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. In all these ways, they argue that their ultimist pluralism is superior to other pluralisms. 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. Since the latter twentieth century many Roman Catholic theologians have explored non-exclusivist options. Beginning in the late twentieth century, however, some Jewish thinkers have argued for pluralism along the lines of various Christian authors, revising traditional Jewish theology. No Wasted Journey: A Theological Autobiography., Stenmark, Mikael. Most importantly, it offers a chance to discover the deep self as Being. Some theorized, for instance, that a baptism of blood, that is, martyrdom, would be enough to save unbaptized catechumens. That's why religious diversity is so important. 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. Nevertheless, the homeownership rate is on the rise among Asian Americans, increasing from 53% in 2000 to 59% in 2019. 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. These objects of religious experience are mind-dependent, in that they depend for their existence, in part, on people with certain religious backgrounds. Insofar as a religion claims to possess a diagnosis of the fundamental problem facing humans and a cure, that is, a way to permanently and positively resolve this problem, it will then assume that other, incompatible diagnoses and cures are incorrect. Religious and spiritual understanding and beliefs about medicine and healthcare may support or conflict with evidence-based medicine. This view was affirmed by Pope Pius X (r. 1846-78) in his Singulari Quadam (1854): outside the Apostolic Roman Church no one can be savedOn the other handthose who live in ignorance of the true religion, if such ignorance be invincible, are not subject to any guilt in this matter before the eyes of the Lord. (Neuner and Dupuis 2001, 311). He applies the Mahayana doctrine of the three bodies of the Buddha to other religions. Later on, Hick firmly settled on the view that this Real should be thought of as ineffable. Instead, it is the view that all religions are valid, meaning that they have some degree of (some kind of) value. sex. An improvement upon naive pluralism acknowledges differences in all the aspects of religions, but separates peripheral from core differences. : a critical examination of some formulations of the Neo-Hindu position., Smith, Huston. Many have objected that Hicks pluralism is not merely a theory about religions, but is itself a competitor in the field, offering a diagnosis and cure which disagrees with those of the world religions. Some authors, usually ones who wish to celebrate these facts, call them religious pluralism, but this entry reserves this label for a family of theories about the facts of religious diversity. From African Americans to Russian Americans . Heim suggests that we should instead assume that other religions both pursue and achieve real and distinct religious salvations (goals or ends). 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. (Hick 1982 ch. How can a Theravada Buddhists accept that such a heavenly next life is a good and final end for non-Buddhists? Some have urged that it be replaced by the more neutral terms particularism or restrictivism. (Netland 2001, 46; Krkkinen 2003, 80-1) This article retains the common term because it is widespread and many have adopted the label for their own theory of religious diversity. Colour includes, for example, being black or white. While there have been Buddhist teachers and movements who have been exclusivists, in general Buddhism has been inclusivist. But doesnt Christian tradition demand that each person eventually either achieves fellowship or union with God, or is irrevocably damned? 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. 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. Though naive pluralisms are not common amongst scholars in relevant fields, they are important to mention because they are entertained by many people as they begin to reflect on religious diversity. When employees feel that they are valued and that their contributions are . (Hick 2004; Quinn and Meeker 2000) Hicks approach is original, thorough, and informed by a broad and deep knowledge of many religions. (Netland 2001; Burton 2010). 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. Some experience this Being as if it were a god, but the most able gain a non-conceptual awareness of it in its ineffable glory. 2; see section 3c below). Concept and Characteristics of Diversity: Linguistic, Regional & Religious This led to both the questioning and the defense of various exclusivist traditional Christian claims. Hick doesnt argue for the salvific or cure-delivering equality of all religions. (Hick 2011), A less developed identist pluralism is explored by Peter Byrne. The Global Religious Landscape | Pew Research Center Or what sense would it make for an Orthodox Jew, whose religion teaches him to be fruitful and multiply, to employ the Buddhist practice of viewing corpses at a burial ground so as to expunge the unwanted liability of sexual desire? 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. 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). (Prothero 2010, 13-6; Yandell 1999, 16-9), Scholarly study of a wide range of religions, and comparison and evaluation of them, was to a large extent pioneered by Christian missionaries in the nineteenth century seeking to understand those whom they sought to convert. Reimagining Religion: The 10 Qualities of Creative Communities Definition of the Religion as a Form of Diversity Essay - Free Essays Thus, it has been observed that identist religious pluralism (see 2e below) is essentially a Hindu position, and closely resembles Advaita Vendanta thought. (OConnor 1999) This exclusivism is compatible with both exclusivism and inclusivism in this article. In modern times, it tries to equalize other religions in the same ways it equalizes the apparently contrary claims and practices internal to it. 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. (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. Rather, he only argues for the equality of what he calls post-axial religions major religious traditions which have arisen since around 800 B.C.E. 3) To say that it is either, Hick realizes, would be to hand an epistemic victory to either the monotheists or the absolutists (ultimists). In this article, religious pluralism refers to a theory about the diversity of religions. Local variations in Protestant practices and ethnic differences among the white settlers did foster a religious diversity. You are protected under the Equality Act 2010 from these types of discrimination. 3. For instance, some religions teach that the ultimate reality (the most real, only real, or primary thing) is ineffable (such that no human concept can apply to it). 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. [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. What Is Religion? Defining the Characteristics of Religion race. (Mawson 2005), Historically, Buddhist thought about other religions has almost never been pluralistic. 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. Preparation For The Future If a workplace has done the necessary work, it's bound to be culturally diverse. 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. The following was edited from Brie Loskota's opening remarks at Reimagining Religion: A Conversation about the Future of Religion, held at University of Southern California on February 9, 2017.. We are in a period of flux, a period of rapid and continuous change, where the old order is being torn down, where people are disaffiliating from groups, and where institutional life is being . It attracted widespread discussion and criticism, and Hick has engaged in a spirited debate with all comers. It is impossible that all three experiences are veridical. More Empathy OConnor, Timothy. However, they nearly always have at least one criterion for excluding religions as inferior in the aspect(s) they focus on. 1939), have formulated various pluralist theories. (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. Religion and religion diversity are expressed by believers to cause strong opinions and emotions in all environments. 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. 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. Roughly, pluralistic approaches to religious diversity say that, within bounds, one religion is as good as any other. 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. We should respect freedom of religion by rejecting the kinds of false and damaging claims that are sometimes made about religion, especially Islam. 4. (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. (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. What about the religions practices are they all complementary? Protestant versions of exclusivism can be at least as strict as Augustines. Attending a culturally diverse institute of education will prepare students for their future in a workplace. 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. The 7 Main Characteristics of Religion | Life Persona (Abe 1985). (Peterson et. A Primer on Diversity - Resources 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 elements within it have been sectarian and exclusivistic, modern Hindu thought is usually pluralistic. Facts and Theories of Religious Diversity, Abe, Masao. 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 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. Further, it respects and does not try to eliminate all these differences, and so makes genuine dialogue between members of the religions possible. 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. Morales, Frank [Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya]. (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. A Cross-cultural and Buddhist-Friendly Interpretation of the Typology Exclusivism-Inclusivism-Pluralism., Griffin, David Ray. Religious diversity - differences within and between religious groups in a society - has re-entered the sociology of religion in new and powerful ways. Religious Diversity, Theories of | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy When it comes to freedom of religion, it matters how people of faith are spoken of in politics and the media. 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. The basic idea is that the inclusivist grants more of the values in question to religions other than the single best religion more truth, more salvific efficacy, more veridical experience of the objects of religious experience, more genuine moral transformation, and so forth.
characteristics of religious diversity