characteristics of religious diversity

Unfortunately, it is often used with some mix of the above values in mind, leaving it unclear exactly which values are pertinent. 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 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. This in some sense manifests as, acts as, and is not different from a host of Enjoyment Bodies (Sambhogakaya), each of which is a Buddha outside of space and time, a historical Buddha now escaped from samsara and dwelling in a Buddha-realm. We should respect freedom of religion by rejecting the kinds of false and damaging claims that are sometimes made about religion, especially Islam. The underlying metaphysics here is that of process philosophy, in which events are the basic or fundamental units of reality. These, however, are mere associations; there seems to be no obvious entailments between the theories of religious diversity and the above qualities. It is a matter of dispute whether certain famous Sufi Muslims such as Rumi (1207-73) and Ibn Arabi (1165-1240) have held to some form of religious pluralism. 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. Or what sense would it make for an Orthodox Jew, whose religion teaches him to be fruitful and multiply, to employ the Buddhist practice of viewing corpses at a burial ground so as to expunge the unwanted liability of sexual desire? These objects of religious experience are mind-dependent, in that they depend for their existence, in part, on people with certain religious backgrounds. (Griffin 2005a) They do, however, take seriously at least many of the unusual religious experiences people report. Among young adults (age 18 to 29), the most common religious identity today is none; more than one in three (34 percent) young adults are religiously unaffiliated. He switches to the term transcategorial, points out historical versions of this thesis, and urges that the Real simply is not in the domain of entities to which concepts like personal and non-personal apply. After catholic Christianity became the official religion of the empire (c. 381), it was usually assumed that the message had been preached throughout the world, leaving all adult non-Christians without excuse. However, he maintained that people in the religions interact with it indirectly, by way of various personae and impersonae, personal and impersonal appearances or phenomena of the Real. But these monotheists and cosmos-worshipers each take their object to be ultimate, and would deny the existence of any further back entity or non-entity, that is, of Creativity. In this article exclusivism about religious diversity denies any form of pluralism; it denies that all religions, or all major ones, are the same in some important respect. However, his theory seems to depend crucially on the existence of many human problems, each of which may be solved by participation in some religion or other. This would be the view of many naturalists, who hold that all religions are the product of human imagination, and fail to have most or all of the values claimed for them. These connections between theory and character which are believed by some to provide practical arguments for or objections to various theories need to be argued for. 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. Some practices seem compatible, such as church attendance and mindfulness meditation. Sometimes God and Cosmos are described as aspects of Creativity. (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 can build strength of character, pride, and confidence. This diversity is increasing, even in communities that have previously been relatively homogeneous. For instance, as an inclusivist Christian, Heim holds that Buddhists really do attain Nirvana. His theory is at least superficially clear, and is rooted in his own spiritual journey. He applies the Mahayana doctrine of the three bodies of the Buddha to other religions. Recent Islamic thinkers have independently come to conclusions parallel to those of Rahner, while critiquing various pluralist theories as entailing the sin of unbelief (kufr), the rejection of Islam. But doesnt Christian tradition demand that each person eventually either achieves fellowship or union with God, or is irrevocably damned? (Burton 2010) On the other hand, some religions teachings are simply false and their practices are unhelpful; the contents of their prescribed beliefs and practices matter. Such an outlook is commonly perceived as meaningless, hopeless, and devoid of value. Religious diversity definition: The diversity of something is the fact that it contains many very different elements. Characteristics of cultural diversity : Multiplicity of cultures Each worldview is the product of the individual development of a people. Preparation For The Future If a workplace has done the necessary work, it's bound to be culturally diverse. This type of diversity refers to the presence of multiple religions and spiritual beliefs (including lack thereof) in the workplace. 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. Such a person is outside of the tradition, yet obtains the cure taught by the tradition. One idea is that all religions would turn out to be parts of one whole (either one religion or at least one conglomeration of religions). religion or belief. An increasingly prominent and potentially contentious phenomenon, religious diversity is intimately associated with contemporary issues such as migration, human rights, social cohesion, socio-cultural pluralisation, political jurisdiction, globalisation, and reactionary . Many people associate any sort of pluralist theory of religious diversity with a number of arguably good qualities. These three Creativity, God, Cosmos are such that none could exist without the others. It has always been recognized by people outside the smallest and most isolated communities. Finally, Cobb and Griffin emphasize that this approach does not endorse any unreasonable form of relativism and, as such, allows one to remain distinctively Christian or Buddhist and so forth. The nation's population is growing more racially and ethnically diverse - and so are many of its religious groups, both at the congregational level and among broader Christian traditions.But a new analysis of data from the 2014 Religious Landscape Study also finds that these levels of diversity vary widely within U.S. religious groups.. We looked at 30 groups - including Protestant . (Sedgwick 2004) Like traditional religions, it too offers a diagnosis of the human condition and a cure. (Hick 1982 ch. Religion and belief includes: Atheists Agnostics Bah' Buddhists Christians. 