John Hick, in his talk to a Theological Society in Norwich, argued that unlike the past, the current generation understands that people from other world religions view their faiths in the same way as Christians. He argued that religion that seems superior to people depends on the vast majority of their place of birth. Individuals born into devout religious families; whether Muslim, Hindu, or Christian are likely to grow up in that religion. However, there are individual conversions for personal reasons although such cases are lower statistically than faith transmitted from one generation to the next within the same religion. According to Hick, the religion accepted or rejected by a person is the one he or she happens to have been born.
Christians believe they are superior to other faiths because the New Testament says so. However, a wide range of New Testament scholars fails to believe that Jesus taught on being God incarnate. The idea that Christianity is the only salvation source and only true religion is currently called exclusivism (Hick, 2001) . Historically, Christianity civilization is not seen to have been superior morally to other civilizations through the centuries. Based on Hick's views there is only one salvific contact between humanity and divine reality, but there exists a plurality of independently contacts as well as independently authentic salvation spheres, which includes all religions.
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In conclusion, Christianity is the true religion for Christians because they have been formed by it, and they should stick and live it. On the other hand, they should acknowledge that the same is true for individuals in other religions. Individuals should wholeheartedly live within their faith, provided they find it sustaining, and freely recognize other faiths’ validity equally. Moreover, people should be enriched by some of other religion’s spiritual practices and insights instead of seeing them as rivals or enemies. Christians can be part of the solutions to religious absolutism by setting an example of transcending the problem.
Reference
Hick, J. (2001). Is Christianity the only true religion, or one among others?. Retrieved from http://www.johnhick.org.uk/jsite/index.php/articles-by-john-hick/16-is-christianity-the-only-true-religion-or-one-among-others
