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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Investigations And Challenges Chapter 6: Religious Pluralism (Part 4) In the last session, I promised to explain the relationship between pluralism and liberalism and to give answers to the questions raised therein. The Relationship between Pluralism and Liberalism In order to explain the relationship between pluralism and liberalism, at the outset, we have to clarify the meaning of these two terms.

In the earlier sessions, enough explanation was made regarding the concept of pluralism, but we have to explain here the concept of liberalism.

Lexically, liberalism means “freedom” and technically, it can be said that liberalism is an ideology on the basis of which, man should act the way he likes in life and no external factor or condition and circumstance should set limit on his action except in a situation when in the end, his action encroaches upon the freedom and endangers the safety of others. Liberalism has been discussed mainly in three important domains; economics, politics, and religion and culture.

Economic liberalism means that economic activity in the society should be totally free and any one can produce any commodity he likes and present and sell it in whatever way he likes. In sum, based on economic liberalism, there should be no restriction of any kind in the areas of production, determining the primary goods, advertisement, distribution, investment, and other cases related to the economic domain except that which infringes upon the liberty and jeopardizes others.

In the political sphere, liberalism means that in choosing the type and form of government, the ruling individuals, the laws governing the society, and other political actions, people must be totally free and they have the right to act in whatever way they like except in cases where they contradict the liberty and security of others. The term “liberalism” is sometimes used in the sphere of culture especially in religion and belief.