Religious Diversity İn The Search For Meaning

Abstract

The existence of religions and the differences in the teachings of salvation and rituals of these religions bring up the question of how to approach the phenomenon of religious diversity. The answers to be given to this issue are also effective in shaping a person's life and directing their preferences. These answers can be found by considering various approaches. Especially in the tradition of Islamic thought, when the subject is addressed from an epistemological and theological perspective, the questions about "the reasons for the differences in the conceptions of God, the situation of the people of interregnum, and which religion and forms of worship will lead to salvation" bring different perspectives to the fore. However, the fact that thinkers reach different conclusions despite taking the basic sources as a basis to make sense of the subject reveals the necessity of evaluating the discussion in terms of religious inclusiveness, religious exclusivity, and religious pluralism. For this reason, the subject will be addressed under three headings from the perspective of Islamic thought tradition: religious diversity in terms of belief, religious diversity in terms of rituals, and religious diversity in terms of eschatology. Then, the relationship between religious inclusiveness, religious exclusivity and religious pluralism approaches and the discussions under these three headings will be revealed.