Religious Pluralism
Understanding the importance of religious pluralism is essential for a society to develop intercultural relationships which benefit each member. “Pluralism engages people of different faiths and cultures in the creation of a common society” (Eck). Religious pluralism seems to view no one religion as the ultimate truth; it is an understanding between two or more religions which results in unity and balanced co-existence. It is a dynamic commitment that requires knowledge of other religions which develops an informative discussion about similarities and differences. After studying both the Hindu and Christian faiths an individual may notice the practice of pluralism in both religions.
Christianity is often interpreted as an exclusive tradition, which was perhaps true many years ago. Today, many Christians are moving toward a new direction with significance on plurality. “The Roman Catholic Church and most of the major Protestant denominations have given new emphasis to interfaith dialogue as essential to the relation of Christians to the people of other faiths” (Eck). Developing interpersonal relationships with members of diverse traditions allows Christians the opportunity for the “creation of a civil society by acknowledging, rather than hiding, our deepest differences” (Eck). An excellent example of a Christian engaging in pluralism was Martin Luther King Jr. who was willing to “cooperate with others, religious or non-religious, in achieving a compassionate social order with justice for all” (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 209). King demonstrated how pluralism can develop a society from which all members benefit. King gained from the many teachings of Mohandas K. Gandhi, a Hindu, whose practice of pluralism ai...
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...tation techniques in order to obtain a deeper spiritual connection with Jesus, at the same time, a Hindu may sometimes offer prayers to Jesus along with their traditional forms of God. Even though all believers of the Christian and Hindu faiths do not actively participate in religious pluralism, there is a growing trend which indicates each religions involvement with other religions in order to produce a society which engages individuals of other faiths with honesty, good deeds, love, and justice creating an interfaith pluralistic partnership.
Works Cited
Eck, Diane L. “From Diversity to Pluralism.” The Pluralism Project. Web. 5 May. 2014.
< http://www.pluralism.org/encounter/challenges/ >.
Esposito, John L., Fasching, Darrell J., and Lewis, Todd. World Religions Today, 4th ed.
New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print.
Religious tolerance and religious pluralism have many different definitions, depending on the person’s interpretation of the word and where the person gets the definition. Every person of every faith and the people without a faith can have a different definition for tolerance and for pluralism. Diana L. Eck, the director of The Pluralism Project at Harvard University, gives a clear definition for pluralism. Pluralism is a two way street of dialogue, knowledge, understanding, and active participation (Eck 2 “From Diversity”). Pluralism is not meant to be an assimilation of religions or that a person of any faith has to believe all religious paths are true. Religious Tolerance is the continuous congruent relations betw...
Religion is “the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or any such system of belief and worship.” (Cambridge Dictionary) Many people believe in something else out of the evidential or scientific view, thinking that good things happen because God says so, or that the universe was not made by the Big Bang. Even though is something that was more present in history years ago, a lot of people still believe and practise a religion. According to Stephen Juan there are about 4,300 religions in the world. About a 75 per cent of the population of the world practises a religion and the two religions most widely spread are the Christianity and the Islam. (2006) They can be divided in believers, adherents or not adherents, agnostics and atheists. People who are believers are the ones who have faith in something great beyond and
Hinduism and Christianity are two religions that have been around for thousands of years. Both of these religions have developed many philosophies on different aspects that can be compared to show their similarities and differences. The Hindu and Christian religion agree on many things. Based on humanity, our society follows some of the rules also because of the religion and laws. From the holy literature, there have been many different concepts that have been pledged but they all are supposed to lead you to the same effects such as a happy, healthy life, contribution to the world around us humans, and some kind of freedom after death. Some of the main subjects that can be reflected upon after learning of the history and fundamentals of these religions are the paths to enlightenment and/or salvation, the style of treating women through religions aspects, and the afterlife. This paper will give an analytic comparison of these two religions relating to the topics.
Africa has served as a place of religious encounter and change. Within Africa there is a unique blend of traditional religion and Western religions such as Islam and Christianity. Even in the modern day, neither traditional nor Western religions have eliminated the other. The religions coexist harmoniously within the African mindset. However, the way these religions coexist is not simply in the blending of the two, but rather in a culture of oscillation. Religious authorities create an environment where polyontology, but not syncreticism can thrive.
Mann, Mark Grear. “Religious Pluralism.” Philosophy of Religion. Ed. Thomas Jay Oord. Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 2003. Print.
The English word religion loosely translates into “rules” in Latin. Therefore, a religion teaches us how to think, how to act, and basically everything except what to eat in the morning. The Hindu and Christian religion agree on many things and our society follows some of the rules too because religion and laws are based on humanity. From holy literature many different ideas have been pawned but they are all supposed to lead you to the same things: a happy, healthy life, contribution to the world around us, and some kind of liberation after death. Concerning these ideals the Hindu religion has come up with three ways to make sure that everybody will get what they want out of life and those are the four stages, the four goals, and the four castes of life. There is so much holy war about which religion is right and wrong but if they all are striving for the same thing it is hard for me to see why they take place. In this essay I will show that Christianity is very similar to Hinduism.
