John Lennon bemoaned the fact that everybody’s talking about ism, ism, ism in his song “Give Peace a Chance.” Not much has changed regarding that sentiment since Lennon recorded his song during him and Yoko’s infamous Bed-in in 1969. Ironically, this idea that everyone should just abandon truth and embrace each other for the sake of peace has developed into a new ‘ism’- pluralism. Therefore, for the next two days, the topic of pluralism will be discussed and debated at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary as part of the Greer-Heard Dialogue.
Is Jesus’ claim that “no one comes to the Father except by me” valid? Can’t a good, moral Buddhist get to heaven? Don’t all religious roads lead to God? These are the questions that pluralism raises as it grows in popularity in the United States and the rest of the world. This isn’t just a big city issue. It permeates our entire society. In fact, it’s so in vogue they should probably change the name to ipluralism to better match its popularity. Think I’m overstating things; let me put it to you like this. Statistics tell us that 52% of all Christians in America believe other religions, other can Christianity, can be true. In fact, more than 1/3 of Evangelicals hold this position. This means that at lease 30% of the attendees of biblical conservative churches disagree with the notion that Jesus Christ alone provides the only means for salvation.
Harvard University has launched what is called the Pluralism Project, an effort that on the surface seems very academic. However, if you read carefully, you find that their aim is not merely to educate people about different religions, but to bring them to a point of acceptance of other religious views as equally valid. Turn on the TV and you see how reality shows intentionally put people of different faiths and lifestyles together to promote tolerance and demonize exclusivity, thus further ingraining pluralism into the minds of Americans, including Christians.
The fact is that the Bible and Christ are unique and make exclusive claims, claims that were not meant to be absorbed into to larger religious landscape but stand out and above everything as the only beacon of truth regarding God, sin and salvation.
Check out www.4truth.net for learn the facts regarding Christianity and other world religions.
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