Editing Religious pluralism (section)

==Christianity==
{{Main|Christianity and other religions}}

{{See also|Ecumenism}}
[[File:Christian cross.svg|thumb | 220x124px | right | alt=The [[Christian cross]] which is a very popular symbol of Christianity. |
The [[Christian cross]]. A very popular symbol of [[Christianity]].]]
Some Christians<ref>[http://www.christians.eu/why-jesus/ "Why Jesus?"], Christians EU. Article stating that Jesus is the saviour and not Mohammed or Buddha—see second part of this article.</ref> have argued that religious pluralism is an invalid or self-contradictory concept.

Maximal forms of religious pluralism claim that all religions are equally true, or that one religion can be true for some and another for others. Most Christians hold this idea to be [[logic]]ally impossible from the [[principle of contradiction]].<ref>Jason Carlson, [http://www.christianministriesintl.org/articles/12.html "Defending Salvation Through Christ Alone"], {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091003214003/http://www.christianministriesintl.org/articles/12.html |date=2009-10-03 }}, Christian Ministries International</ref> The two largest Christian branches, the [[Catholic Church]] and the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], both claim to be the "[[one true church]]" and that "[[Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus|outside the true Church there is no salvation]]"; Protestantism however, which has many different denominations, has no consistent doctrine in this regard, and has a variety of different positions regarding religious pluralism.

Other Christians have held that there can be truth value and salvific value in other faith traditions. [[John Macquarrie]], described in the ''Handbook of Anglican Theologians'' (1998) as "unquestionably [[Anglicanism]]'s most distinguished systematic theologian in the second half of the twentieth century",<ref>p. 168, Timothy Bradshaw (1998), "John Macquarrie", in: Alister E. McGrath (ed). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZHzZAAAAMAAJ&q=macquarrie The SPCK Handbook of Anglican Theologians]'' (pp. 167–68). London: [[SPCK]]. {{ISBN|978-0-281-05145-8}}</ref> wrote that "there should be an end to proselytizing but that equally there should be no syncretism of the kind typified by the [[Baháʼí Faith|Baháʼí]] movement" (p.&nbsp;2).<ref name="Macquarrie 1996">John Macquarrie (1996). ''Mediators between human and divine: From Moses to Muhammad''. New York: Continuum. {{ISBN|0-8264-1170-3}}</ref> In discussing nine founders of major faith traditions (Moses, Zoroaster, Lao-zu, Buddha, Confucius, Socrates, Krishna, Jesus, and Muhammad), which he called "mediators between the human and the divine", Macquarrie wrote that:

{{Blockquote|I do not deny for a moment that the truth of God has reached others through other channels – indeed, I hope and pray that it has. So while I have a special attachment to one mediator, I have respect for them all. (p. 12)<ref name="Macquarrie 1996" />}}

[[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] also teaches a form of religious pluralism, that there is at least some truth in almost all religions and philosophies.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1977/10/respect-for-other-peoples-beliefs?lang=eng |title=Respect for Other People's Beliefs |first=Gerald E. |last=Jones |publisher=[[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] |magazine=[[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]] |date=October 1977}}</ref>

===Classical Christian views===
Before the [[East-West Schism|Great Schism]], mainstream Christianity confessed "one holy catholic and apostolic church", in the words of the [[Nicene Creed]]. [[Roman Catholic]]s, Orthodox Christians, [[Anglicanism|Episcopalian]]s and most Protestant Christian denominations still maintain this belief. Furthermore, the [[Catholic Church]] makes the claim that it alone is the [[one true church|one and only true Church]] founded by [[Jesus Christ]], but the [[Eastern Orthodox]] and [[Oriental Orthodox]] Churches also make this claim in respect to themselves.{{Citation needed |date=July 2022}}

Church unity for these groups, as in the past, is something very visible and tangible, and schism was just as serious an offense as heresy. Following the Great Schism, Roman Catholicism sees and recognizes the Orthodox Sacraments as valid but illicit and without canonical jurisdiction. Eastern Orthodoxy does not have the concept of "validity" when applied to Sacraments, but it considers the ''form'' of Roman Catholic Sacraments to be acceptable, and there is some recognition of Catholic sacraments among some, but not all, Orthodox. Both generally mutually regard each other as "[[heresy|heterodox]]" and "[[schism]]atic", while continuing to recognize each other as Christian, at least [[secundum quid]] (see [[ecumenicism]]).