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. Contrary to widespread depictions of religious blocs of uniform practices, values and concerns, it is essential to emphasize the plurality of . Monotheistic religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam agree that there is a sole God. Hicks claim that no human concept applies to the Ultimate Reality has been criticized by many, whove pointed out that Hick applies these concepts to it: being one, being ultimate, being a partial cause of the impersonae and personae, and being ineffable. Perhaps these are the angels, devas, and heavenly Buddhas of the religions, great but nonetheless finite beings. A muted ally in this was the influential religious scholar Mircea Eliade (1907-86), whose work focused on comparing mythologies, and on what he viewed as an important, primitive religious outlook, which separates things into the sacred and the profane. (b. (Long 2005), Building on the speculative metaphysics of Alfred North Whiteheads (18611947) Process and Reality (1929), and work by his student Charles Hartshorne (1897-2000), theologians John Cobb and David Ray Griffin have advocated what the latter calls deep, differential, and complementary pluralism what is here described as ultimist. (Cooper 2006, ch. (Hick 2000, 2004), As to Hicks idea that the correlation of birthplace and religious belief somehow undermines the rationality of religious belief, it has been pointed out that religious pluralism too is correlated with birthplace. (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. The second part contains answers to questions linked to the treatment of differences in religious education in Croatia and characteristics of teachers that can be linked to this theme. (Dupuis 2001, 170-9; Neuner and Dupuis 2001, 350-1). In the Decree for the Copts of the General Council of Florence (1442), a papal bull issued by pope Eugene IV (r. 1431-47), for the first time in an official Roman Catholic doctrinal document the slogan was asserted not only with respect to heretics and schismatics, but also concerning Jews and pagans. al. (McDermott and Netland 2014) Other Protestants choose forms of inclusivism similar to Rahners (see 4b below). How could a perfect being fail to be available to all people in all the religions? Religious diversity is the fact that there are significant differences in religious belief and practice. 2-4; Meeker 2003), Hicks identist religious pluralism has been objected to as thoroughly as any recent theory in philosophy. What sense, for instance, would it make for a Zen Buddhist to undergo the Catholic rites of confession and penance? 3, 3-4). (Heim 1995, 163) This is consistent with the Christian thinking that the end pursued by Christians is in fact better than all others; thus, heaven is better than Nirvana. Abes views have been criticized by other scholars as misunderstanding some other religions claims, and as privileging Mahayana Buddhist doctrines, insofar as he understands these doctrines as being truer than others. 1939), have formulated various pluralist theories. Griffin and Cobb seem to attribute the deepest insight to those who think the ultimate reality is an impersonal, indescribable non-thing. This means making sure each employee is treated equally. Keywords: nation-state, religious diversity, social life, global conflicts, peace building. Hick realizes the incoherence of dubbing all religions true, for they have core teachings that conflict, and most religions are not shy about pointing out such conflicts. For example, all non-Christians go to hell, or all non-Buddhists fail to gain Nirvana, or to make progress towards it. 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. Water baptism, from the beginning, had been the initiation rite into Christianity, but it was still unclear what church membership strictly required. Protestant versions of exclusivism can be at least as strict as Augustines. (Smith 2003, 2012). It is a mistake to think that the ultimate is any substantial, self-identical thing, even an ineffable one. 6). Religious Diversity and its Challenges to Religious Belief.. It offers a fall from primordial spirituality into modern spiritual poverty, cured by adopting the outlook sketched above. (Dupuis 2001; Burton 2010), Historically, Jewish intellectuals have usually adopted an inclusivist rather than an exclusivist view about other religions. While this is compatible with some religion being the best in some other respect(s), the theorists using this label have in mind that many religions are equal regarding the central value(s) of religion. The impetus for this change was fueled by statements from that council (their Latin titles: Lumen Gentium, Ad Gentes, Nostra Aetate, Gaudium et Spes, Heilsoptimismus), which are in various ways positive towards non-Catholics. Religious Pluralism., Schmidt-Leukel, Perry. (Byrne 2004; Feuerbach 1967). If, for example, in his view Allah, Vishnu, and Yahweh are all real and distinct, is Hick thereby committed to polytheism? RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY. (Krkkinen 2003; Netland 2001) The most famous of these has been the view (held by some Christians) that all non-Christians are doomed to an eternity of conscious suffering in hell. Importantly, he construes the various religious goals as experiences obtaining in this life and continuing beyond. Nor can he be fruitful and multiply while living as a celibate Buddhist monk. These are the undisputed facts of religious diversity. (Dupuis 2001, 127-9) Whether these non-Catholics are thought to be in the church by a non-standard means, or whether they are said to be not in the church in reality but only in desire, it was held that they were saved by Gods grace. one? In the terms explained above, a religion claims to have a diagnosis (section 1 above). According to Pew, it has a Christian majority (52% of the population), while the other half of the population is formed by two sizeable minorities: Hindus (close to 20%) and Muslims (about 15%). This encompasses the idea that physical reality, the terrestrial plane, is contained within and controlled by a more real intermediate plane (that is, the subtle, animic, or psychic plane) which is in turn contained and controlled by the celestial plane. Religions span national, geographic, cultural and ethnic boundaries and may be the focus of individual and family identification Religious institutions and observances play an important role in catering for people's social, psychological and cultural needs as well as their spiritual needs. In the first case, a person who is killed in an accident on her way to be baptized would nonetheless be in the church. 