characteristics of religious diversity

(Morales 2008), Within the pluralistic mainstream of Hinduism, a popular slogan is that all religions are true, but this may be an expression of almost any sort of positive religious pluralism. 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. A Dynamic Unity in Religious Pluralism: A Proposal from the Buddhist Point of View., Bogardus, Tomas. Catholics are exhorted to patient, friendly dialogue with members of other religions. Here we can survey only a few of the criticisms that have been made. Judaism is . (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. (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. (Dupuis 2000, 91-2). 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. Attending a culturally diverse institute of education will prepare students for their future in a workplace. 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. 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). Monotheists, after all, take the ultimate being to be a personal god while others, variously called ultimists, absolutists, or monists, hold the ultimate to be impersonal, such as the Dao, Emptiness, Nirguna Brahman, and so forth. Given that it is ineffable, this Being is neither a god, nor the God of monotheism. Unfortunately, it is often used with some mix of the above values in mind, leaving it unclear exactly which values are pertinent. 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. This type of diversity refers to the presence of multiple religions and spiritual beliefs (including lack thereof) in the workplace. It is difficult to make a fully clear distinction between exclusivist and inclusivist approaches. The degree of religious diversity in the US is also reflected in Americans' core social networks. Water baptism, from the beginning, had been the initiation rite into Christianity, but it was still unclear what church membership strictly required. Roy, however, always retained his Hindu and Brahmin identities. 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. Nineteenth century popes condemned Enlightenment-inspired theories of religion pluralism about truth and salvation, then called indifferentism, it being, allegedly, indifferent which major religion one chose, since all were of equal value. (Sharma 1979) But if there is no one clear modern Hindu pluralism, it remains that various modern Indian thinkers have held to versions of core or identist pluralism. And how can the ultimist pluralist demand such changes? 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. (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. Instead, Hick downgrades the importance of true belief to religion. If, for example, in his view Allah, Vishnu, and Yahweh are all real and distinct, is Hick thereby committed to polytheism? Religious and spiritual understanding and beliefs about medicine and healthcare may support or conflict with evidence-based medicine. 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. 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. 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. 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. (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. A Cross-cultural and Buddhist-Friendly Interpretation of the Typology Exclusivism-Inclusivism-Pluralism., Griffin, David Ray. This is an inclusivist view about getting the cure, and about central religious truths. 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. Protestant versions of exclusivism can be at least as strict as Augustines. It attracted widespread discussion and criticism, and Hick has engaged in a spirited debate with all comers. 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. 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. People over age 40 are more likely to identify with a religion or engage in religious practices. The unaffiliated represent close to 5%. Moreover, some influential modern Hindu leaders have adopted a complicated rhetoric of universal religion, which often assumes some sort of religious pluralism. religion or belief. (McDermott and Netland 2014) Other Protestants choose forms of inclusivism similar to Rahners (see 4b below). John Cobbs Whiteheadian Complementary Pluralism., Hasker, William. Diversity also includes characteristics such as professional skills, working style, location, and life experiences. (Burton 2010) On the other hand, some religions teachings are simply false and their practices are unhelpful; the contents of their prescribed beliefs and practices matter. Contrary to widespread depictions of religious blocs of uniform practices, values and concerns, it is essential to emphasize the plurality of . In other contexts, religious pluralism is a normative principle requiring that peoples of all or most religions should be treated the same. Some philosophers, going against the much-discussed identist pluralism of John Hick (see 2e above) use exclusivism to mean reasonable and informed religious belief which is not pluralist. (On the majority inclusivism, see section 4b below.) Differing people, perspectives, topics, ideas, etc. So too at least some other religions must still be means for salvation, though not necessarily to the same degree, for God wills the salvation of all humankind. Dale Tuggy Cobb and Griffin assume that there is no supernatural intervention (any miraculous interruption of the ordinary course of nature) by God or other beings. Such a person is outside of the tradition, yet obtains the cure taught by the tradition. (Hick 2011), A less developed identist pluralism is explored by Peter Byrne. It is impossible that all three experiences are veridical. A plurality of different religions, major and minor, exist in the world, each believing different things. 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. (Dupuis 2001, 170-9; Neuner and Dupuis 2001, 350-1). al. 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. In reply, Hick urges that his claims are not themselves religious, but are rather about religious matters, and are, as such, philosophical. Ethnic or national origins include, for OConnor, Timothy. (Byrne 2004; Feuerbach 1967). (Dupuis 2001, 86-9), However, what about Jews, pagans, unbaptized babies, or people who never have a chance to hear the Christian message? (Legenhausen 2009), The term religious pluralism is almost always used for a theory asserting positive value for many or most religions. Thus, the slogan that there is no salvation outside the church (Latin: Extra ecclesiam nulla salus) was meant to communicate at bare minimum the uniqueness of the Christian church as Gods instrument of salvation since the resurrection of Jesus. 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. RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY. The Equality Act replicates the provisions of previous legislation. This unified consistency may be hoped for in terms of truth, or in terms of practice. While some characteristics of diversity include age, gender, the color of the skin. It offers a fall from primordial spirituality into modern spiritual poverty, cured by adopting the outlook sketched above. What values are at issue? 3) To say that it is either, Hick realizes, would be to hand an epistemic victory to either the monotheists or the absolutists (ultimists). A theory of religious pluralism says that all religions of some kind are the same in some valuable respect(s). 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. Consider the claim that the cosmos was intentionally made. How can a Theravada Buddhists accept that such a heavenly next life is a good and final end for non-Buddhists? In modern times, it tries to equalize other religions in the same ways it equalizes the apparently contrary claims and practices internal to it. 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. (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. Further, it respects and does not try to eliminate all these differences, and so makes genuine dialogue between members of the religions possible. 7). 