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The Mood of Pluralism
The second mood of our time is Pluralism. This is defined as the existence and availability of a number of world-views, each considered equal with no view dominant. When religion is considered irrelevant to life, it is easy to accept the idea that all religious world views have equal merit. However, to do so requires the complete abandon of reason.
The hidden assumption in pluralism is the same assumption you'll find in secularism--the idea of relativism. Moral choices are assumed to be relative to each person's disposition. The problem with this is that it completely ignores any idea that one view could be the "correct" view. That would be true were religion merely an opinion. Yet the views held are opposites. Either there is a God or there isn't. One view must be true! Pluralism attempts to ignore this reality in the hopes of avoiding the inevitable confrontation that will result.
The recent move by our school system to remove the suggestion that any student has the "wrong" answer is another extension of the philosophy of pluralization. Students cannot be told that their answer was incorrect. In the view of the academic system everyone is right! Many athletic events no longer have First, Second, or Third place prizes; instead everyone wins a ribbon!
There is a strength inherent in pluralism: that it compels the holder of any belief to measure its truthfulness against alternative interpretations.
The great danger is the faulty conclusion, in the name of tolerance, that all beliefs can be equally true. This would be a logical, acceptable viewpoint only if none of those beliefs were true. But if even one is true, then the entire conclusion must be wrong.
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