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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Intellectual Responses To Religious Pluralism Streams in the Valley The presence, power, and richness of religious traditions has vigorously entered human awareness in today’s world. Our contemporary intercommunication and interdependent planet has made us aware, more clearly but also more painfully than ever before, of the multiplicity of world religions and the many different ultimate answers given by these religions.

Because of this fact we, as human beings, are facing questions and challenges we never have before confronted. The challenges of this awareness of religious diversity have led thinkers to explore the meanings of religious pluralism. Interestingly, many religious traditions are also internally plural, fluid, and evolving.

They can be responsive to new interpretations by gifted religious leaders and capable of forming individuals, social movements, and communities that practice and promote religious pluralism. Given that the world is moving in the direction of religious pluralism, one of the first steps needed to ensure a smooth transition is a “cultural audit” to identify the core values and indigenous elements in each society.

Eliade’s genuine works teach that the interpreter of religion must be willing to interpret the claim to the attention of the other in order to understand even the self. Pluralism tells us that homogenization is not the answer. Pluralism recognizes a plurality of means to achieve the same ends. It is not people’s choices that need to change, but rather the ability of institutions within societies (e.g., government, law, the educational system) to reflect and process those choices.

The chairwoman of the Commission on Gender Equality in South Africa, Thenjiwe Mtintso, in discussing how South Africa should deal with religious practices that might conflict with women’s rights, agrees: “Of course you can't simply legislate against these things. The challenge is how to change some of these cultures and some practices which are supposedly our culture.”[^51] Wilfred Cantwell Smith urges the necessity of learning each other’s language and thought forms.

In other words, pluralism means accepting not just that religions are many but they are different: they are so different that they can not be boiled down to a system, common sense, or common ground. Clearly, the next step is not the unification of different religions into one to form some kind of new global religion.