Can Many Religions All Be True? | Episode 307 | Closer To Truth

[Music] [Music] [Music] i would almost believe in god but if i'm dissuaded i am dissuaded by religion [Music] if i'm an anthropologist i love the diversity of religions but i seek the truth of whether there is really a god and the diversity of religions dispirits me incompatibility of core doctrines troubles deeply many believe only their own religion to be true some claim all religions reflect the same truth [Music] others assert that differing dogmas expose the emptiness of all religion can many religions all be true i'm robert lawrence kuhn and closer to truth is my journey to find out the question is an easy one for atheists no religion is true so i'm more interested in how each religion handles this ever so sensitive subject i start with christianity and with alvin plantinga who has reinvigorated christian philosophy al's at notre dame where we meet alvin how do we begin to think about diversity of religions in the context of a conviction in our own people have made two kinds of objections to belief in a specific religion one of them is a broadly speaking moral objection that there's something immoral in believing a certain proposition when you know that a lot of other people don't believe that i don't see that there is anything morally wrong with believing that very claim itself is another one of those self-referentially incoherent claims that shoots itself in the foot because the person puts this forward he says it's immoral in some way to believe when you know other people don't believe that way but that very proposition is one that not very many people believe so he himself is doing just exactly what he himself is condemning the second suggestion is that if you know there are other people who don't believe the way you do on this topic and you'd think also that you can't convince them then there's something irrational in your continuing to believe the same way but i again i really wonder about that consider other areas of life say politics or for that matter philosophy i mean philosophers disagree with each other all the time do you believe that all religions are looking at the same entity and seeing different elements of it i mean you're really asking me two questions first do i think that beliefs that conflict with mine are wrong mistaken well of course i do i mean it can't be that they're both right if they're in conflict you know on the second one could it be that all religions are sort of like groping after the same reality i mean if you take the most prevalent religions christianity islam judaism hinduism in all of these religions there is something like god so one way to think about it i suppose is that these different religions they're all in contact with the same being but they differ with respect to some of god's properties or some of the things god has done but i guess i would add to that that these approaches can't all be right where they're inconsistent then some of them are wrong and i guess as a christian i'd have to say beliefs that are in conflict with christian belief are mistaken [Music] al rejects the notion that it is improper morally or rationally to believe in one specific religion al is a marvelous apologist for christianity and he doesn't apologize for being so but why christianity richard swinburne emeritus professor at oxford is renowned for his careful analysis of theological issues so how does richard deal with the claims of multiple religions we have these common criteria for judging the worth of theories whether they're theories of science history or anything else the theory is probably true in so far as if it's true you would expect the data if it's false you wouldn't expect the data and it's a simple theory and we can judge religions by these criteria the first issue is is the regard not all religions believe there's a god or think that is important for them and therefore the issue is do the arguments for the existence of god render it probable that there is a god i think they do and i think the simplest explanation of the existence of the universe its conformity to order the laws of nature being such as to lead to our evolution and the existence of consciousness and so on such as satisfy these criteria so uh that will rule out the non-theistic religions such as buddhism or various forms of hinduism and that will leave us with the theistic religions christianity judaism islam certain forms of hinduism and so on now how do they differ well they differ in the properties they ascribe to god and in the actions that they ascribe to god so we must look at the evidence as to whether god does have these properties and whether god has done these actions but the main criterion for distinguishing between them is that all such religions proclaim that god has made a revelation of two human beings so uh how are we to compare competing revelations the answer is uh if any if take an analogy if you receive a letter from somebody which tells you something um you need to find out who it's from and if we can find out that the revelation comes from god then that is reason suppose it's true how would you find out that it comes from god well we uh authenticate letters by their handwriting and their signature what sort of things are signatures of god well there's one thing that god alone can do and that is alter the or intervene in violate the laws of nature uh if an event occurs which is contrary to the laws of nature which involves setting aside the laws of nature then that can only be done by the person who keeps the laws of nature operative and if revelation has a signature on it in the form of an event which god alone can bring about and that is reason to suppose that the revelation is true now i think christianity is uniquely positioned in this respect because the signature in question is the resurrection of jesus if this occurred as traditionally asserted then clearly it was a violation of the law of nature is is it possible that god could give conflicting revelations to different groups well not if he reveals certain propositions and