(Smith 1992, 2003 ch. It is not Reasonable to Believe that Only One Religion is True., Cohn-Sherbok, Dan. John Cobbs Whiteheadian Complementary Pluralism., Hasker, William. Another view which is taken by Bible-oriented evangelical Protestants allows the possibility of non-Christians receiving saving grace, but is firmly agnostic as to whether this actually occurs, and if it does, how often, because of the paucity of relevant biblical statements. pregnancy and maternity. (Hick 1995, ch. (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. Dissenters are found among historians of religion, who deny that there is and has always been a common core in all of the worlds religions. (Smart 1996) Religious traditions differ along all these dimensions. Attending a culturally diverse institute of education will prepare students for their future in a workplace. But one may talk also of negative religious pluralism in which most or all religions have little or no positive value and are equal in this respect. 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. 1928) and Paul Knitter (b. He applies the Mahayana doctrine of the three bodies of the Buddha to other religions. 2; see section 3c below). It has been objected that this theory is not promising because it is hard to see how we could ever have sufficient evidence for some of its claims, while others are implausible in light of the evidence we do have. 1950) proposes what he calls a true religious pluralism, which is nonetheless best understood as a version of inclusivism, as it allows its proponent to maintain the superiority of her own religion. gender reassignment. (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. Spiritual and Religious Diversity Religious and spiritual beliefs can be a personal determinant of enablement. Beyond this is infinite, unlimited Being (also called Absolute Truth, the True Reality, the Absolute, God). Hick doesnt argue for the salvific or cure-delivering equality of all religions. 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. Diversity and discrimination religion or belief. Still, given that Muhammad is the seal of the prophets, his teachings and practices should, and some day will supersede all previous ones. 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. This view has not been widely accepted because the Process theology and philosophy on which it is based has not been widely accepted. Diversity can include characteristics such as cultural background and ethnicity, age, gender, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, language and education. With the split of the catholic movement into Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox branches, the church was understood in Western contexts to be specifically the Roman Catholic church. Diversity of religion and spiritual beliefs - Racism. No Way! Similarly, in Christianity, one must realize that ones self is a sinner in need of Gods grace. A Primer on Diversity - Resources 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. Monotheistic religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam agree that there is a sole God. If, for example, in his view Allah, Vishnu, and Yahweh are all real and distinct, is Hick thereby committed to polytheism? (Heim 1995, 154-5, 161) This is an important qualifier, as various religious goals clearly presuppose contrary claims. Smith holds that in former ages, and among primitive peoples now, such a worldview is near universal. Differing people, perspectives, topics, ideas, etc. Email: filosofer@gmail.com (Hick 2004; Quinn and Meeker 2000) Hicks approach is original, thorough, and informed by a broad and deep knowledge of many religions. 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. Research on religious diversity has found that when the percentage of a dominant religion and religious diversity are both included, the proportion of the dominant religion is an arithmetic component of the religious diversity measure (Chaves and Gorski 2001; Olson 1999), resulting in a misspecified model. Such a person is outside of the tradition, yet obtains the cure taught by the tradition. 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. al. 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. Religious Diversity - World Atlas of Global Issues - Sciences Po Most importantly, it offers a chance to discover the deep self as Being. Letters by Pius XII (r. 1939-58) declared that a by an unconscious desire and longing non-Catholics may enjoy a saving relationship with the church. Diversity is a wide array of people that come from different backgrounds, lifestyles, social experiences, races, and religions. In this article exclusivism about religious diversity denies any form of pluralism; it denies that all religions, or all major ones, are the same in some important respect. (1995, 2004) All the major religions are equal in that they (1) refer to and facilitate cognitive contact with a single, transcendent reality, (2) each offers a similarly moral- and eternal-oriented cure, and (3) each includes revisable and incomplete accounts of this transcendent reality. (Long 2011) Still, some Hindus object to various kinds of pluralism. Heim suggests that we should instead assume that other religions both pursue and achieve real and distinct religious salvations (goals or ends). 