Religious Plurality: The Mutual-Opposition View, Exclusivism, Inclusivism

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Religious Plurality The Mutual-Opposition View,
Exclusivism, Inclusivism Pluralism
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The Fact of Religious Plurality

• It is an obvious fact that there are a plurality
  of religions in the world
• Although there are some overlapping teachings of
  these groups (eg. Golden Rule), there are also
  teachings that seem to logically contradict each
  other (eg. The ultimate is personal vs.
  impersonal we each lead one life vs. we each
  lead multiple lives, etc)
• What is the reason for plurality?

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Mutual-opposition View

• The view that holds that the fact of religious
  plurality shows that no religion is right, or at
  least that there is no reason to accept one
  religion over any other
• David Hume presents this position when he
  suggests that contending miracle claims of
  religion indicates that none of them can be
  founded in truth
• The reason for plurality is (atheism) or might be
  (agnosticism) that all religions simply represent
  a multiplicity of made-up beliefs (i.e.
  falsehoods)

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Exclusivism

• The view that holds that ones religion alone is
  right and other religions that differ from it are
  excluded from being right
• Objection Doesnt exclusivism imply that one
  should adopt an arrogant attitude towards other
  religions?
• Objection How can one be so confident that one
  has the truth?
• Objection How can it be fair to condemn people
  merely for holding incorrect metaphysical beliefs?

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Responses to Objs 1 and 2

• As long as one believes in the possibility of
  truth and logic, then arrogance is
  unavoidableand this is true of the mutual
  opposition view too. Also, most major religions
  have principles that require certain degree of
  tolerance and respect of religious difference
• There is a difference between knowing the truth
  and believing in the possibility of knowing the
  truth (eg. as provided by some major
  epistemological theory)one can question belief
  in the former, without having to question belief
  in the latter

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Response to Obj 3Two Types of Exclusivism

• right in the truth-claim sense
• Simple expression of the basic logical principle
  that logically contradictory ideas cannot both be
  true (aka the law of the excluded middle)
• right in the religious attainment sense
• the belief that salvation or enlightenment
  depends on holding right beliefs (knowing the
  truth should always be seen to matter)
• These views can be held together, but need not
  beSome defend 1 but reject 2 (eg. Inclusivists)

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Inclusivism

• The view that ones religion alone can be right,
  but that other religions may participate in its
  rightness and so are included
• Thomas Aquinas argued that salvation was not just
  premised on explicit beliefs but also implicit
  beliefs
• Karl Rahner is a Catholic Theologian of the 20th
  c. who has expanded on this view with his concept
  of anonymous Christianity, where practice is
  the key indicator of salvation
• Similar to Jewish ideas of the righteous
  gentile, Islamic notion of people of the book,
  Buddhist notion of universal Buddha nature, etc.

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Religious Pluralism

• The view that conflicting religions of the world
  can all be right
• John Hick is the foremost 20th c. proponent of
  this view
• Has roots going back in all the world religions,
  eg. Indian Parable of the Elephant
• Draws on Immanuel Kants distinction between the
  world of things in themselves (the noumenal) and
  the world as it is experienced by humans (the
  phenomenal)

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Pluralism Philosophical Definition

• As a general philosophical term, pluralism
  refers to the belief in the possibility of (and
  general tolerance of) logically irreconcilable
  views of the world, none of which can be deemed
  to be more fundamental than any of the others
• The basic philosophical position that reality
  might not have a fundamentally logical structure,
  but is defined by a plurality of logically
  incompatible truths

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The 3 Religious Responses to Religious Plurality