RELIGIOUS PLURALISM: AS A WAY OF LIVING TOGETHER IN PEACE AND HARMONY
RELIGIOUS PLURALISM: AS A WAY OF LIVING TOGETHER IN PEACE AND HARMONY

Summary/Abstract: As is well known, the issue of living with “the other” was introduced as a key problem of humanity with the quarrel between two of the sons of Adam, Cain and Abel, whose story is told by both the Bible and the Qur’an. This problem has become very complicated in our own day. While, on the one hand, increasing efforts regarding the constitutional state, supremacy of the law, democracy, and human rights have yielded positive results in some parts of the world, in others, arbitrary administrations, dictatorships, violations of human rights, and the abuse or misuse of religious beliefs have continued to lead to conflict, exploitation, oppression, persecution, war, and genocide. All these positive and negative developments are of direct concern to all of us. This is because they have been taking place in our global world, the “global village” in which the adherents of different faiths, cultures, and civilizations come into contact with each other very easily, thanks to rapid technological development and new means of communication. Thus, the days when “religion” meant only one’s own religion have passed, and people are faced more acutely with the question of other religious traditions as well. As Alan Race indicates, in this new period “changing patterns of mobility have shattered older conceptions of the religious history of the world which viewed the faiths as confined, culturally, and geographically, within particular boundaries…” Furthermore, our contemporary, intercommunicating, and interdependent universe has made us more clearly, but also more painfully, aware than ever before of the multiplicity of different religions and cultures. Thus, the presence, power, and richness of others have vigorously entered our own awareness. Because of these developments, the issue of living together with the other has become an important problem which must be overcome by developing new models that urge us to be more tolerant of others, accepting them as they accept themselves, and respecting their otherness. [...]

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