There are 6 choices, 9 votes for Evets' debate

Are all religions equal, or is one the True Path?

Do you think that one religion is true, or do you believe in religious pluralism – there is truth in all religions?


  • No, one religion must be true, and all others false

    I’ll put my argument formally first, and then explain it a bit, hopefully anticipating some objections. It proceeds reducto ad absurdum, meaning I’m going to assume the opposite and show that it leads to a contadiciton, thereby proving my origional proposition. I’ve chosen Christianity and Islam just as examples for comparison.

    Proposition (p1): Either Christianity is true, or Islam is true.

    Premise 1: Neither Christianity nor Islam are true. (not-p1)

    Premise 2: Islam is fundamentally opposed to Christianity in it’s essential doctrine, and is therefore not the same as, or equal to, christianity. (Islam is ‘non-christianity’)

    Premise 3: Therfore, neither christianity nor ‘non-christianity’ (Islam) is true.

    Conclusion: Therefore, christianity is both false and true.

    Premise 2 is obviously the key point of the arguement. Basically, Christianity and Islam are NOT the same thing. For example, take the doctrine of the Incarnation, as understood by Christians. This doctrine, which is absolutly essential to christianity, is denied by muslims. They say that Jesus was not God, he was a “great prophet”. Clearly, this not what the Bible teaches, nor what orthodox christianity teaches. Thus, Christianity are two completly different things. (christianity and non-christianity) If they are two different things, then how could they both be true? If they are two opposites, then they cannot both be true, or else you would deny the law of non-contradiction. (p and not-p cannot both be true; “This desk is brown” and “this desk is red” cannot both be true.)

    Some might object “well, they are both true in a way.” But to them I ask: true in what way? Sure they might both claim that you should love your neighbor, but you don’t even need to be religious to hold that belief; it’s not a central doctrine of either religion. In the ways that really matter, religions differ in their core or central beliefs, that is why they are different religions, no? Either you accept or you deny the incarnation. Either you accept or deny the trinity. Either you accept or deny Jesus’ sacrifical death, burial and ressurection. These core beliefs are the things that religions hold as Truth, and without them, there is no religion.

    sola gloria dei,

    Steve

    33%  Voted for by Evets, ohsweetie2788, nothingman.
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  • All religions may be partially true or false

    The problem with Semitic religions,Christianity and Islam,is that they see everything in black and white.They don’t recognise truth that may lie beyond them.What about zen meditation or yoga?Are they false?Certainly not.Now zen is Buddhist and yoga Hindu.But the truth of either of them doesn’t mean that either Buddhism or Hinduism is true in its entirety.If Christianity had been the repository of all truth,it wouldn’t have depended upon non-Christian sources to enrich itself or to correct its course?And what a huge gap there is between primitive Christianity and modern Christianity!And what do Christians themselves say is true about their religion?Is the belief in demon possession true?It certainly is Biblical and Jesus cast out evil spirits from the possessed people.But I hardly know of any hospital and clinic or medical college run by Christians where they have departments of demonology and exorcism.

    There are Christians who believe that the story of the Genesis is literally true.If it is true, why is the USA,a nation of believers,wasting so much money on scientific research into the origins of the universe.All those scientists who assert that the universe is billions of years old should be handed over to the Inquisition to be tried for heresy.

    I once asked a Christian if he could live in today’s world without amenities provided by science,he said:No.I further asked if he could live without Christianity,being a Christian,he again said:No.But when I pointed out that there were billions of people in the world who were not Christians and were living as well as Christians,he had nothing to say.

    Much of Christianity is outdated.It does contain some strikingly beautiful poetic passages and aphoristic sayings of grea power.But it is like any other ancient text.Have you ever heard of the Bhagvadgita?T.S.Eliot,the great poet and professed Christian,once said that it was the greatest spiritual and philosophical poem in the world.It is being hung on to by people for sentimental reasons.Mostly,allegiance to Christianity is verbal and hypocritical.Otherwise,Americans who are the richest people in the world and also largely claim to be Christian would distribute their wealth among the poorest of the world in Congo and follow Jesus.They would also have turned the other cheek when WTC was attacked.

    Truth claims of various religions regarding dogma are not verifiable.But we can try to ascertain the likelihood of their truth.The faculties that we have can help us in our endeavour.For example,the Biblical creation story or Noah’s flood story is false.Similarly,virgin birth,miracles,resurrection of Jesus are rejected by vast majority of people who exercise their rational and thinking faculties seriously.That God extracted from Jesus the blood sacrifice to forgive the sins of mankind is a totally distasteful idea.That certain people would be consigned to everlasting hellfire is both rationally,aesthetically and morally a loathsome idea.

    One is free to believe the kind of God one wants to but it doesn’t mean that the God one believes in is true also.And if He is true,He may not be worth honoring.For example,about Christian conception of God,Antony Flew said,”He is like a cosmic Saddam Hussein.”

    22%  Voted for by concrete sky, sureshdogra.
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  • Hmm

    Well, most religions all make at least one similar statement. We are right, and everyone else is wrong. So either one of them really is right, or everyone of them is wrong.

    Voted for by keyman7.
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  • question

    what one must ask oneself is – can only one god have willed him/herself into existance? if one can, doesnt that mean that others can too?

    Voted for by Kazrith.
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  • umm..

    personally i dont think one religion is wrong or right, i think that there is one God and the different religions is how you chose to worship him.

    Voted for by doll4.
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  • Stated from a Christian's personal viewpoint

    I believe there is one true path, one true faith. Religion isn't a faith or a path, religion is a means to divivde faith into sects. I am a Christian (by which I mean I am a member of the lesser known church of Christ) and have been all my life. But I don't follow my "religion" based upon whether or not it's the perfect right or not. I have looked at most other religions - granted I am not a marvelous judge of other religions as I am biased somewhat - and have talked to memebers of that sect of faith. I have studided the Bible - in it's many forms (Catholic, various translations, Greek, and Hebrew) and have come to decided that the "sect of faith" I follow is the closest thing I have yet encountered to the true path. I don't believe that everything the church of Christ does is necessarily right and that all other religions are inheritentlt right and Hell-bound, but I think that the church of Christ is the closest thing to the path God wants us to follow.

    As for there being many different ways to serve Him, I disagree. There is only one right way to worhip God, but humankind has forgotten what that way is. God is merciful enough to let us get as close as we possibly can without condemning us to Hell. He knows - through Jesus - that we are only human and not at all perfect.

    Thus, I stand by my beliefs.

    Voted for by nothingman.
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