characteristics of religious diversity

It is hard to see, then, how his theory enables one to be, as Hick claimed to be, a pluralistic Christian, given that one has replaced the diagnosis and cure of Christianity with those of Hicks pluralism. (Sharma 1999, ch. same? 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. 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. ), 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. 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, First, we have the protected characteristics, such as race, age, gender and sexual orientation. Following these same steps, our second . These objects of religious experience are mind-dependent, in that they depend for their existence, in part, on people with certain religious backgrounds. 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. 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. He applies the Mahayana doctrine of the three bodies of the Buddha to other religions. Smith holds that in former ages, and among primitive peoples now, such a worldview is near universal. 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. An ethnic group refers to people who are closely related to each other through characteristics such as culture, language, and religion. 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. His critics, he argues, are merely asserting without reason that there cannot be a transcategorial reality. 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. This was a polemic against non-Mahayana versions of Buddhist dharma (teaching). This account is narrower than pluralism is usually thought to be, but it is arguably a version of it. An increasingly prominent and potentially contentious phenomenon, religious diversity is intimately associated with contemporary issues such as migration, human rights, social cohesion, socio-cultural pluralisation, political jurisdiction, globalisation, and reactionary . Diversity also includes characteristics such as professional skills, working style, location, and life experiences. Contrary to widespread depictions of religious blocs of uniform practices, values and concerns, it is essential to emphasize the plurality of . (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. That's why religious diversity is so important. 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. 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. If the core is salvifically effective practice, then all will be equal in that each is equally well a means to obtaining the cure. (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. It is impossible that all three experiences are veridical. His theory is at least superficially clear, and is rooted in his own spiritual journey. It is not Reasonable to Believe that Only One Religion is True., Cohn-Sherbok, Dan. religion or belief. (Hick 1995, ch. Subjectively, those other people have similar grounds for belief. 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. 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. But Heims theory does not require them to be, but only that they occur and may be plausibly thought of as fulfilling to those who have them. 7). (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. Given that any core pluralism inevitably downplays the other non-core elements of the religions, this approach has also been called reductive pluralism. (Legenhausen 2006), The most influential recent proponent of a version of core pluralism has been Huston Smith. (Sedgwick 2004) Like traditional religions, it too offers a diagnosis of the human condition and a cure. Now that the time is right, the truth may be told, that is, Mahayana doctrine, superseding the old. (Hasker 2011) At first Hick evades the issue of polytheism by describing his theory not as a kind of polytheism, but rather as poly-something. He then suggests that two views of the personae are compatible with his theory: that they are mental projections, or that they are real, but angel- or deva like beings, intermediaries and not really gods. 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. What sense, for instance, would it make for a Zen Buddhist to undergo the Catholic rites of confession and penance? In contrast, any non-pluralist theory of religious diversity is associated with many arguably bad qualities. (OConnor 1999) This exclusivism is compatible with both exclusivism and inclusivism in this article. Diversity, Divisions, Religion, Caste, Secularism, News, Theocratic states, Terrorism, Fundamentalism, Extremism, Congress, BJP, Communism. 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. 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. Such would be the work of a religiously embedded and committed theology of religious diversity, not of a general philosophy of religious diversity. (Dupuis 2000, 165-170) A key area of disagreement is whether or not these imply that a person may be saved by means of their participation in some other religion. Moreover, it seems a necessary truth that if the concept personal doesnt apply to the Real, then the concept non-personal must apply to it. And secondly, we have all the different: Experiences Talents Skills Opinions Personalities These differences, for example employees' talents, are less obvious and require the organization's effort and proactiveness to shine. race. 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. Spiritual and Religious Diversity Religious and spiritual beliefs can be a personal determinant of enablement. These are the undisputed facts of religious diversity. It can be argued that Abe is an inclusivist, maintaining that Buddhism is the best religion, rather than a true pluralist. 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. 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. If the core is veridical experiences, all religions will enable ways to perceive whatever the objects of religious experience are. It is also allowed that each major religion really does deliver the cure it claims to (for example, salvation and heaven, Nirvana, Moksha), and is entitled to operate by its own moral and epistemic values. This is not compatible with his thesis that Vishnu and others are phenomena of the Real, that is, culturally conditioned ways that the Real appears to us. By contrast, the Real in itself, that is, the Ultimate Reality as it intrinsically is, is never experienced by anyone, but is only hypothesized as overall the most reasonable explanation of the facts of religious diversity. 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. (Dupuis 2001, 86-9), However, what about Jews, pagans, unbaptized babies, or people who never have a chance to hear the Christian message? Worldwide, more than eight-in-ten people identify with a religious group. This type of diversity refers to the presence of multiple religions and spiritual beliefs (including lack thereof) in the workplace. 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. If the core is true teachings, theyll all be true (to some degree). (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. At bare minimum, the slogan that all religions are true means that all religions are in some way directed towards one Truth, where this is understood as an ultimate reality. It offers a fall from primordial spirituality into modern spiritual poverty, cured by adopting the outlook sketched above. Further, it is really Creativity that is ultimate, and it is embodied in and does not exist apart from or as an object in addition to God and the Cosmos. While elements within it have been sectarian and exclusivistic, modern Hindu thought is usually pluralistic. Here we can survey only a few of the criticisms that have been made. The term exclusivist was originally a polemical term, chosen in part for its negative connotations. (Dupuis 2000, 91-2). 2-4; Meeker 2003), Hicks identist religious pluralism has been objected to as thoroughly as any recent theory in philosophy. 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. John Cobbs Whiteheadian Complementary Pluralism., Hasker, William. (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. 