How Not To Argue Pluralism
While I was in a library I came across a simple book introducing the different world religions. At the end of the book I came across these sentences (Most of it is reproduced from my memory, thus I filled out some areas that have not been rewritten from memory):
All religions have some amount of truth in them. Some people, however, claim that their religion is the only one that is right. Intolerance, however, has led to many wars and the loss of life. We should respect and affirm the truth of the religions of one another.
Talk about unproven premises! I'll dismantle these fallacious statements bit by bit
-All religions have some amount of truth in them.
How does the author know? But, I'm pretty certain, the author knows that not all religions are totally correct. In this sense, its kind of like a semantic game: The glass is half full, not half empty. Nobody likes to be told that their religion is riddled with bits and pieces of balderdash, now do they?
-Some people, however, claim that their religion is the only one that is right.
Some? I guess the author believes that the majority of Muslims or Christians are pluralists. Alas, the very fact that they are Muslims shows that they believe that it is the only one that is right (or, at the very least, the best one) in contrast to other religions.
-Intolerance, however, has led to many wars and the loss of life.
Witness this not-too-subtle sleight of hand. Restrictivism equals intolerance and intolerance equals wars and murders. All of them, again, unproven.
I guess I'll skip the last sentence since it has already been refuted. Honestly, I'm a bit embarrassed to waste my time on this "argument" for pluralism. But let it serve as a reminder on how NOT to argue for it.
On other matters, I am pleased to announce my entrance to the League Of Reformed Bloggers. Thanks Challies for adding me into the aggregator!
Also, I've added Haloscan to my blog. My sincere apologies for your lost comments.
All religions have some amount of truth in them. Some people, however, claim that their religion is the only one that is right. Intolerance, however, has led to many wars and the loss of life. We should respect and affirm the truth of the religions of one another.
Talk about unproven premises! I'll dismantle these fallacious statements bit by bit
-All religions have some amount of truth in them.
How does the author know? But, I'm pretty certain, the author knows that not all religions are totally correct. In this sense, its kind of like a semantic game: The glass is half full, not half empty. Nobody likes to be told that their religion is riddled with bits and pieces of balderdash, now do they?
-Some people, however, claim that their religion is the only one that is right.
Some? I guess the author believes that the majority of Muslims or Christians are pluralists. Alas, the very fact that they are Muslims shows that they believe that it is the only one that is right (or, at the very least, the best one) in contrast to other religions.
-Intolerance, however, has led to many wars and the loss of life.
Witness this not-too-subtle sleight of hand. Restrictivism equals intolerance and intolerance equals wars and murders. All of them, again, unproven.
I guess I'll skip the last sentence since it has already been refuted. Honestly, I'm a bit embarrassed to waste my time on this "argument" for pluralism. But let it serve as a reminder on how NOT to argue for it.
On other matters, I am pleased to announce my entrance to the League Of Reformed Bloggers. Thanks Challies for adding me into the aggregator!
Also, I've added Haloscan to my blog. My sincere apologies for your lost comments.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, August 30, 2005 at 3:09 PM.
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