The major Eastern religious traditions have had a shaping effect on their societies by the way they look at the world and the “hope” they offer their followers. Their traditions and beliefs are different than those in the West. The four major religious traditions in the East are all older than Western religions. Each religious tradition can be examined for common concepts and differences. Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism have several common concepts and several differences: their worldviews, their views on the nature of reality as a whole, the nature of persons, the perspectives on the “human dilemma,” human spiritual goals, the significance of moral values and the hope each offers its followers for their lives.
Religion is known to be difficult to define as it transcends so many boundaries in human experience and from an academic perspective; it is difficult to find any distinction between the world religions 1, 2, 3. Ninian Smart approached religion as a religious studies specialist and instead of trying to define religion, he identified certain recognizable elements that religion in general possess and focused on studying them 3, 4, 9. He identified seven such elements or dimensions for the religion; practical and ritual, experimental and emotional, narrative or mythic, doctrinal and philosophical, ethical and legal, social and institutional and material dimension 3. The purpose of this paper is to use three of Smart’s dimensions and describe the three western religions. An example from each of the three religion pertaining to a chosen dimension will be provided and explained in the context of the religion and how it informs one of the core aspects of the chosen religion.
Using the knowledge I have acquired from Godsey’s perspective in conjunction with my own viewpoint, I plan on sharing the idea of religious pluralism with my community. I believe that religious pluralism is more relevant in today’s society than ever before. Religious differences have been a major source of conflict in the world for thousands of years, ranging from the Christian Crusades to the Holocaust. Today we have the War on Terrorism, directly related to the Islam. People, often blinded by patriotic media, government propaganda, and even biased news outlets, are unable to see the situation happening around them from multiple perspectives, creating segregation, prejudice, and hate.
Religion is big part of human life. Every area of the world has some kind of religion or belief system. Religion is defined as “a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices” (“Religion” Def.2). With such a large amount of religions today, religion is widely variegated, usually with divisions in each one. Despite the large amount of religions, I will only be covering only three religions: Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism.
Hinduism and Christianity are two religions that have been around for thousands of years. These religions have developed philosophies on certain subjects that can be compared in order to show their similarities and differences. Some of the main subjects that can be reflected upon are the paths to enlightenment or salvation, the religions' treatment of women, and the concept of the afterlife. This paper will give an analytic comparison of these religions through the discussion of these topics.
Although there are many religions in the world that have affected the lives and cultures of many people it is clear that most of the historical developments that have affected the way people now live seem to have been greatly influenced by the three religions with close relationships to each other resulting in being clustered together as the Abrahamic faiths. While there are many differences among the three most populous religions called the Abrahamic faith (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), there are a number of similarities that deserve a closer look. In this article will look at three major similarities. At times there may be more similarities between any two of them but dissimilarity with the third. For instance, on the personality and
Religion is a common theme that has bridged together people from all races and backgrounds. It has provided people with meaning and it has given hope to the hopeless. Religions have transcended culture and time untying people who believe in a higher power and choose to put their lives in the hands of the divine. Although all religions practices and styles of worship are not the same. Religions serve a greater purpose in directing people to pursue a moral and courageous life. All world religions focus on living a holy life to please and glorify some kind of deity. The Oxford handbook on religion explains that religions have “always been global, in the sense that religious communities and traditions have always maintained permeable boundaries. They have moved, shifted, and interacted with one another around the globe” (Oxford hand book). World religious contain “traditions [that] claim some ultimate anchors of truth that are unchangeable” (Oxford handbook). The three major religions of the world, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity all contain one element of truth that unites the chore of their beliefs. The Old Testament is a common source of information that links the heritage, traditions and moral commands of these three major religions.
Many times people got into fights, ended friendship, and even got into violence because of disagreements on matters of faith or religious. Sometimes knowing more about other religious might help people avoid confects between each other, and eventually might lead to peacefully co-living together. The most famous three religions and are also called “People of the book” are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Judaism is the oldest organized religious in the world; however, is only has 14 million followers around the world most of them center in North America. Christianity, came after Judaism and have two billion followers around the world, and that’s about one third of the world population. Finally, Islam came after Judaism and Christianity. Although
Ecumenical spirits influence various religions to lay aside theological differences, and accept and tolerate diverse beliefs coming together and forming ecclesiastical bonds. Historically, Catholics and Protestants fought each other, and not only through verbal exchange, but through physical means as well. World and religious leaders today advocate accepting all faiths and tolerance of differing viewpoints. For the most part they reflect the ideals of the general consensus. Popular opinion suggests that there are various paths to God, and it is narrow minded to believe there is only on...