Religious Pluralism
page
maintained by Rev. Dr. Ian Ritchie
| This page is dedicated to exploration of the issues surrounding religious pluralism. It is an
obvious fact that we live in a society that has people of many faiths, and no faith at all. What is the best way to
live in such a society and what is the most appropriate response? At the beginning, it should be helpful to
distinguish between merely accepting the reality of the many different faiths around us, and religious pluralism
as an ideology. Many people agree that we should accept the multi-faith fact around us, and embrace the rich
cultural diversity this brings us. But religious pluralism as an ideology asserts that no religion can claim to have
ultimate truth, and that no religion should ever claim to have the truth. Often, as a corollary ideological religious
pluralism asserts that all religions are really saying the same thing. While it is one thing to embrace diversity, it
is quite another to say that all religions are the same. In fact, the latter sentiment is usually found offensive by
most of the people who actually profess any significant religious faith of any kind.
I lived in northern Nigeria from 1980 to 1985, where I learned the Hausa language and culture, and observed firsthand the challenges of living in a pluralistic society where Islam is the dominant religion. Later, I devoted Chapter 7 of my doctoral dissertation to the problem of Pluralism and Interfaith Dialogue, with special reference to Islam in West Africa. NEW!! This spring I am teaching the Queen's University Spring Term course: Theological Responses To Religious Diversity To see materials for that course go to the THEO 679 Homepage. For the course syllabus go to SYLLABUS. The table below gives a list of pieces I have written and links I suggest on the questions of religious pluralism:
Back to Christianity and Culture homepage to contact Ian Ritchie, go to the CONTACT PAGE This page was last updated on May 22, 2003 |