===Modern Christian views===
Some other Protestants hold that only believers who believe in certain fundamental doctrines know the true pathway to salvation. The core of this doctrine is that Jesus Christ was a perfect man, is the Son of God and that he died and rose again for the wrongdoing of those who will accept the gift of salvation. They continue to believe in "one" church, an "invisible church" which encompasses different types of Christians in different sects and denominations, believing in certain issues they deem fundamental, while disunited on a variety of doctrines they deem non-fundamental. Some [[evangelical]] Protestants are doubtful if Roman Catholics or Eastern Orthodox can possibly be members of this "invisible church", and usually they reject religious (typically [[restorationist]]) movements rooted in 19th-century American Christianity, such as [[Mormonism]], [[Christian Science]], or [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] as not distinctly Christian.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://apologeticsindex.org/d01b.html#prot |title=The Protestant Principle |website=Apologetics index: Biblical Guide To Orthodoxy And Heresy |access-date=7 February 2016}}</ref>

The [[Catholic Church]], unlike some Protestant denominations, affirms "developmental theology", understood to mean that the "[[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]], in and through the evolving and often confused circumstances of concrete history, is gradually bringing the Church to an ever more mature understanding of the [[deposit of faith]] (the saving truths entrusted by Jesus Christ to the Apostles—these as such cannot be changed or added to). The Church comes to recognize [[baptism of desire]] quite early in its history. Later, the Church realizes that Romans 2:14–16, for example, allows for the salvation of non-Christians who do not have unobstructed exposure to Christian teachings: "When Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires.... They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts....<ref>Robert Magliola, ''Facing Up to Real Doctrinal Difference: How Some Thought-Motifs from Derrida Can Nourish the Catholic-Buddhist Encounter'' (Angelico P., 2014), pp. 101–2.</ref> Various forms of "implicit faith" come to hold standing, until at [[Vatican Council II]], the Church declares: "Nor shall divine providence deny the assistance necessary for salvation to those who, without any fault of theirs, have not yet arrived at an explicit knowledge of God, and who, not without grace, strive to lead a good life" (#16). Vatican Council II in its Declaration [[Nostra aetate]] addresses the non-Christian religions with respect and appreciation, affirming the goodness found in them. Since Vatican Council II, Catholic dialogists in particular are working out the implications of [[John Paul II]]'s statement, in [[Redemptor hominis]] #6 that Christians should recognize "the Holy Spirit operating outside the visible confines of the [[Body of Christ#Catholicism|Mystical Body of Christ]]." Among these dialogists, [[Robert Magliola]], an affiliate of the Italian community Vangelo e Zen ("The Gospel and Zen"), Desio and Milano, Italy, who taught in predominantly Buddhist cultures for years, and practiced Buddhist-Catholic dialogue there and in the West, and who is widely published in this dialogue, argues the following:
{{Blockquote | If God has willed that all persons be saved (see [[Catechism of the Catholic Church]] #851, quoting 1 Tim. 2:4) but has not sent the opportunity of Christian conversion to all, how can we not conclude that God wills those good Buddhists in this latter category to live, flourish, and die as good Buddhists? That God in His providence—at least for now—wants Buddhism to be the setting for millions of good and noble people in the world? (This does not mean that Catholics should not witness to the Catholic faith or even—on the proper occasions and in a courteous way—consider it their duty to preach Catholicism to Buddhists, and to teach it mightily. But it does mean that Catholics would do well to remember that God alone sends the grace of conversion when and to whom He wills.)<ref>Robert Magliola, ''Facing Up to Real Doctrinal Difference: How Some Thought-Motifs from Derrida Can Nourish the Catholic-Buddhist Encounter'' (Angelico P., 2014), pp. 116, 142, where he applies the same reasoning to relations with other non-Christian religions.</ref>}}