The issue between pluralist and exclusivists is one that stems from a misinterpretation of the two groups as separate. What I mean by this point is that pluralism and exclusivism are the effect of a similar cause, that being the infinite nature of divine reality. In nature, most religious doctrines appear exclusivist. In the more primitive era of religious doctrines, tribal gods were beings that united the tribe but also separated the residents of that tribe from their neighboring tribes. Even within our present religious conceptions Jesus is the way the truth and the life, while liberation into Nirvana can only be achieved through Buddhism. Despite the visible contradictions that form when comparing any two religions, whether it be tribal affiliation or doctrine toward permanent happiness, all religions serve humanity as guides toward being better individual human beings. Concerning where I stand on the matter, that is why pluralist and exclusivist attitudes can reside within the same person. One can believe that their religion is the supreme and right way to reach a divine reality, while also believing that their way is not the only way to reach that divine reality. The means each religion takes usually appear contradictory, but it’s the end that unites all religions. Hick and the Dalai Lama interestingly use their separate backgrounds and religious beliefs to assert that there is no true exclusivism in religion and neither is there pluralism, but instead the great goal of religious purification of the soul through the bettering of humankind while on earth. To introduce, the issues formed when attempting to reconcile pluralism and exclusivism firstly comes from the extent that religions dominate the world. For millennia, human beings have encountered religious phenomena and recounted those phenomena through whatever sociocultural means their society had at the time. In order to get someone to believe in your subjective experience, it’s usually better to explain your experience in terminologies that they can relate to. Those terms are usually largely relevant to the natural order in which they reside. The perception of the divine during primitive eras expressed itself as what Hick refers to as, “primitive spirit-worship that expressed man’s fears of unknown forces; his reverence for nature deities expressed his sense of dependence upon realities greater than himself; and his tribal gods expressed the unity and continuity of his group over against other groups” (Hick, 638). The language we use largely reflects our ability to interact with our environment and what type of information we need to collect and share within that environment for continued survival. Different social groups such as the Chinese and Japanese that adopted Buddhism as a major religion, while much of Europe and the Middle East adopted Christianity partially because of the causal and material circumstances that dominated their cultural lives at their individual times of major religious revelation. Interestingly, Spiritual revelation has such a long history with mankind John Hick refers to humans as the religious animal.
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He reasons that the religious experiences that spurred the birth of major religions like Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam must all be pointing to the same source of divinity, but because that divinity is so infinite, it was perceived by different cultures in very seemingly different ways. Evidence of contradictions in each religion can be easily pointed to, such as when Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6). The verse taken in a literal sense may seem exclusivist but if expanded on, Jesus is viewed as more than a person for the Christian faith, but also a figure of love and inspiration and as a direct connection to divinity. To go through Jesus in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven is to go through life following his teachings and to live with love for your neighbor and yourself. Many other faiths also teach that empathy and altruism during life are keys to liberation into divinity, and remind us that our attachments and desires in the physical world will satisfy the body temporarily but will never satisfy the soul eternally. This shared purpose of permanent satisfaction or liberation from the
He reasons that the religious experiences that spurred the birth of major religions like Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam must all be pointing to the same source of divinity, but because that divinity is so infinite, it was perceived by different cultures in very seemingly different ways. Evidence of contradictions in each religion can be easily pointed to, such as when Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6). The verse taken in a literal sense may seem exclusivist but if expanded on, Jesus is viewed as more than a person for the Christian faith, but also a figure of love and inspiration and as a direct connection to divinity. To go through Jesus in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven is to go through life following his teachings and to live with love for your neighbor and yourself. Many other faiths also teach that empathy and altruism during life are keys to liberation into divinity, and remind us that our attachments and desires in the physical world will satisfy the body temporarily but will never satisfy the soul eternally. This shared purpose of permanent satisfaction or liberation from the