PY1102 Philosophy of Religion

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PY1102 Philosophy of Religion

• Religious Plurality and Religious Pluralism

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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

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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