characteristics of religious diversity

Still, given that Muhammad is the seal of the prophets, his teachings and practices should, and some day will supersede all previous ones. However, they nearly always have at least one criterion for excluding religions as inferior in the aspect(s) they focus on. This type of diversity refers to the presence of multiple religions and spiritual beliefs (including lack thereof) in the workplace. marriage and civil partnership. [This entry examines the origins and differing patterns of development of the world's major religious traditions, as well as the varying patterns of interaction between these religions and the social, political, and economic frameworks with which they coexist. With truth, the problem is that it is hard to see how the core claims of the religions could all be true. The historical Buddha, the man Gautama is, in this doctrine, a Transformation Body (or Apparitional Body, Nirmanakaya) of one of these, as are other Buddhas in time and space. Religious Pluralism., Schmidt-Leukel, Perry. 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. 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. It is more real than all that comes from it. Local variations in Protestant practices and ethnic differences among the white settlers did foster a religious diversity. The Equality Act replicates the provisions of previous legislation. This patient's religious beliefs have led him to pursue mindfulness and meditation as ways of . Thus, the Hindu intellectual Ram Mohun Roy (1772/4-1833) held that Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity, when understood in their original, non-idolatrous and non-superstitious ways, all teach the important truths about God and humankind, enabling humans to love and serve God. Even God, the greatest concrete, actual being in this philosophy is, in the end, an all-encompassing unity of experience, and is to be understood as a process of Creative-Responsive love. (Griffin 2005b; Cooper 2006, ch. (King, 2008; Rowe 1999; Yandell 1999) In response, Hick concedes that some concepts, formal ones, can be applied to the Real, while substantial ones cannot. Heim strenuously objects to pluralist theories that they impose uniformity on the various religions. Judaism is . These, however, are mere associations; there seems to be no obvious entailments between the theories of religious diversity and the above qualities. 2013, 333) For instance, if Theravada Buddhism is correct that humans are trapped in the cycle of rebirth by craving and ignorance, even if one goes to a heavenly realm upon death, such as envisaged by non-Buddhist religions, one is still trapped in samsara, in this realm of suffering, albeit at a higher tier. 1939), have formulated various pluralist theories. And how can the ultimist pluralist demand such changes? RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY. (Neuner and Dupuis 2001, 309-10) It also seems to close the door to non-standard routes to church membership, saying that never was anyone, conceived by a man and a woman, liberated from the devils dominion except by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. (Tanner 1990, 575) Non-Catholics will go into the everlasting fireunless they are joined to the catholic church before the end of their livesnobody can be saved, no matter how much he has given away in alms and even if has shed his blood in the name of Christ, unless he has persevered in the bosom and the unity of the catholic church. (Tanner 1990, 578), This exclusivistic or rigorist way of understanding the slogan, on which only the Roman Catholic church could provide the cure needed by all humans, was the most common Catholic stance on religious diversity until mid-nineteenth century. It is arguably the doctrinal and philosophical aspects of a religion which are foundational, in that the other aspects can only be understood in light of them. (For others see Hick 2004, Introduction.). There are numerous cultures in the world, understood as different visions of the cosmos , of humanity itself and of the world, with their traditions, imaginaries, languages and representations. 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. Such would be the work of a religiously embedded and committed theology of religious diversity, not of a general philosophy of religious diversity. This is an inclusivist view about getting the cure, and about central religious truths. The formation and development of religious diversity is a manifestation of the free expression of human thought, belief, and practice, as well as a historical premise and ideological condition for the gradual recognition and integration of modern religions into modern political values. Legenhausen, Hajj Muhammad [Gary Carl]. Equally, Advaita Vedanta Hindus must let go of their insistence on Nirguna Brahman as ultimate. It would seem that that, for example, a Christian to accept this ultimist pluralism, she will have to reinterpret what many Christians will regard as a core commitment, namely, that the ultimate reality is personal. 