Reacting to religious diversity

Conflicts involving
religious exclusivism

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Conflicts between exclusivism and religious pluralism:

Exclusivism and religious pluralism are two opposing ways of looking at world religions in relation to one's own faith.

Most people in North America and the rest of the world probably take an exclusivist position: they believe that their religion, and only theirs, is completely true. Most believe that their God communicated universal truths by special revelation given to their spiritual ancestors or patriarchs. This knowledge has been passed on to present-day humanity, often in the form of religious texts. People hold tenaciously to their particular faith, believing it to be God's revealed wish for all humanity. They view the Gods of other religions as false. Some may even view other faith groups or denominations within their own religion to be false.

Harold Coward commented:

"Many religions exhibit an inner tendency to claim to be the true religion, to offer the true revelation as the true way of salvation or release. It appears to be self-contradictory for such a religion to accept any expression of ultimate reality other than its own" ₁

It is probably difficult for them to recognize much merit in other religions. _2,3 The only valid parts of other religions that many can acknowledge are instances where they agree with their own religion -- beliefs arrived at either by accident, or by observing nature, or by following their conscience.

Exclusivism and religious freedom:

Exclusivism, the belief that one's religion is true and that all others are false, can develop into hatred of other faith groups and their members. Religious exclusivism is often a major cause of much of the world's civil unrest, civil wars, mass crimes against humanity and genocide. Yet, the U.S. and Canada have enjoyed a high level of religious freedom and a relative absence of religiously motivated conflict -- even though a mainly non-violent form of exclusivism is probably predominant here. 

The American and Canadian public have a very high regard for human rights, including religious freedom. Thus, they are willing to tolerate other religious beliefs, even though they consider them to be false. If this is true, then it would appear that the best way to reduce religiously based friction throughout the world is for governments and religious institutions to promote human rights generally, religious freedom in particular, and respect for minority religious beliefs.

Exclusiveness and pluralism in the Bible:

The authors of the Christian Scriptures (New Testament) were often exclusivist. Some of the most frequently quoted passages reinforce this belief. For example: