Religious Inclusivism

“Inclusivist” theologians, as they were often called, tried to keep in balance two divergent themes: (1) God’s salvation is somehow based upon the person and work of Jesus Christ, and in this sense Jesus has a special relationship with God and is unlike any other religious figure; and (2) God’s salvation made available in Christ is also available to adherents of other religions just as they are, so there is no need for followers of other religions to be converted to Christ. Thus, while the fullest expression of God’s truth and revelation are in Jesus Christ and the Christian Scriptures, other religions can be accepted positively as part of God’s plan for humankind.

Religious Pluralism

By the late twentieth century, however, there were growing numbers of those identifying themselves as Christians who explicitly rejected such inclusivistic views and called for a radical pluralism in which Christianity is just one among many possible ways of responding to the divine. Religious pluralism, as understood by these thinkers, means that all the major religions are more or less equally true and effective ways of responding to the religious ultimate; no single religion—including Christianity—can claim legitimately to be superior to others in terms of truth or in relating appropriately to the divine.

There are many reasons that religious pluralism, as defined above, is so attractive today. We are much more aware of religious diversity today, due to globalization, increased immigration, international travel, and the impact of media and the worldwide web. As the West encounters religious others, there is often the realization that Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs are not at all as previously imagined; they are often intelligent and morally respectable people who are similar to Westerners in many respects. Furthermore, in light of the tragic history of Western colonialism during the past four centuries, many have a deep sense of “post-colonialist guilt” over past injustices. It is often assumed that the way to atone for the past sins of colonialism is to accept uncritically other cultural and religious perspectives. The desire to affirm the increasing diversity of the West is often accompanied by the assumption that doing so means not rejecting other religions as false or somehow deficient. It is not surprising, then, that religious diversity is causing many, including Christians, to question traditional Christian perspectives. Peter Berger captures the spirit of the times when he observes,

We do have a problem of belief, and it not only raises the question of why we should believe in God but why we should believe in this God. There are others, after all, and today they are made available in an unprecedented way through the religious supermarket of modern pluralism.¹⁰

Pluralistic perspectives are found today not just among academics; they are widely adopted in popular culture as well. Based upon an extensive study of Americans’ views on religious diversity, sociologist Robert Wuthnow reports that 42% of all respondents agreed with the statement, “All religions basically teach the same thing,” and 46% said that they believed that God’s word is revealed in other writings apart from the Bible, such as the sacred texts of Muslims or Hindus.¹¹

2. Religious Pluralism: Clarifying the Issues

When it comes to the subject of Christian faith and other religions, we are dealing not with just one question but rather with a set of interrelated issues. Thus, it is important that we clarify issues and make some basic distinctions. A helpful place to begin is by considering the term “religious pluralism,” for it is used in different ways.

Religious Diversity Exists

“Religious pluralism” can be used in a strictly descriptive sense to mean religious diversity. To say, then, that Europe or North America is religiously pluralistic means simply that they are increasingly characterized by religious diversity. This is undeniable, and by itself is not particularly controversial.

Religious Diversity Should Be Legally Accepted

But more often “religious pluralism” includes more than merely the fact of religious diversity. The term usually connotes more or less positive attitudes toward such diversity, or acceptance, in some sense, of religious diversity. But there are varying degrees of acceptance. At a minimal level there is the legal acceptance of diversity. In many democratic societies today, there is an explicit legal commitment to freedom of religion. Sometimes, as in the United States, this is combined with the formal prohibition of governmental sanction of any particular religion. Most Christians welcome such guarantees of freedom of religion and acknowledge readily that such rights also apply to adherents of non-Christian religions.

Religious Diversity Should Be Socially Accepted

But the legal acceptance of religious diversity is, at best, a minimalist kind of acceptance. One can, for example, acknowledge the legal rights of, say, Hindus or Muslims to live in the United States but fail to grant them social acceptance as full members of American society. This suggests the importance of what we might call the social acceptance of religious others.

In a weaker sense, social acceptance might involve developing friendships with religious others and cooperating with them in a variety of social activities. But in this sense, social acceptance can be somewhat ambivalent, for while it accepts social relationships with religious others, it might also disapprove of, to some extent, what religious others represent. There is also a sense in which one does not approve of other religions.

A stronger sense of social acceptance includes an enthusiastic embrace of religious diversity as something good. Acceptance here goes well beyond mere tolerance to a celebration of religious diversity as something inherently positive. While the enthusiastic affirmation of religious diversity can be compatible with orthodox Christianity and the view that the Christian faith is distinctively true, it is often found among those who have reinterpreted traditional Christian teachings in various ways. Many in this category regard other religions, along with Christianity, as instruments through which God’s truth and saving grace are mediated.

All Major Religions Are Equally True and Legitimate

As a technical term in religious studies and theology, however, “religious pluralism” refers to a view that goes well beyond just the social acceptance of religious others. Religious pluralism in this sense is the view that all of the major religions are (roughly) equally true and provide equally legitimate ways in which to respond to the divine reality. No single religion—including Christianity—can legitimately claim to be uniquely true and normative for all people in all cultures at all times. It is in this sense that we will be using the term “religious pluralism” throughout this essay.