Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Religious Pluralism – A Need for Social Harmony

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Religious Pluralism – A Need for Social Harmony

Maybe you’ve heard the parable of the six blind men and the elephant. In this parable, six blind men feel a different part of an elephant and come to different conclusions regarding what the elephant is actually like.

One blind man grabs the tusk and says, “An elephant is like a spear!” Another feels the trunk and concludes, “An elephant is like a snake!” The blind man hugging the leg thinks, “An elephant is like a tree!” The one holding the tail claims, “An elephant is like a rope!” Another feeling the ear believes, “An elephant is like a fan!” The last blind man leaning on the elephant’s side exclaims, “An elephant is like a wall!”

This parable is often used to illustrate a view known as religious pluralism. Like the blind men, no religion has the truth. Rather, all religions are true in that they accurately describe their personal experience and the spiritual reality they encounter, given various historical and cultural backgrounds.

There are various types of religious pluralism, but one way to define it is as: “the view that all religious roads – certainly all major or ethical ones – lead to God or to ultimate reality and salvation.” This idea is commonly reflected in such statements as “All religions basically teach the same thing” or “All roads lead to the top of the mountain.”

Generally, religious pluralism refers to the belief in two or more religious worldviews as being equally valid or acceptable. More than mere tolerance, religious pluralism accepts multiple paths to God or gods as a possibility and is usually used in contrast with “exclusivism,” the idea that there is only one true religion or way to know God.

The main proponent of religious pluralism is John Hick, who argues that The Real is ineffable, or unable to be described. As each world religion attempts to describe the Real, they inevitably describe It/Him in culturally relative terms. Therefore no religion can make a claim to exclusive truth; they are all equally true.

According to Hick, Christianity is not the one and only way of salvation, but one amongst several. To a pluralist such as Hick, Christianity is not the absolute, unique and final way to God. While pluralists assert the validity of all religions, they also deny the finality of all religions. According to him, in the evolutionary scheme of things in which at isolated ages and places the early religions are succeeded by higher religions, it is the same message of God that comes distinctly to a particular group but as different from the others. Hick challenges the older view that Christ or Christianity must be seen at the centre of religions. Rather, he says, God must be seen at the center of religions. The pluralistic contention is that all religions are fundamentally the same though superficially different.

Many people regard their own denomination or faith group within their own religion to possess the totality of religious truth; they view other denominations as teaching at least some error. Other people go further, and consider other religions to be in serious error and sometimes to be in opposition to the truth.

Historically, religious exclusivism is related to the tendency of clans and tribal societies to view outsiders as inferiors, as enemies, and even as less than truly human. Tribes who make war on other tribes need to justify killing their enemies. Competition over land and resources may be the root cause of such conflicts, but tribal priests and shamans would certainly be likely to support such battles by invoking the god of one tribe against the other.

Theological exclusivists claim that their own theology is correct and contradictory claims are false. In other words, they believe Aristotle’s law of non-contradiction must extend into the realm of religious beliefs.

Theological pluralists claim that all theologies are equally correct. At the popular level, this is the belief that “what’s true for you may not be true for me.” But when I talk to people who claim to hold this view, they typically retreat to a position of theological agnostic pragmatism: since we can’t really know what is true about God, what is important is what helps you in your personal life.

Soteriological exclusivists claim that there is no salvation outside of their own religion. For many, the obvious and loathsome conclusion of this position is that large swaths of humanity will be damned eternally to hell. However, soteriological pluralists claim that salvation can be found in a plurality of religions.

Tolerance is highly cherished by pluralism. To tolerate point of view is not to believe it to be true, to agree with it; religious tolerance is not about agreeing with people from other religious traditions to our own. Rather, tolerance is about treating with respect those with whom one disagrees.

In other word, in order to tolerate a person’s beliefs, therefore, one has to disagree with them. Tolerance does not involve agreeing with people; it involves disagreeing with them but treating them respectfully anyway. There is no need to be a religious pluralist in order to be tolerant of those of other faiths.

Inclusivism is one of several approaches to understanding the relationship between religions, asserts that while one set of beliefs is absolutely true, other sets of beliefs are at least partially true. It stands in contrast to exclusivism. It is a particular form of religious pluralism.

I would like to conclude with the statement said by Jagad Guru: "Hatred and conflict are often rooted in differences between people of different races and religions. We all need to respect people of different races as well as people of different faiths and religions. We need to unite by recognizing our common desire and need for a harmonious society - a society in which we and our children and families and friends and communities can all live our lives in peace and harmony. Regardless of our race or religion, we all want and need such social harmony."

Hujjatullah Zia is an emerging writer of Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at zia_hujjat@yahoo.com .

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