Some Critiques of Religious Pluralism, Part 1

This was originally a 16-minute discourse. I chopped it into two parts to fit into the standard YouTube format (under 10 minutes).

A lot of us religious pluralists see ourselves as advocating a more "evolved" way of facing religious diversity, but we have to remember, first and foremost, that pluralists are very much in the minority in any given population. It sometimes comes as a shock to pluralists that their views-- which they themselves often see as generally open-minded and conciliatory-- might actually be offensive to many in the believing majority.

While I consider myself a pluralist, I've become much more cautious in my own approach to religious diversity. Simple formulae such as "we're all talking about the same God" aren't as pluralistic as we might think they are. Even the more sophisticated formulation of this sentiment, "The great religious traditions are culturally mediated responses to ultimate reality," quite possibly smacks of a certain religious imperialism.

This video is the first half of a discussion of the problems with many of the major pluralistic viewpoints. Part 2 is the conclusion.

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