workplace has done the necessary work, it's bound to be culturally diverse. 2013, 333-40) Theologically liberal Protestants most often hold on to some form of religious pluralism. A difficulty for any pluralist theory is how to restrict the group of equally good religions without losing the appearance of being all-accepting or wholly non-judgmental. First, we have the protected characteristics, such as race, age, gender and sexual orientation. This type of diversity refers to the presence of multiple religions and spiritual beliefs (including lack thereof) in the workplace. 7; Griffin 2005b). Religious diversity is the fact that there are significant differences in religious belief and practice. But these monotheists and cosmos-worshipers each take their object to be ultimate, and would deny the existence of any further back entity or non-entity, that is, of Creativity. In reply, Hick urges that his claims are not themselves religious, but are rather about religious matters, and are, as such, philosophical. 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.