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. : a critical examination of some formulations of the Neo-Hindu position., Smith, Huston. While there have been Buddhist teachers and movements who have been exclusivists, in general Buddhism has been inclusivist. Inclusivism for some authors just means a friendlier or more open-minded exclusivism. Religious diversity is the fact that there are significant differences in religious belief and practice. (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. It has been typical also for Buddhist thinkers to hold that at best, the same is true of other religious traditions. Later theologians added a baptism of desire, which was either a desire to be baptized or the inclination to form such a desire, either way enough to secure saving membership in the church. (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. The classic discussion of this is in the Lotus Sutra (before 255 C.E. In their view, those who confess experience of Emptiness, Nirguna Brahman, or the One (of Neoplatonism) behold the ultimate reality (Creativity) as it really is, in contrast to monotheists or cosmos-focused religionists, who latch on to what are limited aspects of Creativity. 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. Religious diversity is the coexistence of more than one religion in the same setting. Some characteristics of religion are the worship of gods or prophets, beliefs in a system of norms and values, symbology or places of worship. (Long 2011) Still, some Hindus object to various kinds of pluralism. 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. Most people understand that the religious landscape is a very diverse place. From African Americans to Russian Americans . The term exclusivist was originally a polemical term, chosen in part for its negative connotations. 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. On such a metaphysics, any apparent substance (being, entity) turns out to be one or more events or processes. The various planes are not distinct from it, and it is the ultimate object of all desire, and the deepest reality within each human self. (OConnor 1999) This exclusivism is compatible with both exclusivism and inclusivism in this article. 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. But doesnt Christian tradition demand that each person eventually either achieves fellowship or union with God, or is irrevocably damned? The tradition now called Hinduism is and always has been very internally diverse. (Dupuis 2001; Burton 2010), Historically, Jewish intellectuals have usually adopted an inclusivist rather than an exclusivist view about 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. 1919) In his view, the common core of religions is a tiered worldview. Exclusivism, Inclusivism, Pluralism: The Tripolar Typology Clarified and Reaffirmed., Sharma, Arvind. Religious Pluralism and the Some-Are-Equally-Right View., Yandell, Keith. Some theorized, for instance, that a baptism of blood, that is, martyrdom, would be enough to save unbaptized catechumens. They hypothesize that some religious mystics really do perceive (without using ordinary sense organs) some ultimate (that is, something regarded as ultimate). This study examines the spatial characteristics of the development of the global religious diversity index . 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. 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. 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. A more inclusive and equitable workplace can lead to increased employee engagement, satisfaction, and productivity. Buddhism has long been very doctrinally diverse, and many schools of Buddhism argue that theirs is the truest teaching or the best practice, while other versions of the dharma are less true or less conducive to getting the cure, and have now been superseded. In all these ways, they argue that their ultimist pluralism is superior to other pluralisms. Religious pluralism in some contexts means an informed, tolerant, and appreciative or sympathetic view of the various religions. Stenmark views it as most similar to identist pluralism (see 2e below). Diversity can include characteristics such as cultural background and ethnicity, age, gender, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, language and education. Nevertheless, the homeownership rate is on the rise among Asian Americans, increasing from 53% in 2000 to 59% in 2019. Paradoxically, such pluralism is often expressed along with claims that Hinduism is greatly superior in various ways to other religions. (Cohn-Sherbok 2005). Heim suggests that we should instead assume that other religions both pursue and achieve real and distinct religious salvations (goals or ends). 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. Similarly, in Christianity, one must realize that ones self is a sinner in need of Gods grace. (Heim 1995, 154-5, 161) This is an important qualifier, as various religious goals clearly presuppose contrary claims. 2-4; Meeker 2003), Hicks identist religious pluralism has been objected to as thoroughly as any recent theory in philosophy. 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. 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. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world, including the U.S. 70% of Americans attend a religious service monthly. While elements within it have been sectarian and exclusivistic, modern Hindu thought is usually pluralistic. 4. 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. 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). In modern societies, religion and its diversity is attached to public institutions. Following these same steps, our second . 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%). Judaism and Other Faiths., Datta, Narendra [Swami Vivekananda]. 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. Beyond this is infinite, unlimited Being (also called Absolute Truth, the True Reality, the Absolute, God). Although you may be nervous about broaching the subject, it is important to discuss religious diversity so . These, Hick holds, are all mistaken; the Ultimate reality is neither personal nor impersonal. It can be argued that Abe is an inclusivist, maintaining that Buddhism is the best religion, rather than a true pluralist. 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 2000, 2004), As to Hicks idea that the correlation of birthplace and religious belief somehow undermines the rationality of religious belief, it has been pointed out that religious pluralism too is correlated with birthplace. Thus, if central Christian teachings are true, then so is at least one central teaching of these two rival religions. This, he will not do. 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. 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. 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. 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). (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. Of adult Americans, 89% believe in God, down slightly from 2007. A similar pluralism is advanced by Japanese Zen scholar Masao Abe (1915-2006). 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. He switches to the term transcategorial, points out historical versions of this thesis, and urges that the Real simply is not in the domain of entities to which concepts like personal and non-personal apply. But others teach that the ultimate reality is a perfect self, a being capable of knowledge, will, and intentional action. Monotheistic religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam agree that there is a sole God. 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. How could a perfect being fail to be available to all people in all the religions? (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. 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. Spiritual and Religious Diversity Religious and spiritual beliefs can be a personal determinant of enablement. 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. (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. 7; Griffin 2005b). Still other Catholic theologians have found these moves to be positive but not nearly different enough from the more pessimistic sort of exclusivism.
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