he says to one god is a trinity and he says to another god is not a trinity then clearly one of these must be false but um if we're considering theistic religions they've got an awful lot in common but of course they do differ and in particular in that example the doctrinal trinity is denied in the quran explicitly affirmed in christianity so there is a conflict here it's no surprise that christianity sees itself as the only way to god christianity's claim is based on the resurrection of jesus fair enough but it's a claim that other religions obviously do not accept so what do other religions claim i start with my own heritage what does judaism profess about its own uniqueness i'm really not sure [Music] rabbi arthur hyman professor of philosophy at yeshiva university is an expert on jewish thought surely he can enlighten me arthur from judaism's point of view how do you look at diverse religions how do you authenticate them and what do you do about this obvious conflict i think there are two issues here that there is abstract issue of how does judaism look at other religions and here there there is actually a legal term that that is used tries to solve that issue it's called khasi de um the righteous people of the world to come and these people are expect expected to observe what's called the seven noaakite commandments believe in god believe in justice not to murder not to steal and so on and these are called noah kai because they are pre-abrahamic abrahamic and they come out that the rabbis extracted them from whatever is known about the pre-abrahamic world so that on the jewish end there is a kind of a recognition that there are many different kinds of religions and what is acceptable as a religion but then there is also the historical aspect the jews throughout the ages particularly in the middle ages were forced to have discussions with christians so for historical reasons in these situations jews let's say would try to show why christianity would not be an acceptable religion because it has an unacceptable belief in god so i think what happens at least in the modern world is that there would be a toleration of other religions but i think the claim would not be that all religions are equally valid i think in the end if you belong to religion whether it is judaism or christianity or islam the claim would be whatever the value is of other religions our religion is the best not just because a person thinks that my religion is better than other religions does that mean we have to persecute people of other religions i think in general jewish thinkers would feel that that as long as non-jews observe these these commandments they have a part in the world to come in in the afterlife while judaism holds that being a jew is the right road to god it appreciates that other religions may also arrive there and non-jews participate in the good afterlife [Music] now for the third religion that descended from abraham islam i speak with one of islam's foremost living philosophers sayed hossein nasser professor at george washington university we are immediately confronted by the fact that there are two that determine the way we think one is in a sense universalism one is particularism for example you think of a triangle a triangle is a triangle it's a universal mathematical concept but you never see a triangle you say this triangle you're playing pool and there is that triangular figure you put the balls in that's a particular triangle and so our experience oscillates both mentally and outwardly between what you call the universal in the particular in the philosophical sense you see incredible universal characteristics which manifest themselves in all the religions for example do unto others as others would have to do unto you or some formula similar to it is different from specific moral action in different religions but it's a spiritual moral quality that is as universal as you find everywhere so everywhere within christianity judaism islam buddhism hinduism shintoism whatever you are in a sense you have a particularity of that universal principle on the metaphysical level it's even more evident first of all reality is not exhausted by the physical world in which we live this reality has a transcendent and imminent aspect to it and between us that on that reality which is boundless and without finitude there are levels of reality which separate us praying philosophy also respects particularity within each religion and considers it to be very important because there is no path to either truth or the truth without being a path for example islam has remarkable universal characteristics which shares let's say with christianity and judaism by the same time it has its own particularity for example the adamant refusal to distinguish between the kingdom of caesar and the kingdom of god even the word secularism doesn't exist in arabic and persian and right now we are not trying to force the separation upon middle eastern countries is never going to work because uh it doesn't go with how they understand god and themselves and the role of religion and life and everything else we live in a world today in which whether we like it or not awareness of other world views other religions other cultures has become a necessity and therefore perennial philosophy has a very important role to play in revealing both the universality of religious truth and the particularity of religion in different climes with which western men or eastern men come in contact today but islamic philosophy like traditional christian jewish philosophy like hindu philosophy is one of the great schools of parental philosophy and it itself in a sense is both universal the aspects of which reconfirm the parental philosophy and has particularities which pertain to the islamic world where it has grown and manifested itself to hussein to understand religion is to appreciate the balance between the universalism that unifies different religions and the particularism that distinguishes them still are there many ways to god or only one maybe god must be thought anew i must explore buddhism