Religious Pluralism: Genuine and Fake

America and Religious Pluralism

The United States of America prides itself on being a religiously pluralistic society, both culturally and politically.  Unlike many societies, there is no established state religion, and the U.S. Constitution legally guarantees people freedom of religion.  This is supposed to guarantee a culture of religious pluralism, in which people adhering to many different religious traditions and communities are free to maintain their unique religious beliefs and practices, as long as they do not violate the rights and freedoms of others or the laws of the United States.  In a religiously pluralistic society, the government is restricted in its role, such that it must refrain from interfering in religious matters and instead must only act within the secular sphere. This allows people of all kinds of religious beliefs to live together in society and to participate in the government, while still holding to their greatly differing religious beliefs about many important matters.  This is what religious pluralism is supposed to mean. But there is another, very different form of “pluralism” that one can often see advocated in American culture.  

A Religious Litmus Test

During a confirmation hearing in June of 2017, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont questioned Russell Vought, who was nominated to be deputy director of Office Management and Budget, about his Christian theological beliefs.^[1]Camila Domonoske, “Is it Hateful to Believe in Hell?  Bernie Sanders’ Questions Prompt Backlash.” … Continue reading  Sanders read a quote from a piece Vought had previously written, “Muslims do not simply have a deficient theology.  They do not know God because they rejected Jesus Christ, his Son, and they stand condemned,” and then asked Vought if he thought that statement was “Islamophobic.”  “Absolutely not, Senator,” Vought responded, explaining that he was a Christian and wrote those comments as an expression of his Christian theological beliefs. As Sanders continued to attack him for suggesting that non-Christians stand condemned, Vought explained, “As a Christian, I believe that all individuals are made in the image of God and are worthy of dignity and respect regardless of their religious beliefs.”  Unmoved, Sanders suggested that Vought’s statement was not “respectful of other religions,” before concluding, “I would simply say, Mr. Chairman, that this nominee is really not someone who is what this country is supposed to be about. I will vote no.”^[2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=152&v=jjQSwYV5Qzs&feature=emb_logo

Now, it is common knowledge that the Christian Scriptures clearly teach that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved and that people who do not believe in Jesus Christ stand condemned (John 3:18, 36; I John 5:12; Acts 4:12).  These are some of the basics of Christian theology. When Sanders claimed that Vought was “not someone who is what this country is supposed to be about,” and voted against him being appointed to a government office because of his beliefs, he was in effect saying that anyone who is a Christian is “not someone who is what this country is supposed to be about,” and that all Christians are unfit for government office.  Now, it would be one thing if the Christian belief that non-Christians stand condemned actually did lead to “Islamophobia” and being disrespectful of other religions, but the teachings of the Christian Scriptures clearly contradict such an idea, as Vought himself explained; the Christian Bible clearly teaches that all human beings should be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of whether they currently are saved or stand condemned before God.  But apparently, to Sanders, the very suggestion that differences of religious belief might be extremely important and have eternal consequences is intolerable, regardless of what the New Testament says. For Sanders, apparently, the way to be “respectful” of other religions is to say that these religious differences do not really matter much.

Fake “Pluralism”

The ideas expressed by Senator Bernie Sanders when he applied a religious litmus test to someone nominated to a government position is just one example of a common phenomenon in American culture that I will label as “fake pluralism.”  To put it crudely, what fake pluralism says is that you can believe in any religion you want, as long as you do not actually believe it. This is, in effect, the idea that is implicitly expressed when people say things like, “all religions basically teach the same thing.”  Now, even a very basic study of the Scriptures and doctrines of various major religions will show that nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is that different religions make mutually contradictory truth claims about very important matters. It makes an enormous difference which of these truth claims are actually true, not only with regards to a possibly existing afterlife or transcendent realm, but also very practically with regards to how we live our lives right now in this world.^[3]See God is not One: The Eight Rival Religions that Run the World (New York: HarperCollins, 2010)   

When people say things like, “all religions basically teach the same thing,” this is not really an honest attempt to describe the teachings of various religions.  It is, rather, a prescriptive attempt to get all people, regardless of what religion they espouse, to conform their beliefs to be within a certain particular acceptable range of beliefs on important issues, regardless of whether the actual teachings of their religion line up with that range of beliefs or not.  Thus, while claiming to be in favor of “diversity,” this form of religious “pluralism” actually entails the opposite: attempting to eliminate diversity by conforming all people’s religious beliefs to coincide with a very particular set of beliefs. While claiming to advocate being “respectful” of other people’s religions, this form of religious “pluralism” actually entails the opposite: disrespecting other people’s deeply held religious convictions by glossing over the highly significant unique particularites of each religion and pretending that they do not matter.  Saying that it does not matter what religious beliefs someone holds is the same thing as saying people’s religious beliefs are meaningless, in other words, not really true.^[4]Consider how the term “personal religious beliefs” is often used in popular discourse. While one might think that “personal religious beliefs” would refer to the most important and basic … Continue reading This is the exact opposite of diversity, of being respectful, of genuine pluralism.

So why does fake pluralism, in spite of its unreasonable nature, continue to find advocates? It seems to stem from a fear that if people regard their religious differences as more important than the fact that they are members of the same secular nation, this will lead to intolerance and enmity. This fear is to some degree understandable, but it is no excuse for making unreasonable claims and judgments. Christianity and Islam, for example, each claim to be a global community that is centered around service to God, the creator of the entire universe.^[5]I will set aside, for now, the quesiton of whether it is reasonable to claim that Christians and Muslims worship the “same” God. It is simply unreasonable to expect Christians or Muslims to prioritize being part of a secular nation over their Christian or Muslim identity. And the Scriptures of both Christianity and Islam clearly make claims that membership in their respective communities in some way provides exclusive access to a right relationship with God.^[6]Examples from the New Testament have been cited above. Examples from the Quran include 3:85, 5:10, 5: 72-3, 5: 86, 9:30, and 9:63. But it is perfectly possible for people to prioritize the importance of their religious differences over their national identity, while at the same time living together in a peaceful and tolerant manner within the same, religiously pluralistic, secular society.

Genuine Pluralism

A genuine religious pluralism seeks to truly understand the unique beliefs of each particular religion.  It seeks to understand why people of other religions believe the way they do, and how those differences of belief about very important questions have very important practical implications for how people live their lives and what values they hold.  And it does this while showing respect and tolerance to those who believe differently. It is, of course, much easier to live together in a society if everyone has the same religious beliefs, which is why so many societies have had established state religions.  But if we seek to have a truly pluralistic society, this is the difficult task to which we are called. If we want to be intellectually honest, we cannot avoid this task by trying to conform everyone’s beliefs to be basically the same under the guise of (fake) “pluralism.”  Instead, we must engage in the difficult task of living alongside people who have very different beliefs about some of life’s most important questions, while still, through tolerance, cooperation, and compromise, working together for the common good.