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. The following are the characteristics of diversity: Linguistic Diversity Regional Diversity Religious Diversity Linguistic Diversity (Sharma 1999, ch. Catholics are exhorted to patient, friendly dialogue with members of other religions. Some characteristics of religion are the worship of gods or prophets, beliefs in a system of norms and values, symbology or places of worship. Physical appearance becomes a way of allowing particular groups of people to feel that they are . Hick doesnt argue for the salvific or cure-delivering equality of all religions. But Stenmarks some-are-equally-right view can also be seen as a form of core pluralism, the core being truths about the one God and our need for relationship with God. (Abe 1985). The religious composition and social context varies considerably by generation. 3. 7; Griffin 2005b). Legenhausen, Hajj Muhammad [Gary Carl]. This was a polemic against non-Mahayana versions of Buddhist dharma (teaching). (Netland 2001, 23-54) Theories of religious diversity have largely been driven by attacks on and defenses of such claims, and discussions continue within the realm of Christian theology. We could loosely paraphrase Hicks view as being that all religions are false, not that all their teachings are false (for there is much ethical and practical agreement among them), but rather that their core claims about the main object of religious experience and pursuit equally contain falsehoods. Another naive exclusivist view which is rejected by most theorists is that all who are not full-fledged members of the best religion fail to get the cure. A vast diversity of religious and spiritual traditions exists, and your clients may be affiliated with any of them. Religious diversity is the coexistence of more than one religion in the same setting. In this article, religious pluralism refers to a theory about the diversity of religions. In other words, this Ultimate Reality, due to the various qualities of human minds, appears to various people as personae, such as God, the Trinity, Allah, Vishnu, and also as impersonae such as Emptiness, Nirvana, Nirguna Brahman, and the Dao. 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. Further, it respects and does not try to eliminate all these differences, and so makes genuine dialogue between members of the religions possible. (Cohn-Sherbok 2005). 3) The highest level in some sense is the human Spirit, the deep self which underlies the self of ordinary experience. Diversity is a wide array of people that come from different backgrounds, lifestyles, social experiences, races, and religions. John Cobbs Whiteheadian Complementary Pluralism., Hasker, William. For example, both Christians and Buddhists have adopted religious-diversity-celebrating rhetoric while clearly denying anything described above in this article as a kind of pluralism about religious diversity. (Dupuis 2000, 91-2). Facts and Theories of Religious Diversity, Abe, Masao. Many have objected that Hicks pluralism is not merely a theory about religions, but is itself a competitor in the field, offering a diagnosis and cure which disagrees with those of the world religions. Most people understand that the religious landscape is a very diverse place. These qualities include but are not limited to: being humble, reasonable, kind, broad-minded, open-minded, informed, cosmopolitan, modern, properly appreciative of difference, non-bigoted, tolerant, being opposed to proselytizing (attempts to convince those outside the religion to convert to it), anti-colonialist, and anti-imperialist. ]Religion and religious conceptions, beyond being systems of belief and patterns of worship . Diversity is the differences in colour, ethnicity, abilities, age, gender, beliefs, interests, socioeconomic (class), marital or partnership status, sexual orientation, geographic, academic/professional backgrounds, opinions, backgrounds, thinking, experiences and many other characteristics. Heim strenuously objects to pluralist theories that they impose uniformity on the various religions. An uninformed person, noting certain commonalities of religious belief and practice, may suppose that all religions are the same, namely, that there are no significant differences between religious traditions. Roughly, pluralistic approaches to religious diversity say that, within bounds, one religion is as good as any other. (Burton 2010). Exclusivism, Inclusivism, Pluralism: The Tripolar Typology Clarified and Reaffirmed., Sharma, Arvind. No Wasted Journey: A Theological Autobiography., Stenmark, Mikael. This view has not been widely accepted because the Process theology and philosophy on which it is based has not been widely accepted. If the core is salvifically effective practice, then all will be equal in that each is equally well a means to obtaining the cure. Of adult Americans, 89% believe in God, down slightly from 2007. 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. Here we can survey only a few of the criticisms that have been made. The context of this statement was not a discussion of the fate of non-Christians, but rather a political struggle between the pope and the king of France. 1933) and English convert to Islam, Martin Lings (1909-2005) who was a biographer of Muhammad. However, such a person is probably only thinking of large, respectable, and historically important religions. Heim suggests that we should instead assume that other religions both pursue and achieve real and distinct religious salvations (goals or ends). (Dupuis 2001, 86-9), However, what about Jews, pagans, unbaptized babies, or people who never have a chance to hear the Christian message? 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). The following was edited from Brie Loskota's opening remarks at Reimagining Religion: A Conversation about the Future of Religion, held at University of Southern California on February 9, 2017.. We are in a period of flux, a period of rapid and continuous change, where the old order is being torn down, where people are disaffiliating from groups, and where institutional life is being .

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