Religious Diversity and Rational Choice of Religion

Abstract

In my essay I consider the situation of a person who really believes in the existence of the Ultimate Reality. The person in question should choose one of the historical religions or construct his or her own pluralist-sceptical Meta-religion. To do so rationally, he or she must use appropriate criteria. I think that the list of these criteria should include the following: internal and external coherence, empirical (mystical) confirmation, credible justification or testimony, existential usefulness, and universality. A comparison of the great historical religions and skeptical-pluralistic Meta-religion leads to the thesis that all of them similarly fulfill these criteria. The exception to this is the criterion of credibility, which attributes a higher epistemic value to Christianity, although it is possible to discuss whether this value is conditioned by a historical coincidence. In addition, Christianity (understood in a particularist way) faces the objection that I call ‘Schellenberg-Hick’s pliers’. I suppose that it can be avoided by advocating Christian pluralism. Its content can be formulated as follows: just as the Eucharistic signs make available the salvific sacrifice of Christ and the love of God the Father, so Christian mystery could also be universally