Category Archives: Pluralism

Is religious belief just a matter of cultural conditioning?

Walking With Giants Posted on by

‘If you were born in Saudi Arabia,’ the argument goes, ‘you would probably be a Muslim.  If you were born in the Bible Belt of the US, you would probably be a Christian.’  Conclusion: religious belief and commitment are conditioned by one’s culture and environment.  Truth, evidence, reason and personal decision have nothing to do with it.

But the argument cuts both ways.  A person born in France, for example, would probably be a secularist rather than either a Muslim or a Christian.  …

What should we do with Christianity’s exclusive truth claims?

Walking With Giants Posted on by

One of the most frequently-heard objections to the Christian faith is this: ‘You Christians are perfectly entitled to belief whatever you want.  But it’s arrogant and narrow-minded of you to suppose that you have an exclusive claim on the truth.  Stop trying to tell us that you are right and that everyone else is wrong.  In a pluralist society it’s too exclusive a way of talking, and in a democratic society it’s too divisive.’

Tim Keller recently addressed this issue in a talk given at the University of Berkeley:-

He began by acknowledging that there is frequently a problem with religious dogmatism. …

Why pluralism?

Walking With Giants Posted on by

How did it come to be virtually taken for granted that there are many paths to God, and that for any one of these (including Christianity) to make any claim to exclusiveness is either ignorant or arrogant?

John Stott discusses the various arguments for religious pluralism that have evolved in recent decades:-

1.  The new global consciousness.  Stimulated by threats to the environments, fears of nuclear conflict, and the continued existence of North/South economic divide. …

Confused?

Walking With Giants Posted on by

A social worker in Nigeria once visited a youth in one of the back streets of Lagos. On his bedside table he found the following books: the Bible, The Book of Common Prayer, the Qur’an, three copies of Watchtower, a biography of Karl Marx, a book of yoga exercises, and – what the poor fellow evidently needed most – a popular paperback entitled How to Stop Worrying.

Stott, The Contemporary Christian, 296…

The Christian approach to other religions

Walking With Giants Posted on by

I.  The Challenge of Religious Pluralism

1.  Only a generation ago, the following lines would have been sung enthusiastically in Christian gatherings, especially when thoughts were focussed on the theme of world missions:-

Let the song go round the earth,
Lands where Islam’s sway
Darkly broods o’er home and hearth,
Cast their bonds away.

Nowadays, however, the invitation to sing such lines would lead to puzzlement, embarrassment, or even anger.  The sentiment contained in this hymn seems patronising, arrogant, and just plain mistaken.…

Pluralism and its impact

Walking With Giants Posted on by

D.A Carson, in The Gagging of God, has some helpful things to say about pluralism and its impact.  Among the different forms that pluralism takes, the following are to be distinguished:-

1. Empirical Pluralism. This refers to the sheer and actual diversity of race, value systems, heritage, language, culture, and religion in many Western and some other nations. Although it gives rise to particular challenges and opportunities, it is neither intrinsically good nor bad.…