Religious Pluralism Upon hearing the word "religion"ÃÂ, what is the first idea that comes to mind? In most cases, the initial thought would be the faith of Christianity. The other prominent religions of the world including Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism, would be overlooked for the more proverbial Christianity. The fact that our world is overwhelmed with the predominant Christian religion can be observed in the speeches of President Bush. In the midst of the tragic events on September 11th, our leader in the antiterrorism campaign addressed the world on innumerous occasions attempting to reassure and console our troubled minds. In his speeches, the rhetoric of President Bush conveyed his strong underlying Christian faith as he made numerous references to God. President Bush's usage of his own personal faith in addressing the entirety of the human race represents the common assumption of Christianity as being the universal faith. Due to Christianity's notion of being the supreme and absolute religion for all mankind, religious pluralism would seemingly be a threat; however, the prevalence and success of multiple other world religions has in fact lead Christians to reflect and renew upon their own faith.
Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglican Ch...
English: A cross close to the church in Grense Jak...
Symbol of the major religions of the world: Judais...Looking back throughout the history of Christianity, the Christian Church has shown itself to shun and denounce any notions which were contradictory to its own. As early as the 2nd century, the bishop Serapion of Anitoch condemned the concept of docetism as it claimed Jesus only seemed to suffer and die. The British monk, Pelagius, received his condemnation from the Church in the 5th century for his views denying the necessity of God's grace. The revised view of cosmology developed by Nicolas Copernicus in the 16th century was also condemned as heresy because it seemed to contradict the Bible's teaching of the earth as being the center of...