so i go to a buddhist temple in los angeles where i meet dr ananda gurujei a leading buddhist thinker and former sri lankan diplomat with the buddha there were no different religions when a person wants to change their give up his teacher and become a disciple of the buddha the buddha said i'll accept you on one condition if you were helping that other band's institution financially and materially you must continue to do that and ashoka who lived 300 years after the buddha he wrote a very interesting edict for his people saying that do not criticize another's religion unnecessarily and then he added each one should learn the other's religion we do not believe that one religion is superior to another we believe that each religion has addresses certain issues certain questions in the way that that community that society at that time was prepared to accept all that buddha said we don't accept as the gospel truth that we have to believe because buddha priests do not believe what is in the books do not believe what comes to you by rumor do not believe because you like the teacher think think for yourself and ask the question will this be for the good and the benefit of the many so if another religion claims that it is the only way to truth what would the buddha say about that may it be for you i have no question about it at all if that is the truth that you understand but please don't take a gun or a sword and try to make the other person think the way you want but the other religions may go further and say it it is the right way for me but also it's the right way for you sharing that information the the you know buddhist procedure not only don't wait till he asks you to learn it you learn it on your own that is what ashoka said you know i said did each one learn other person's religion he didn't want the others to wait till somebody comes and says my religion is the best land you know when i teach when i speak when i write about buddhism i want to share the what i think are wonderful ideal somebody said with the rest of the world yes we have something to share with the world but we have nothing to impose upon the world to ananda buddhism has something to share but nothing to impose a beautiful idea harmony and truth both are best but either can exist without the other [Music] i hope for harmony but my journey seeks truth i cannot ignore hinduism the world's third largest religion the world's oldest major religion what is the hindu approach to religious diversity i ask vivi rahman a physicist from the hindu tradition practically all religions believe that there is something more than the physical material world most religions believe there is one kind of god or another what by whatever name most religions believe that there is some supernatural agency in the universe and most of all all religions search for some kind of a connection with the whole every religion is an expression of the longing that is in the human spirit whether it came from biological evolution cultural evolutions different thing what the hindu religion says is that we need to understand the basic fact that even though that may be but one god that god is described in different ways by different people if there are these diverse paths to truth is anyone or any series more privileged than the other being a better way it is very difficult to speak of the right path in the religious context it seems to me because religion is a quest for self-fulfillment inherent in the hindu tradition and for me that is the the best part of it is are two things one is that others may find fulfillment through other paths and we need to respect that and what brings spiritual fulfillment to an individual is not something that is prescribed elsewhere or by someone but what one achieves by one's own quest and therefore if you want to find spiritual fulfillment which is different from finding the nature of ultimate reality then you would choose a path which probably is in your own tradition so whether that is the ultimate reality i cannot say because ultimate reality is far more complex than finding spiritual fulfillment i would love to find spiritual fulfillment but i don't want to fool myself you know the fact that there are different people who undertake this quest and find satisfaction in different ways is a truth whether what they believe in is the ultimate truth or reality we cannot say be sure even the hindu the vedas that is an interesting line in the hymn of creation which ends by saying who really knows not even the gods may know how it all came to be desiring to believe in god yet facing a bewildering array of often warring religions i start with two principles [Music] first respect peaceful religions and grant to every human being the right to believe or not to believe as he or she so freely chooses [Music] second respect for religions and rights for their believers do not mean that contradictory explanations of existence are all somehow set equal as for me i rely on critical thinking giving no privilege to tradition or custom or accident of birth i do not forbid faith from supplanting reason but i am offended when religious motivation comes in disguise [Music] if god does not exist explanation is easy religious diversity is just cultural expression the natural developments of anthropological actions if god does exist i'd wonder whether our problem is not religions too many but perhaps one religion too few could something be missing getting closer to truth [Music] for complete interviews and for further information please visit closer to truth.com [Music] you

Channel: Closer To Truth

Views: 35,695

Keywords: closer to truth, robert lawrence kuhn, Alvin Plantinga, Richard Swinburne, Arthur Hyman, Seyyed Nasr, Ananda Guruge, Varadaraja Raman, Can Many Religions All be True, are all religions right, are all religions true, are all religions connected, closer to truth full episodes, philosophy of religion, understanding religion, many paths to the summit, many paths to god

Id: slBbRBhI850

Length: 26min 46sec (1606 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 10 2021