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PY1102 Philosophy of Religion
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Title: PY1102 Philosophy of Religion
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PY1102 Philosophy of Religion
- Religious Plurality and Religious Pluralism
Visit www.worldofteaching.com For 100s of free
powerpoints
2
Mr Thwackum, from Henry Fieldings novel Tom
Jones
- When I mention religion, I mean the Christian
religion and not only the Christian religion,
but the Protestant religion and not only the
Protestant religion, but the Church of England
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There are vast amounts of disagreement in belief,
between different religious believers
- Disagreement within religions
- Protestants and Catholics will disagree over what
kind of priesthood is required for valid
sacraments - Theravadin and Mahayanin Buddhists will disagree
over the existence of buddha nature
4
There are vast amounts of disagreement in belief,
between different religious believers
- Disagreement between related religions
- Christians and Muslims will disagree over whether
God could be incarnate - Dvaita and Advaita Hindus will disagree over
whether there is a God
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There are vast amounts of disagreement in belief,
between different religious believers
- Disagreement between very different kinds of
religion - Muslims accept the existence of God, Buddhists do
not - Jains hold to the existence of an immortal soul
or self, Buddhists reject this
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Does the existence of this disagreement (the fact
of plurality) raise problems for whether any
religious believer is justified in her beliefs?
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Common responses to the fact of plurality
- Dogmatism (exclusivism)
- Believing that ones own religion has things
right, and that others (if contrary) are wrong. - When religious believers disagree, one of them is
wrong. To continue to hold ones religious
beliefs is to reject the truth of the others
beliefs.
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Common responses to the fact of plurality
- Scepticism
- Believing that the fact of pluralism just shows
that all religious beliefs are false - Any decision in favour of one particular religion
being true, would just be an arbitrary decision
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- Inclusivism
- Inclusivists agree with exclusivists that one
religion (ones own) has things right, but allow
that other religions may contain elements of the
same grace, allowing salvation for those believers
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Common responses to the fact of plurality
- Pluralism
- The view that all religions are distinct ways of
experiencing the same thing, ultimate reality
(or, the Real) - As people can experience the same thing in
different ways without contradicting each other,
different religions experience the Real in
different ways, without contradiction
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Religious Pluralism
- RP comes in many varieties (but is not the same
thing as religious tolerance or religious
relativism) - Most well-known is that expressed by John Hick.
On Hicks view, all religions are equally valid - RP holds that no single religion can claim
absolute authority to teach absolute truth. It is
thus opposed to religious evangelism
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Religious Pluralism
- Benefit of pluralism is that it allows us to
avoid both dogmatism and scepticism - The cost is that, according to pluralism, no
religion gives us an ultimate explanation of
anything, but just records a particular
experience of the Real
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Resources
- See Yandell, Ch. 6 Peterson et al., Part 11
- Online
- http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_pluralism
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