1928) and Paul Knitter (b. The gods and lords will stay at the provisional levels of truth and reality, the levels which a fully enlightened person, as it were, sees beyond. Such an outlook is commonly perceived as meaningless, hopeless, and devoid of value. The first part of the article deals with the European and, specifically, Croatian sociopolitical and cultural framework of inclusive pedagogy and presents its basic postulates. On the one hand, it is difficult to consistently distinguish inclusivism from exclusivism, because the latter nearly always concedes some significant value to other religions. A core pluralist claims that all religions of some kind share a common core, and that this is really what matters about the religions; their equal value is found in this common core. This study examines the spatial characteristics of the development of the global religious diversity index . In all these ways, they argue that their ultimist pluralism is superior to other pluralisms. Presumably not, as she already believes in levels of truth and levels of reality. Now that the time is right, the truth may be told, that is, Mahayana doctrine, superseding the old. 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. 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. This seems incompatible with Heims agnosticism about which, if any, of the diagnosed problems is the fundamental one. While such naive exclusivist positions are rarely expounded by scholars, they frequently appear in the work of pluralists and inclusivists, held up as unfortunate, harmful, and unreasonable theories which are in urgent need of replacement. How could a perfect being fail to be available to all people in all the religions? But these lesser ways should and eventually will give way to Christianity, the truest religion, intended for all humankind. It is here described as Identist pluralism because his theory claims that people in all the major religions interact with one and the same transcendent reality, variously called God, the Real, and the Ultimate Reality., Hick viewed religious belief as rationally defensible, and held that one may be rational in trusting the veridicality of ones religious experiences. Furthermore, Hindu thought has shifted in modern times from a scriptural to an experiential emphasis. 2) He was what we now call a pluralistic Hindu (and most Hindus would add that he was also an unorthodox Hindu). Most religions are theistic in the sense that they posit the existence of a personal Supreme Being (God) or set of personal deities, although within some belief systems normally labeled religionsfor example, Buddhismthere is no belief in such a being. In principle, it would seem that an exclusivist or inclusivist may have all or most of the good qualities, and one who accepts a theory of religious pluralism may have all or most of the bad qualities. same? Later on, Hick firmly settled on the view that this Real should be thought of as ineffable. In this article, religious pluralism refers to a theory about the diversity of religions. Other Buddhists experience Amida Buddha, while Christians experience Christ, and Jews Yahweh, Hindus Isvara, and Muslims Allah. (Legenhausen 2006), Other objections have been centered on the status of Hicks personae. It has been typical also for Buddhist thinkers to hold that at best, the same is true of other religious traditions. If the core is true teachings, theyll all be true (to some degree). Thus, Christian exclusivists usually allow that those who die as babies, the severely mentally handicapped, or friends of God who lived before Christian times may avoid hell and attain heaven despite their not being fully-fledged, believing and practicing Christians. Some theorized, for instance, that a baptism of blood, that is, martyrdom, would be enough to save unbaptized catechumens. The Epistemological Challenge of Religious Pluralism., Ignatius of Antioch, The Letter of Ignatius to the Philadelphians, in, King, Nathan. Finally, some authors use descriptive religious pluralism to mean what is here called religious diversity, calling normative religious pluralism views that are here called varieties of religious pluralism. While the trichotomy has been repeatedly challenged, it is still widely used, and can be precisely defined in various ways. Diversity refers to all of the ways in which people differ, including primary characteristics, such as age, race, gender, ethnicity, mental and physical abilities, and sexual orientation; and secondary characteristics, such as nationality, education, income, religion, work experience, language skills, geographic location, family status, No Wasted Journey: A Theological Autobiography., Stenmark, Mikael. (Dupuis 2000, 161-5) Some Catholic theologians have seen the seeds or even the basic elements of inclusivism in these statements, while others view them as within the orbit of a suitably articulated exclusivism. It is a mistake, he now holds, to suppose that the personae (that is, Vishnu, Yahweh, Allah, and so on) are angel-like selves. Stenmark views it as most similar to identist pluralism (see 2e below). (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. This diversity is increasing, even in communities that have previously been relatively homogeneous. Instead, it is the view that all religions are valid, meaning that they have some degree of (some kind of) value. Legenhausen, Hajj Muhammad [Gary Carl] Why I am not a Traditionalist. 