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. 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. What about the religions practices are they all complementary? 2013, 333-40) Theologically liberal Protestants most often hold on to some form of religious pluralism. While this is compatible with some religion being the best in some other respect(s), the theorists using this label have in mind that many religions are equal regarding the central value(s) of religion. Exclusivism, Inclusivism, Pluralism: The Tripolar Typology Clarified and Reaffirmed., Sharma, Arvind. 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. Asians have a lower homeownership rate than the U.S. public overall (59% vs. 64%). Although many traditional Protestant Christians hold some form of exclusivism, others favor an inclusivism much like Rahners. In response to his claims that non-pluralistic religious believers are being arrogant, irrational, or arbitrary in believing that one religion (theirs) is the most true one, it has been pointed out that Hick too, as a religious pluralist, holds views which are inconsistent with many or most religions, seemingly preferring his own insights or experiences to theirs, which would, by Hicks own lights, be just as arrogant, irrational, or arbitrary. 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. For example, millennials, GenZers and GenXers can coexist in the same workplace. 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. Among young adults (age 18 to 29), the most common religious identity today is none; more than one in three (34 percent) young adults are religiously unaffiliated. RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY. (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. However, he thought that it is arbitrary and indefensible to hold that only ones own experiences or the experiences of those in ones group are veridical, while those of people in other religions are not. Diversity, Divisions, Religion, Caste, Secularism, News, Theocratic states, Terrorism, Fundamentalism, Extremism, Congress, BJP, Communism. Nationality includes, for example, being a British, Jamaican or Pakistani citizen. (Dupuis 2001, 170-9; Neuner and Dupuis 2001, 350-1). Theorists nearly always loosen the requirement with regard to what they view as the one most true and/or most effective religion. (Mawson 2005), Historically, Buddhist thought about other religions has almost never been pluralistic. One of Lucy's patients is a Buddhist man whose family immigrated from China before he was born. The Politics and Practice of Religious Diversity engages with one of the most characteristic features of modern society. If a religion cures only a shallow, derivative human problem, leaving the deeper problem intact, then what it offers would not deserve the name salvation, for it would leave those who achieve it still in need of the cure. The exclusivist-inclusivist-pluralist trichotomy has become standard since the 1980s. Religious Pluralism., Schmidt-Leukel, Perry. All the major religions, then, are really oriented towards, and involve the experience of some reality regarded as ultimate (Creativity, God, or Cosmos). What Is Cultural Diversity And Why Is It Important? - University of the 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. Hick realizes the incoherence of dubbing all religions true, for they have core teachings that conflict, and most religions are not shy about pointing out such conflicts. (For others see Hick 2004, Introduction.). Later on, Hick firmly settled on the view that this Real should be thought of as ineffable. 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. What do we mean by Race, Ethnicity and Diversity? - Kansas State University 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. (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. (Legenhausen 2006), Other objections have been centered on the status of Hicks personae. 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. This celestial plane is a personal God. 4. These qualities include but are not limited to: being humble, reasonable, kind, broad-minded, open-minded, informed, cosmopolitan, modern, properly appreciative of difference, non-bigoted, tolerant, being opposed to proselytizing (attempts to convince those outside the religion to convert to it), anti-colonialist, and anti-imperialist. What values are at issue? But Stenmarks some-are-equally-right view can also be seen as a form of core pluralism, the core being truths about the one God and our need for relationship with God. Equality, diversity and inclusion in the Workplace - CIPD Catholics are exhorted to patient, friendly dialogue with members of other religions. 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. 1939), have formulated various pluralist theories. (King, 2008; Rowe 1999; Yandell 1999) In response, Hick concedes that some concepts, formal ones, can be applied to the Real, while substantial ones cannot. Thus, it has been observed that identist religious pluralism (see 2e below) is essentially a Hindu position, and closely resembles Advaita Vendanta thought. It is difficult to make a fully clear distinction between exclusivist and inclusivist approaches. Immigrant Asians were slightly more likely than U.S.