I do not know Stephen Prothero, professor of religion at Boston University. But he is to be applauded for arguing that the pluralist emperor has no clothes.
In a recent article in the Boston Globe (apparently a teaser for a new book he’s written), Prothero avers: “Among multiculturalists, the tendency is to pretend that the differences between religions are more apparent than real… But pretending that the world’s religions are the same does not make our world safer. Like all forms of ignorance, it makes our world more dangerous, and more deadly… Both tolerance and respect are empty virtues until we actually know whatever it is we are supposed to be tolerating or respecting.”
Read the entire article and enjoy the clarity of Prothero’s common-sense observations.
HT: Nathan Bliss
Excellent article. I’ve read portions of Prothero’s previous work on Religious Literacy and I found it very helpful, just as this article was very helpful for me as Christian. It humbled me in my ignorance of other world religions. I would be intrigued to read the book because the article left me asking the question, “If they aren’t all the same, which one is right?” I think it is important to point out the obvious fact that all religions are NOT saying the same thing. But, then it begs the question that if they are not saying the same thing, and they all (I assume, but I could be wrong) claim truth, then somebody is right and somebody is wrong (or they are all wrong). I wonder if that is ever addressed in the book. To me, while pointing out the differences in religion, this article still had the tone of pluralism in that it still seems to place all the religions on a level playing field. I walk away feeling like Prothero holds up honesty and realism as the goal rather than truth.