Intellectual Responses To Religious Pluralism

Religious Pluralism: Common Challenges

At this time it is appropriate to briefly highlight some common challenges and difficulties in present-day worlds of religious pluralism.

Secularization

Secularization has diverse meanings.  Secularization theory offers an easy answer to the problem of pluralism: religious pluralism does not matter because in a secularized social system, religion does not matter.  One of the secularization theory’s ironies is that it does not necessarily mean that religion becomes unproblematic.  On the contrary, religious pluralism becomes more controversial and challenging precisely at the time when secularization is in the process of losing some of its significance as a force shaping social and cultural life.

Religion and State

In England today, it seems that the practical problems raised by religious pluralism all call into question the status, the nature, and the significance of the Church of England.[^16]   Some scholars outline the current debate on possible solutions for reforming religious representation in the House of Lords in order to take into account the increasing religious diversity in England.  They explain the various options, together with the underlying issues, advantages, and drawbacks of each.  Some scholars propose solutions that have long characterized this type of debate in England: disestablishment, political institutionalization of religious plurality, or the legal status quo with a rewriting of the role played by the Church of England.

Forced Conversion

An obvious issue of difficulty is the missionary activity of some religions which occurs when the superimposition of one’s own criterion upon the other is followed by efforts to convert the other.  Difficulty ensues when this desire and direction to carry one’s preaching and teaching to others is made in a militant or exclusive manner.  Religious pluralism seeks to promote the freedom of religion and conscience as a fundamental human right.  In this situation, religious pluralism, which is based on the right to religious freedom can be in turmoil.

Exclusive Claims

The phrase “religious exclusivist” is sometimes used by philosophers such as Peter van Inwagen as a label for anyone who claims that his or her perspective on a religious issue is true and that any incompatible perspective is false.  Exclusivists say that their religion is the only true religion and that those who adhere to it are saved.  A dangerous threat to the creative contribution of pluralism is that at times, some members of religions with exclusive claims react to the challenge of pluralism with militant exclusivism.  This may generate a violent ideological fundamentalism.  The fallacy of fundamentalism, or even divine intervention and dispensation, can be exploited to justify absolutism and exclusivity, thereby ending all hope of a solution based on dialogue, while claiming unrestricted license to kill and destroy.