Scholar promotes religious pluralism

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Arguing for religious pluralism in today's society, a visiting scholar lectured and discussed "Does Religious Toleration Make Any Sense" Monday night.

Tom Christiano, associate professor of philosophy at the University of Arizona and the author of many published works, including "Philosophy and Democracy: An Anthology," said the conflict between religious groups is increasing, and these groups are declaring war.

"The vast majority of people don't believe in these freedoms [of consciousness and association are] because their governments ban these religious freedoms," he said. "We take for granted these rights that many other countries don't [have]."

The basis for such rights is that "it is in each person's interest that they figure out for themselves what to be associated with and what to believe in," he said. If religion is imposed on an individual, it can be emotionally damaging, he added.

It's a question of moral importance — is it legitimate for governments to impose religions on their citizens?Christiano asked. Christiano presented three arguments for religious freedom and challenged each one, pointing out the holes in each's case.

There is something fundamentally wrong for governments to act maternal towards their citizens, Christiano said. You can't force someone to do something for their own good if they don't want to because each person knows more about himself than anyone else, Christiano added.

Christiano then argued against his previous stance by stating that religions have a different set of interests and concern. Religions are concerned with salvation.

"People believe that forcing religion is better because [the converters will] end up in heaven and the people who were forced to convert won't mind because they'll realize that the others were right," Christiano said.

Using teachings from St. Augustine which further were developed by philosopher John Locke, Christiano said; one can't force people to have certain beliefs. Augustine argued that what you believe is not something you voluntarily can control; therefore, no one could scare you into believing, according to Christiano.

Christiano said those who are trying to convert others see the situation as, "the infinity of heaven versus. hell, [and it] is worth the risk to try and impose religion on others."

Christiano's tentative solution to religious freedom: is religious pluralism. "What we do and can give up is the thought if you practice a different religion then you're going to hell," he said. "We can all chose salvation in a different way, and that's okay."

However, religious pluralism is not the same as religious toleration. According to Christiano, religious toleration means that there would have to be something about the religion that one disapproved of, but if one is not disapproving, then there's nothing to tolerate.

Christiano ended saying while his solution is limited, it still is the best thing society has, saying,

"Religion is not going away and religious conflict will keep popping up forever, but religious pluralism is the way [for a better society]."

After his lecture, Christiano held a discussion among the audience, where he took questions and then argued for or against what they had to say.

"He was really aggressive towards people's reactions to what he had to say, especially if they disagreed with him," freshman Alex Mulliner said.

Freshman Katie Haughinberry said, "He talked in circles and had no strong answers. He only talked about what he accepts as a solution. I was expecting more specific cases of religious intolerance and more detailed answers."