-born Asians to be homeowners in 2019 (60% vs. 56%). (Burton 2010), In much religious studies, theology, and philosophy of religion literature of the 1980s through the 2000s, the term religious pluralism means the theory of philosopher John Hick. Finally, inclusivist theories try to steer a middle course by agreeing with exclusivism that one religion has the most value while also agreeing with pluralism that others still have significant religious value. It is here described as Identist pluralism because his theory claims that people in all the major religions interact with one and the same transcendent reality, variously called God, the Real, and the Ultimate Reality., Hick viewed religious belief as rationally defensible, and held that one may be rational in trusting the veridicality of ones religious experiences. They can also influence components of enablement. Diversity in religion is one of the world's strengths, not one of its weaknesses. This is an inclusivist view about getting the cure, and about central religious truths. (Neuner and Dupuis 2001, 309-10) It also seems to close the door to non-standard routes to church membership, saying that never was anyone, conceived by a man and a woman, liberated from the devils dominion except by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. (Tanner 1990, 575) Non-Catholics will go into the everlasting fireunless they are joined to the catholic church before the end of their livesnobody can be saved, no matter how much he has given away in alms and even if has shed his blood in the name of Christ, unless he has persevered in the bosom and the unity of the catholic church. (Tanner 1990, 578), This exclusivistic or rigorist way of understanding the slogan, on which only the Roman Catholic church could provide the cure needed by all humans, was the most common Catholic stance on religious diversity until mid-nineteenth century. 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. 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. 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. Even a Mahayana Buddhist may have a lot of adjusting to do, if she is to admit that believers in a personal God really do experience the greatest entity, and something which is not separate from Emptiness. (Sedgwick 2004) Like traditional religions, it too offers a diagnosis of the human condition and a cure. While elements within it have been sectarian and exclusivistic, modern Hindu thought is usually pluralistic. If the core is veridical experiences, all religions will enable ways to perceive whatever the objects of religious experience are. 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. 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. This position cannot be self-consistently maintained. A plurality of different religions, major and minor, exist in the world, each believing different things. 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. The Global Religious Landscape | Pew Research Center Has Normative Religious Pluralism a Rationale?. (Griffin 2005a) They do, however, take seriously at least many of the unusual religious experiences people report. 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. Legenhausen, Hajj Muhammad [Gary Carl] Why I am not a Traditionalist. 2002. 7; Griffin 2005b). It is only modern people who are blinded by the misunderstanding that science reveals all, who have forgotten it. (Byrne 2004; Feuerbach 1967). Yet other religious mystics perceive the Cosmos, that is, the totality of finite things (the body of the World Soul). We should respect freedom of religion by rejecting the kinds of false and damaging claims that are sometimes made about religion, especially Islam. For example, in Theravada Buddhism, one must realize that there is no self, whereas in Advaita Vedanta Hinduism one must gain awareness that ones true self is none other than the ultimate reality, Brahman. Legenhausen, Hajj Muhammad [Gary Carl]. The formation and development of religious diversity is a manifestation of the free expression of human thought, belief, and practice, as well as a historical premise and ideological condition for the gradual recognition and integration of modern religions into modern political values. (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. (Cohn-Sherbok 2005). No Wasted Journey: A Theological Autobiography., Stenmark, Mikael. Religious Diversity Around The World | Pew Research Center These negative qualities include but are not limited to: being arrogant, unreasonable, mean, narrow-minded, closed-minded, uninformed, provincial, out of date, xenophobic, bigoted, intolerant, in favor of proselytism, colonialist, and imperialist. 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. Other Buddhists experience Amida Buddha, while Christians experience Christ, and Jews Yahweh, Hindus Isvara, and Muslims Allah. This sort of pluralism, following Gunon and Schuon, has been championed by Iranian philosopher Seyyed Hossein Nasr (b.
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characteristics of religious diversity