In Response to Religious Pluralism

Religious pluralism is loosely defined as peaceful relations among different religions. Most Christians would eagerly concur with this concept. However, this "concept" is becoming a religion in its own right. It is being taken to heightened levels of classification. Not only now do religious pluralists believe in peaceful relations, but they also consider all religions to be equal along with their teachings.

John Hick, the "father of modern religious pluralism", mainly began his push for religious pluralism out of pity. He once was a Christian, and then he saw and met people of other faiths. He saw that these people, too, had good morals (just as good as his fellow Christians), but according to his faith weren't going to be able to go to heaven as well. He thought this was very unfair and his heart went out to them. So he found this way to believe where everyone of different faiths could go to heaven and be merry... Religious pluralism.

As a Christian I believe in one absolute truth; Jesus is God and the only way to heaven. This would contradict the teachings of religious pluralism. For a pluralist to look at Christianity and what I believe and say it can sit side by side with other religions is ridiculous. A pluralist must either distort my beliefs and Christianity to make them fit pluralism or deny them and realize one cannot be an inclusive pluralist. You see Christianity does not accept other beliefs as being truth. They may have some truth in them or good teachings, but it comes down to basic contradicting statements. Christianity believes in one way to God, and religious pluralism believes in many ways to God. If Christianity is true then pluralism cannot possibly be true because Christianity believes in one way to heaven. If pluralism is true then it negates Christianity as being true, which in turn gives pluralists an issue to deal with. Because then there would be a fallacy in that not all religions can be accepted by a pluralist.

This is not to say that Christians should live at unrest with other religions. We still believe in treating people of different faiths with respect and tolerance. But tolerance does not have to mean accepting what they believe to be true. It just means that we can recognize that, yes; there are people with different beliefs, and we should respect them. We should love those people and try to direct them toward Jesus and His love for them , thus helping those people that John Hick felt bad for. We don't have to join a false religion that suits everyone's needs supposedly, just lead them to the one absolute truth of Jesus.