Home > Religious pluralism
Religious pluralism is the belief that one can overcome religious differences between different religions, and denominational conflicts within the same religion. For most religious traditions, religious pluralism is essentially based on a non-literal view of one's religious traditions, hence allowing for respect to be engendered between different traditions on core principles rather than more marginal issues. It is perhaps summarized as an attitude which rejects focus on immaterial differences, and instead gives respect to those beliefs held in common.The existence of religious pluralism depends on the existence of freedom of religion. Freedom of religion is when different religions of a particular region possess the same rights of worship and public expression. Freedom of religion is consequently weakened when one religion is given rights or privileges denied to others, as in certain European countries where Roman Catholicism or regional forms of Protestantism have special status. For example see the entries on the Lateran Treaty and Church of England; also, in Saudi Arabia the public practice of religions other than Islam is forbidden. Religious freedom has not existed at all in some communist countries where the state restricts or prevents the public expression of religious belief and may even actively persecute individual religions (see for example North Korea).
1 History of religious pluralism
Religious pluralism has existed in the Indian Subcontinent since the rise of Buddhism around 500 BC and has widened in the course of several muslim settlements ( Delhi Sultanate 1276-1526 AD and the Mughal Empire 1526-1857 AD). In the 8th century, ZoroastrianismZoroastrianism was adapted from an earlier, polytheistic faith by Zarathushtra ( Zoroaster) in Persia between 1400 and 1200 BC (although, in the absence of written records, some scholars estimate as late as 600 BC). Its alternative name, Mazdaism comes fr established in India as Zoroastrians fled from PersiaPersia is the historical name for the state of Iran. The name was used in the West due to the ancient Greek name for Iran, Persis''. Persia is used to describe the nation of Iran, its people, or its ancient empire. The name Persia comes from a province in to IndiaThe Republic of India is a large multicultural country in South Asia, with a population of over one billion. The Indian economy is the fourth largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, and is the world's second-fastest growing economy. in large numbers, where they were given refuge. The colonial phase ushered in by the British lasted until 1947 and furthered conversions to Christianism among low caste Hindus. In 1948 as many as 20,000 Jews Bene JewsBene Israel Total population: 65,000 (est. Significant populations in: Israel 60,000 (est. Bombay area 4000 (est. Kolkata (est. Delhi (est. Ahmadabad (est. Other English-speaking countries 2,000 (est. LanguageTraditionally, Marathi; those in Israel, mostl and Cochin JewsCochin Jews are the ancient Jews and their descendants of the South Indian port city of Cochin. They traditionally spoke the Malayalam tongue, native to the state of Kerala, in India. Several rounds of immigration of the Jewish diaspora to Kerala, led to lived in India, though most of them have since emigrated to Israel.
The rise of religious pluralism in the modern West is closely associated with the Reformation and the Enlightenment. Religions like Judaism and Islam had existed alongside Christianity in many parts of Europe, but they were not allowed the same freedoms as the established form of Christianity. New forms of Christianity were suppressed by force (see for example Lombard heresy and Huguenots). Early forms of Protestantism sought the same privileges as those previously claimed by Roman Catholicism; In Protestant England, Scotland, and Ireland, there were severe legal and social on Jews and Roman Catholics until the passing of acts of emancipation in the nineteenth century.
Similar restrictions on smaller Protestant sects who disagreed with the national churches in these countries prompted such groups as the Pilgrim Fathers to seek freedom in North America, although many historians have noted that when these groups became the majority they sometimes sought to deny this freedom to Jews and Roman Catholics. However, Protestant and freethinking philosophers like John Locke and Thomas Paine, who argued for tolerance and moderation in religion, were strongly influential on the Founding Fathers, and the modern religious freedom and equality underlying religious pluralism in the United States are guaranteed by First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which states:
- "Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."
In the United States, therefore, religious pluralism can be said to be overseen by the secular state, which guarantees equality under law between different religions, whether these religion have a handful of adherents or many millions. The state also guarantees the freedom of those who choose not to belong to any religion.
Freedom of religion encompasses all religions acting within the law in a particular region, whether or not an individual religion accepts that other religions are legitimate or that freedom of religious choice and religious plurality in general are good things. Many religions in the United States, for example, teach that theirs is the only way to salvation and to religious truth, and some of them would even argue that it is necessary to suppress the falsehoods taught by other religions. The Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, with many other Protestant sects, argue fiercely against Roman Catholicism, and Fundamentalist Christians of all kinds teach that religious practices like those of paganism and witchcraft are pernicious and even Satanic.
