These sad realities question the validity of the discourse...

These sad realities question the validity of the discourse of religious pluralism and indicate that there are very real, serious dangers to the development of religious pluralism. In fact, the whole notion of religious pluralism is in turmoil. The political philosopher Michael Walzer wrote that the challenge of a multicultural society is to embrace its diversity while maintaining a common life.

This suggests the need for all communities within a diverse society to take responsibility for embracing a shared life while maintaining their uniqueness.[^2] For Walzer, it is this dynamic that leads to the ideal pluralist society as a “community of communities.” Otherwise, a chasm of ignorance between different religious communities can too easily be filled by bigotry, often turning into violence and hatred.

However, the question remains: How can we have a common life while maintaining our uniqueness in a changing world? Once again, the hopeful visions for the “ triumph of pluralism” and the “common life” seem very utopian at a time of great crisis in our world. Today, the world faces the ‘War on Terror’ and global militarization. Sadly, waves of local as well as global violence have overtaken the pillars of religious pluralism and threaten to escalate beyond all control.

The tragic, unpredictable events in many regions cast their shadows over collective efforts to live in a pluralistic and peaceful world. However, it is precisely during such times of adversity, ideological fundamentalism and absolutist exclusivity, that the world is most in need of voices and forces of sanity, reason, and moral responsibility - the genuine building blocks of religious pluralism.

As we witness attempts at imposing a simplistic view of a Manichean universe, polarization, and reductively stereotyping good and evil, we are most in need of those who will engage in a redemptive validation of pluralism, tolerance, diversity, authenticity of identity, and a comprehensive engagement in collective responsibility.

The increasing reality of interaction between cultures and religious traditions makes religious pluralism not only impossible to ignore, but an obligatory task for human empowerment and change. Religious pluralism seeks to give a voice and an audience to the silenced as well as grant a sense of legitimacy to the excluded. Religious groups tend not to ask themselves why the “other” thinks of them the way that they do.