Getting beyond diversity to religious
pluralism

Harvard professor says no one religion has a monopoly on truth

by Raymond F. Kersting

SANTA FE, NM - About 100 people from a variety of faith traditions gathered
recently in a city known for religious diversity to talk about getting
beyond diversity - to pluralism.

"Diversity is just diversity," said Dr. Diane Eck, a professor of
comparative religion at Harvard University. "What we do with it is what
matters."

Eck was the featured speaker at the May 24-26 event, "Facing the Future in a
New Religious America: Beyond Diversity to Religious Pluralism."

Pluralism, as she defines it, comes about when people of different faith
traditions respect each other and work together for common purposes.

Eck is the founder and director of the Pluralism Project, in which graduate
students research and document the changing face of religion in the United
States, which leads the world in religious diversity.

The Spanish Conquistadors of the 16th century, the first Europeans to settle
the region around Santa Fe ("Holy Faith"), would never have imagined that
their Roman Catholicism would one day be one of 43 different religions in
the community.

Santa Fe still has Catholic churches, but it also has congregations of
several Protestant denominations, as well as a Buddhist temple, Jewish
synagogues, a Sikh community and large Muslim mosque - nearly 150 faith
communities in all.

Virtually every community in the nation is experiencing a similar
proliferation of communities of belief - which comes as a shock to people
accustomed to thinking of the United States as a Christian nation.

According to Eck, there now are more Muslims in the country than
Episcopalians or Presbyterians. And Hindi and Buddhists communities are
growing in every region - alongside Protestants, Catholics, and Jews.

Since the terror attacks of last Sept. 11, she said, surprise about growing
religious diversity has turned into fear of people who belong to different
religions, as well as a new curiosity, as Americans begin to realize that
they don't know much about the religions of their neighbors.

The big question now - and the topic of Eck's book, A New Religious
America - is how the nation will deal with its new religious diversity.

The Pluralism Project has identified three main responses:

* Exclusivism: The belief that one's own religion and faith tradition is the
only truth and the only way to the divine.

A recent poll commissioned by U.S. News and World Report magazine found that
77 percent of Christians believe theirs is the only true religion, as do 86
percent of non-Christians. Many exclusivists presume that others will
ultimately "be just like us" as they are assimilated into the great American
melting pot.

It was exclusivists in the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church who objected when
Lutheran bishops joined representatives of other religious traditions in
memorial services after 9/11.

* Inclusivism: The belief that, while one's own religion is true, the tent
is large enough to accommodate people of many faiths.

* Pluralism: The belief that one's own religious tradition is the context
for his or her own soul's journey, but that God is greater than any one view
of God.

According to Eck, the pluralist has "epistemological humility," recognizing
that he doesn't know all of Truth. To a pluralist, she says, the community
of belief is not a melting pot, but an orchestra - it takes a combination of
diverse elements to make something beautiful.

Eck challenged those who participated in the Santa Fe event to embrace
pluralism - active and energetic engagement with others. She compared it to
building bridges: lifelines not intended to make two sides into one, but to
enable traffic between sides. She called on people to become bridges to
people of other religions and backgrounds.

She said bridge building is needed not only between faiths, but within them,
describing the process as a search for common ground. She noted, for
instance, that there is common ground between Muslims and Catholics over
birth control.

The event was organized by the Adult Education Committee of First
Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe and co-sponsored by 28 religious
communities, both Christian and non-Christian.

        Raymond F. Kersting is stated clerk and newsletter editor of the
Presbytery
of Santa Fe.
------------------------------------------
Send your response to this article to pcusa.news@pcusa.org

Note #7202 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
Getting beyond diversity
11-June-2002
02219