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Pluralism is key to overcoming spiritual abuse

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By Brien Pittman

As the final post on the subject of religious inclusiveness or pluralism, I reflected on what motivated me to begin this in the first place, obviously hope of removing a barrier to the recognition of religious abuse was a strong factor but even stronger than that were the recent violent events in France, or more accurately, the innumerable violent acts brought about by the infantilized spiritual teaching of religious supremacy. How much bloodshed could have been avoided throughout the history of humankind, and how much more must be shed before religion matures beyond the childish mindset of exclusivity? It is little wonder that so many are turning away from the fundamentalist traditions of Western religions in favor of more humanistic, mature and enlightened ideologies outside of singularistic religions, and kudos to them for doing so, for what spiritually rational human being would want to belong to any elitist religion or worship any God that was responsible for promoting, supporting and strengthen oppression of minorities and violence to unbelievers. The new global age and its inhabitants will simply leave behind archaic religions if they do not advance beyond pacifying the primal needs and fears that have disabled humankind’s spiritual progress for millennia.

A pluralistic religious view accepts that there are many different religious paths. These paths have various degrees of differences between them, some perhaps minor, and some perhaps major. Different paths will appeal to different individuals relative to their varying temperaments or levels of development, which are bound to be diverse and ever changing. That is why pluralism doesn’t try to reduce one religion to another. It doesn’t say that Buddhism has to become a form of Hinduism, that Christianity and Judaism must reunite, that all religions have to become sects of some greater religion. Pluralism allows different religious views to exist including those, which are synthetic and those, which are not. It allows religions to come together if they wish but to stay apart if that is their inclination as well. It recognizes that differences in religion can contribute to the beautiful diversity of life and does not have to cause oppression, abuse and violence.

Contrary to the false information promoted by many Christians, pluralism does not mean that a person cannot be strong in their particular path. Pluralism does not mean that a Christian cannot be a staunch Christian but has to be a Buddhist and Muslim as well in order to be accepting. Similarly it does not mean that a Christian cannot be dedicated to his/her faith as the highest. It means that however much we may think our path is the best for us that we must allow other people a similar dedication to their own path, even if it is contrary to ours, including the freedom not to follow any path at all.

Pluralism means that we must make the freedom of religious practice a more important principle than the supremacy of any particular belief or religion.

We should not only respect but also uphold our neighbor’s right to follow another religion, even if we think that it is contrary to the real truth. This means that missionary efforts to convert others by persuasion and intimidation should come to an end and be replaced by a free examination of religious issues with honesty, courtesy and friendliness. To arrive at truth in any field we need freedom. Freedom creates diversity. Both freedom and diversity allow for creative growth and inquiry. In this development truth can be arrived at as an individual experience, rather than imposed upon the resistant individual as a collective belief, which makes it little more than a blind emotion.

Human beings naturally have their different temperaments, inclinations and states of development. We should have learned after so much bloodshed throughout history that to try to impose one way of thought on all people is an error. Not only is it not spiritual, it goes against nature and life, which are filled with every sort of variation.

Of course groups that deny freedom and diversity to sustain their power and control will not be happy with demands for pluralism. They will prefer to have their own territory where no competition is allowed. But their period of rule is coming to an end. Even singularistic religious traditions will soon have to recognize the validity of pluralism, including granting a new respect for the very pluralistic and so-called polytheistic traditions, like Hinduism, that out of intolerance they have not only failed to understand but have oppressed.

In Hinduism the ultimate goal of life is freedom or liberation, “Moksha.” This is not merely an outer freedom of getting what we want but an inner freedom to go beyond all external limitations. This freedom is the real unity behind the diversity of Hinduism and the key to its many sides. Hindu pluralism therefore is not the denial of unity but the affirmation of real unity, which transcends outer differences. True unity is built upon freedom, not conformity, and is a state of the heart or inner consciousness, not an outer condition of labels and slogans. While the West has emphasized external freedom, which has given it a sense of pluralism in the outer aspects of life, Hinduism teaches inner freedom, without which outer freedom has no real meaning. This inner freedom allows for the full flowering of the soul so that our entire human potential, which is ultimately one of spiritual aspiration, can manifest and bring truth and beauty to our entire existence.

Brien Pittman
Brien Pittman
Brien’s articles for FāVS generally revolve around ideas and beliefs that create unhealthy deadlock divisions between groups. He has received (minor) writing awards for his short stories and poetry from the cities of Portland, Oregon and the city of (good beer) Sapporo, Japan. In 2010 he was asked to present several articles for the California Senate Committee “Task Force for Suicide Prevention” and has been published by online magazines and a couple national poetry anthologies in print form.

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