In my prior post I stated my belief that historic Christianity is true, which, if correct, defeats the truth claims of all competing views such as atheism or Islam.
Critics tend to say of exclusivists like myself that we are the cause of much unnecessary strife and polarization in our world — even war.
But can exclusivism be avoided? By anyone?
For example, take the person who’s a sort of “pluralist,” who says, in effect, that every person’s views on ultimate matters such as life, death, religion, etc., are as good as anyone else’s.
And, that we need to respect everyone’s opinions on ultimate matters, because you can’t really “know” these things (we all know that), you can only hold your own beliefs.
My point is that the pluralist is saying that pluralism is true. He’s saying that none of us can really know what’s ultimately true so we should just all get along. And maybe he’s saying that there’s an arrogance, an annoyance, maybe even a danger in those like myself who come out and say “my view is the one true view.”
But if the pluralist is saying that pluralism is true, he’s saying in effect that the views of non-pluralists like myself are false.
The pluralist is more exclusive than first appears.
* * *
In my next post, the pluralist fights back by saying he’s being misunderstood. He doesn’t “exclude” at all. He accepts everyone, even historic Christians. That’s the whole point of being a pluralist.
But is this possible?