2002. Second, the claim that meaningfulness requires the possibility of empirical verification has little to recommend it, and is self-refuting (that is, the claim itself is not empirically verifiable). Moreover, some influential modern Hindu leaders have adopted a complicated rhetoric of universal religion, which often assumes some sort of religious pluralism. In other contexts, religious pluralism is a normative principle requiring that peoples of all or most religions should be treated the same. Dissenters are found among historians of religion, who deny that there is and has always been a common core in all of the worlds religions. (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. This, it is hoped, rules out anyone having grounds for believing any particular religion to be the uniquely best religion. al. 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. Thus, in experiencing what they call Emptiness or the Dharmakaya (truth body), Mahayana Buddhists really do perceive what Cobb calls Creativity (or Being Itself), as do Advaita Vedanta Hindus when they perceive Nirguna Brahman (Brahman without qualities). Here we can survey only a few of the criticisms that have been made. In modern times, it tries to equalize other religions in the same ways it equalizes the apparently contrary claims and practices internal to it. (Sharma 1999, ch. (Long 2011) Still, some Hindus object to various kinds of pluralism. (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. 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. religion or belief. 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. Religion Diversity in the Workplace In today's workplace, there are many rules and regulations to ensure the wellbeing of the employee. Of adult Americans, 89% believe in God, down slightly from 2007. In contrast, exclusivist approaches say that only one religion is uniquely valuable. In contrast, any non-pluralist theory of religious diversity is associated with many arguably bad qualities. While some characteristics of diversity include age, gender, the color of the skin. His critics, he argues, are merely asserting without reason that there cannot be a transcategorial reality. This was a polemic against non-Mahayana versions of Buddhist dharma (teaching). Appropriating Immanuel Kants distinction between phenomena, how things appear, and noumena, things in themselves, Hick postulated that the Real is ineffable and is not directly experienced by anyone. Further, it is really Creativity that is ultimate, and it is embodied in and does not exist apart from or as an object in addition to God and the Cosmos. This, he will not do. The exclusivist-inclusivist-pluralist trichotomy has become standard since the 1980s. (Hick 2011), A less developed identist pluralism is explored by Peter Byrne. Another way in which pluralism can be naive is the common assumption that absolutely all religions are good in significant ways, for example, by improving their adherents lives, facilitating interaction with God, or leading to eternal salvation. In the first case, a person who is killed in an accident on her way to be baptized would nonetheless be in the church. The latter two classes of beings, but not the first, may be described as personal.. Characteristically Religious Feelings Awe, a sense of mystery, a sense of guilt, and adoration are "religious feelings" which tend to be aroused in religious believers when they come in the presence of sacred objects, in sacred places, and during the practice of sacred rituals. 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. Contrary to widespread depictions of religious blocs of uniform practices, values and concerns, it is essential to emphasize the plurality of . Many people associate any sort of pluralist theory of religious diversity with a number of arguably good qualities. (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. Others find it excessive that Smith accepts other traditional doctrines, such as that Platos Forms are not only real but alive, that in dreaming the subtle body leaves the body and roams free in the intermediate realm, belief in siddhis (supernatural powers gained by meditation), possession by spirits, psychic phenomena, and so on. Diversity and discrimination (Hick 1982 ch. Beyond this is infinite, unlimited Being (also called Absolute Truth, the True Reality, the Absolute, God). Differing people, perspectives, topics, ideas, etc. The classic discussion of this is in the Lotus Sutra (before 255 C.E. Diversity, Divisions, Religion, Caste, Secularism, News, Theocratic states, Terrorism, Fundamentalism, Extremism, Congress, BJP, Communism. The Religious Diversity Index is divided into four ranges: very high (the top 5% of scores), high (the next highest 15% of scores, which works out to 16% because of tie scores), moderate (the next 20% of scores) and low (the bottom 59% of scores).

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