Lesson-2-Religion and religious diversity

religion

1. Your title here Add description PART ONE Religion and Religious Diversity

2. Your title here Add description PART ONE Responses to Religious Diver sity When we examine the claims that different religious traditions make about the nature of Ultimate Reality, the origin and destiny of humans, and historical events, we find that many of these claims are incompatible. How should we interpret these conflicting accounts? No one comes to the Father but by me .

3. Your title here Add description PART ONE Exclusivism: only one Religion is correct . Extra ecclesiam nulla salus. (Outside The Church there is no salvation.) Epistemological problem: How can one know that a particular religion is the one and only correct path to God or Ultimate Reality? Moral problem: It seems unfair for Ultimate Reality to single out a particular culture as specially favored while condemning the mass of humanity to perdition or ignorance.

4. Your title here Add description PART ONE I nclusivism Inclusivism: One religion is fully correct, others are partially correct. Anonymous Christians (Rahner). The “seeds of truth” present and active in the various religious traditions are a reflection of the unique Word of God, who “enlightens every man coming into the world” (cf. Jn 1:9) …They are together an “effect of the Spirit of truth operating outside the visible confines of the Mystical Body” and which “blows where it wills” (Jn 3:8) Helps resolve the moral, but not the epistemological problem. Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience — those too may achieve eternal salvation" (Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, 16).

5. Your title here Add description PART ONE Religious Pluralism Each of the major religions is correct insofar as it provides an authentic context for salvation. The different sets of religious ideas and practices taught by the great world traditions constitute different but in each case valid ways of conceiving, experiencing, and responding to the ultimately Real. (John Hick) God or Ultimate Reality as infinite, is unknowable by finite human minds . An infinite transcendent reality is being differently conceived, differently experienced, and differently responded to from within our different religio-cultural ways of being human. (John Hick)

6. Your title here Add description PART ONE Religious diversity - refers to the presence and coexistence of multiple religious traditions, beliefs, and practices within a society, community, or the world at large. It encompasses the variety of ways people express their spirituality, moral values, and beliefs about the divine, the sacred, or the meaning of life.

7. Your title here Add description PART ONE Salvation Salvation = the transformation of individuals from self-centeredness to Reality-centeredness, from selfish egoists to compassionate golden rule followers. Each tradition conceptualizes the wrongness of human existence: as fallenness from paradisal virtue, or as a condition of moral weakness and alienation from God, or as the fragmentation of the infinite one into false individualities, or as a self-centeredness which poisons our involvement in the world process , making it an experience of anxious unhappy unfulfillment.

8. Your title here Add description PART ONE Salvation/Liberation: Common Themes in Diverse Traditions Salvation as a transformation from self-centeredness to Reality centeredness. When all love of the I and the Mine is dead, then the work of the Lord is done.

9. Your title here Add description PART ONE Naturalism Naturalists claim that the supernaturalistic explanations of the origin and destiny of the universe found in religion are remnants of a pre-scientific culture. The empirical methods of scientific inquiry find no evidence for the reality of supernatural forces. Naturalistic explanations (e.g. evolution, big bang) provide more adequate descriptions of material and biological phenomena. Therefore, the naturalist suspects that all religions are mistaken.

10. Your title here Add description PART ONE From Deism to Naturalism Geocentrism to heliocentrism- end of the three story universe. Naturalistic explanations of natural phenomena (weather, historical development, consciousness, origins of life, and the origins of the universe) eliminated the role of an interventionist deity. But if the universe is really completely self-contained, having no boundaries or edge, it would be neither created nor destroyed. It would simply be. What place, then, for a creator? (Stephen W. Hawking) The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. (Richard Dawkins)

11. Your title here Add description PART ONE Postmodern Accounts of Religion Postmodern Accounts of Religion : Postmodern thinkers distinguish three main eras in the history of western religion. The age of faith- characterized by belief in a supernatural God who intervened in nature and history and revealed himself in scripture. The age of reason- beginning in the enlightenment period when scientific explanations of nature and history replaced supernaturalist accounts, and the methodology of literary criticism was applied to scriptural texts, revealing their human origins. Leading finally to the age of interpretation.

12. Your title here Add description PART ONE T he Age of Interpretation Postmodern thinkers deny the metaphysical notion of objective truth, in science and theology. They emphasize that all concepts and theories are conditioned by historical and cultural circumstances. Reality is reduced to message. In a world where God is dead- where the metanarratives have been dissolved and all authority has …been demythologized, including that of objective knowledge- our only chance of survival rests in the Christian commandment of charity.

13. Your title here Add description PART ONE Key Aspects of Religious Diversity: 1. Variety of Religions: Includes major world religions like Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and smaller or indigenous faiths like Sikhism, Baha'i Faith, Animism, and others. 2. Cultural Expression: Religions are often intertwined with the cultural practices, languages, and histories of their adherents, contributing to societal richness. 3. Pluralism: Encourages the acceptance, respect, and mutual understanding of different religious beliefs rather than forcing uniformity or exclusion. 4. Religious Freedom: Supports individuals' rights to practice, change, or abstain from religion, fostering coexistence in diverse societies.

14. Your title here Add description PART ONE Importance of Religious Diversity: 1. Promotes Dialogue and Understanding: Helps bridge gaps between different groups by fostering empathy and reducing prejudice. 2. Encourages Coexistence: In multicultural societies, it ensures that all groups feel valued and respected. 3. Contributes to Global Awareness: Acknowledges the interconnectedness of cultures and fosters peace and cooperation in a globalized world. 4. Challenges Stereotypes: Dispels misconceptions about religious groups by highlighting their complexities and differences.

15. Your title here Add description PART ONE Challenges of Religious Diversity: 1. Potential for Conflict: Misunderstandings or intolerance can lead to discrimination, social tensions, or even violence. 2. Balancing Secularism and Religion: Ensuring fairness in governance and public spaces without alienating any religious group. 3 . Navigating Exclusivist Beliefs: Some religions hold exclusive truth claims, which can lead to tensions when interacting with others.

16. Your title here Add description PART ONE Examples in Practice: India: Known for its religious plurality, including Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism. United States: Promotes religious freedom and diversity, encompassing a wide array of religious and non-religious beliefs. Philippines: Predominantly Catholic but home to significant Muslim, Protestant, and indigenous religious communities.

17. Your title here Add description PART ONE What values are at issue? Literature since 1950 focuses on the truth or rationality of religious teachings, the veridicality (conformity with reality) of religious experiences, salvific efficacy (the ability to deliver whatever cure religion should provide), and alleged directedness towards one and the same ultimate religious object.

18. Your title here Add description PART ONE The exclusivist-inclusivist-pluralist trichotomy has become standard since the 1980s. Unfortunately, it is often used with some mix of the above values in mind, leaving it unclear exactly which values are pertinent. While this trichotomy is sometimes thought of in terms of general attitudes that a religious person may have towards other religions—approximately the attitudes of rejection, limited openness, and wide acceptance respectively—in this article they figure as theories concerning the facts of religious diversity.

19. Your title here Add description PART ONE “Religious pluralism” in some contexts means an informed, tolerant, and appreciative or sympathetic view of the various religions. In other contexts, “religious pluralism” is a normative principle requiring that peoples of all or most religions should be treated the same. In this article, “religious pluralism” refers to a theory about the diversity of religions.

20. Your title here Add description PART ONE 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.

21. Your title here Add description PART ONE Reflection Activity: Write a short essay or journal entry reflecting on: What you learned about other religions. How the activity influenced your views on religious diversity. Any new insights into the importance of respecting different beliefs.