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. (Legenhausen 2002) Those who believe the ultimate reality to be a unique god object to Smiths view that the ultimate reality is ineffable, and so not, in itself, a god. One idea is that all religions would turn out to be parts of one whole (either one religion or at least one conglomeration of religions). U. S. A. For example, a religious group may function only to satisfy the desires of its founder, discourage the worship of God, encourage the sexual abuse of children, or lead to the damnation of its members. 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. (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. The Politics and Practice of Religious Diversity engages with one of the most characteristic features of modern society. 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. 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. (Netland 2001; Burton 2010). 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. (Abe 1985). (Hick 1997). Hicks claim that no human concept applies to the Ultimate Reality has been criticized by many, whove pointed out that Hick applies these concepts to it: being one, being ultimate, being a partial cause of the impersonae and personae, and being ineffable. The exclusivist-inclusivist-pluralist trichotomy has become standard since the 1980s. A similar pluralism is advanced by Japanese Zen scholar Masao Abe (1915-2006). These are called protected characteristics. Monotheistic religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam agree that there is a sole God. While there are other sorts of negative naive pluralism, we shall concentrate on positive kinds here, as most of the scholarly literature focuses on those. In other words, this Ultimate Reality, due to the various qualities of human minds, appears to various people as personae, such as God, the Trinity, Allah, Vishnu, and also as impersonae such as Emptiness, Nirvana, Nirguna Brahman, and the Dao. Heim suggests that those who attain Nirvana would be, from a Christian perspective, either a subgroup of the saved or of the damned, depending on just what, metaphysically, is actually going on with such people. 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. Further, it respects and does not try to eliminate all these differences, and so makes genuine dialogue between members of the religions possible. Religious Diversity and its Challenges to Religious Belief.. marriage and civil partnership. Or are those gods mere fictions? (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. 2013, 268-72) Third, religions differ in how much, if at all, they make empirically verifiable claims, so it is unclear that all religions will be equal in making meaningless claims. 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. Judaism and Other Faiths., Datta, Narendra [Swami Vivekananda]. Of adult Americans, 89% believe in God, down slightly from 2007. Perhaps these are the angels, devas, and heavenly Buddhas of the religions, great but nonetheless finite beings. (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. Local variations in Protestant practices and ethnic differences among the white settlers did foster a religious diversity. The unaffiliated represent close to 5%. (Heim 1995, 7). They hope that each religion can, while remaining distinct, begin to construct global theologies, influenced by the truths and values of other religions. How could a perfect being fail to be available to all people in all the religions? And how can the ultimist pluralist demand such changes? (McDermott and Netland 2014) Other Protestants choose forms of inclusivism similar to Rahners (see 4b below). Finally, some authors use descriptive religious pluralism to mean what is here called religious diversity, calling normative religious pluralism views that are here called varieties of religious pluralism. While the trichotomy has been repeatedly challenged, it is still widely used, and can be precisely defined in various ways. In contrast, exclusivist approaches say that only one religion is uniquely valuable. 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. In other contexts, religious pluralism is a normative principle requiring that peoples of all or most religions should be treated the same. This, it is hoped, rules out anyone having grounds for believing any particular religion to be the uniquely best religion. Legenhausen, Hajj Muhammad [Gary Carl] Why I am not a Traditionalist. 2002. In modern times, it tries to equalize other religions in the same ways it equalizes the apparently contrary claims and practices internal to it. The degree of religious diversity in the US is also reflected in Americans' core social networks. Colour includes, for example, being black or white. This is an inclusivist view about getting the cure, and about central religious truths. 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. 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. 2013, 333-40) Theologically liberal Protestants most often hold on to some form of religious pluralism. (Dupuis 2001; Burton 2010), Historically, Jewish intellectuals have usually adopted an inclusivist rather than an exclusivist view about other religions. 2; see section 3c below). It attracted widespread discussion and criticism, and Hick has engaged in a spirited debate with all comers. Facts and Theories of Religious Diversity, Abe, Masao. (Sometimes, however, Hick makes the weaker claim that were unable to pick any religion as best at effecting this transformation.) There are other major ones which remain unseen. Immigrant Asians were slightly more likely than U.S.-born Asians to be homeowners in 2019 (60% vs. 56%). Finally, Cobb and Griffin emphasize that this approach does not endorse any unreasonable form of relativism and, as such, allows one to remain distinctively Christian or Buddhist and so forth. It has always been recognized by people outside the smallest and most isolated communities. 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. Nor can he be fruitful and multiply while living as a celibate Buddhist monk. This position cannot be self-consistently maintained. 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. Equally, Advaita Vedanta Hindus must let go of their insistence on Nirguna Brahman as ultimate. 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. Attending a culturally diverse institute of education will prepare students for their future in a workplace. Exclusivism, Inclusivism, Pluralism: The Tripolar Typology Clarified and Reaffirmed., Sharma, Arvind. It is a mistake, Abe holds, to regard any god as ultimate, and monotheists must revise their understanding as above, if true inter-religious dialogue and peace are to be achievable. Yet other religious mystics perceive the Cosmos, that is, the totality of finite things (the body of the World Soul). Email: filosofer@gmail.com 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. 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. An uninformed person, noting certain commonalities of religious belief and practice, may suppose that all religions are the same, namely, that there are no significant differences between religious traditions. 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. Some characteristics of religion are the worship of gods or prophets, beliefs in a system of norms and values, symbology or places of worship. Hinduism., de Cea, Abraham Vlez. 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. People over age 40 are more likely to identify with a religion or engage in religious practices. 3. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world, including the U.S. 70% of Americans attend a religious service monthly. 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. Dale Tuggy (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. 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. Facts and Theories of Religious Diversity 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.

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