WorldOfUpdate

Who is right? Where can one locate the ultimate authority on these matters? Is it the Bible? The Koran? The Rig Veda? Science? Fox News? In our increasingly pluralistic and religiously diverse world, is there only one arbiter of truth, reality, the meaning of life in these sacred matters?

We have fundamentalist atheists on one side of the spectrum wanting to get rid of religion and all of its toxicity; on the other side are religious fundamentalists looking to purify the world of all the false religions. The rest of us in the middle -- Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Nones -- are learning to live with the unavoidable fact that multiple religious perspectives and communities must learn to live together if not harmoniously than at least with a minimum amount of respect for each other. Given the radical diversity of religions in our world today, and the pervasive and powerful force of religious commitments in all spheres of social life. The confounding, confusing, and constant presence of religion in human history.

1. Religion is a constant, and will not go away. It is built into our DNA, so to speak, even for the ones that don't attend church, believe in God, or follow a particular creed. The sacred is always embedded in social life and elemental to our notions of right and wrong, experiences of transcendence, and understanding of the purpose and meaning of life.

2. Even though religion is a constant, it is never the same around the world and through time. There is no one essence -- not "God" or "Spirit" or "Mana" -- but instead the religious life manifests in a myriad of forms, rituals, beliefs, myths, and moral systems. It can be associated with just about anything: gods or surfing; movies or sacred texts; rock and roll or UFOs.

3. No one has a monopoly on religious truth. What's sacred for someone is profane to someone else. In this sense, religion is messy, conflicted, and highly contested conditions anyone familiar with the history of religions can identify.

4. Religion is a force of good in the world and, paradoxically, one of the most destructive forces motivating horrible bloodshed and hatred throughout history, in the present, and into the future. The powers of religion cannot be generalized nor made universal. It is not either good or evil, but has the capacity for both.

5. Religion is not simply about revelation or spiritual truth; it is most at home in the physical body as it experiences suffering and aging, sex and ecstasy, the mundane and altered states of consciousness, birth and death -- universal characteristics of human life we all share.

Radical diversity of religions in our world today...