Are all world religions true?
William Mulgrew
Issue date: 3/9/07 Section: Ed-Op
Let's not trivialize religion by claiming that all are true. It's irrational and hypocritical. Ravi Zacharias, who grew up a Christian amidst the diversity of religions in India -Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims - said truth is by definition exclusive.
"If truth does not exclude, then no assertion of a truth claim is being made; it's just an opinion that is being stated," Zacharias said in an interview. "Any time you make a truth claim, you mean something contrary to it is false. Truth excludes its opposite."
That is not to say that all religions can't be interesting. There wouldn't be courses like "The Bible as Literature" at Drexel if religion was uninteresting.
That is not to say that all religions might have grains of truth. The fact that nearly all teach a form of reciprocity, or the Golden Role, shows that absolute moral truth is knowable.
The questions are which religions have logically flawed worldviews and which are best conducive of world peace.
That world peace is a moral objective reinforces absolute moral truth otherwise called the moral law. Otherwise, it would be a subjective opinion, no more, no less valid than the advocacy of world strife. Attempting to prove that no absolute moral truths exist confirms its existence. The statement "no absolute moral truths exist" is an absolute moral truth.
Every law has a legislator. Therefore, the moral law has a moral lawgiver. Which religious worldviews deny moral law? Atheism, finitism, pantheism, panentheism and polytheism. That is not to say these religions don't teach being a good person; they only deny an absolute moral standard that's needed to determine what is good, which is self-defeating.
Furthermore, atheism, finitism, pantheism, panentheism and polytheism all hold that the universe is eternal. Science overwhelmingly confirms that the universe is not eternal, but had a beginning (the Big Bang).
This only leaves us with theism and deism. Deism currently lacks any recognized religion or Christian denomination. It waned considerably towards the end of the eighteenth century. The only major theistic religions are Judaism, Islam and Christianity.
"If truth does not exclude, then no assertion of a truth claim is being made; it's just an opinion that is being stated," Zacharias said in an interview. "Any time you make a truth claim, you mean something contrary to it is false. Truth excludes its opposite."
That is not to say that all religions can't be interesting. There wouldn't be courses like "The Bible as Literature" at Drexel if religion was uninteresting.
That is not to say that all religions might have grains of truth. The fact that nearly all teach a form of reciprocity, or the Golden Role, shows that absolute moral truth is knowable.
The questions are which religions have logically flawed worldviews and which are best conducive of world peace.
That world peace is a moral objective reinforces absolute moral truth otherwise called the moral law. Otherwise, it would be a subjective opinion, no more, no less valid than the advocacy of world strife. Attempting to prove that no absolute moral truths exist confirms its existence. The statement "no absolute moral truths exist" is an absolute moral truth.
Every law has a legislator. Therefore, the moral law has a moral lawgiver. Which religious worldviews deny moral law? Atheism, finitism, pantheism, panentheism and polytheism. That is not to say these religions don't teach being a good person; they only deny an absolute moral standard that's needed to determine what is good, which is self-defeating.
Furthermore, atheism, finitism, pantheism, panentheism and polytheism all hold that the universe is eternal. Science overwhelmingly confirms that the universe is not eternal, but had a beginning (the Big Bang).
This only leaves us with theism and deism. Deism currently lacks any recognized religion or Christian denomination. It waned considerably towards the end of the eighteenth century. The only major theistic religions are Judaism, Islam and Christianity.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Rev Keith R. Wright United Deist Church President
posted 3/24/07 @ 12:18 AM EST
I can assure you that Deism is not dead. On the contrary, it is growing as a religion that intelligent, critically thinking people can honestly believe in. (Continued…)
Michael White
posted 3/31/07 @ 3:33 PM EST
Rev. Wright, I don't think Mr. Mulgrew here was trying to undermine Deism. He was merely stating, and rightly so, that compared to Judaism, Christianity & Islam - deism barely shows up as a speck on the radar. (Continued…)
Eric
posted 10/09/07 @ 5:50 PM EST
I understand your point on those individuals who show arrogance and chastise those who do follow a traditional religion. I do however feel that you have a misunderstanding as to what it means to say that all religions are true. (Continued…)
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