Philosophy of Religion in a Multi-cultural World

1. Philosophy of ReligionLecturer: Dr Victoria HarrisonDepartment of PhilosophyUniversity of Glasgow

2. Philosophy of Religion in a Multi-cultural World

4. We can interpret the world • Religiously, or • Naturalistically. • Both are rational.

5. The world is religiously-ambiguous

6. Monotheistic Non-theistic Moreover, a number of religious interpretations are available

7. Semitic Asian Which religious view seems best often depends on a person’s culture, for example

8. If God exists… • Why is neither God’s existence nor God’s nature obvious? • Why isn’t atheism foolish? • The evidence neither for nor against the existence of God is overwhelming.

9. If God exists, God is hidden

10. How hidden is God? The evidence: • Loss of belief • Millions have no awareness of God • Believers sense God’s presence obscurely • Abundance of explanations for God’s hiddenness • Preoccupation of theists with arguments for God’s existence • God is hidden to virtually all within certain cultures

11. Why would God choose to make belief difficult? • Has God sacrificed ‘goods of clarity’ for ‘goods of mystery’?

12. Explanations for God’s hiddenness • Human defectiveness theories • Divine transcendence theories • Hiddenness is a means to producing goods of mystery.

13. Goods of mystery • Genuine moral choice

14. Character formation • The self as a project

15. If the existence and nature of God were obvious • Atheism would be irrational • All rational people would be theists. • This is not the case. • Given the hiddenness of God, how should we respond to religious diversity?

16. Three Types of Theory Responding to Religious Diversity • Religious Exclusivism E.g., Alvin Plantinga • Religious Inclusivism E.g., Karl Rahner • Religious Pluralism Eg., John Hick

17. Religious Exclusivism • Key claim: One religion is exclusively correct. • Its claims are exclusively true. If the claims of other religions contradict these, then the claims of the other religion must be false. • It alone offers a way to salvation. • Problems…

18. Religious Inclusivism • One religion has the monopoly of religious truth-claims. • However, salvation may be available through alternative traditions – despite their false claims. • Problems…

19. Religious Pluralism • Key claim: All major religious traditions are authentic. • Different forms of religious pluralism: • The most influential is John Hick’s.

20. The key claims of Hickean pluralism • Each world religion has its own phenomenal reality. • Since each world religion has its own phenomenal reality, the claims of one world religion do not conflict with those of another world religion. • Each world religion is a response to the same thing: The ‘Real’. • Responding to this phenomenal reality is, so far as we can tell, equally effective in each world religion.

21. What does this entail? • Each world religion is equally valid.

22. Problems with Hickean Pluralism • Truth • Experience • Appropriateness of responses • Religious language

23. END