If human consciousness continues to evolve (slowly and sporadically) in such a manner that humans continue to acquire a fuller, more expansive sense of the nature of Spirit, what are the implications for the existing traditional religions which all emerged over 2000 years ago from the mode of human spiritual awareness (more mythic, dualist, anthropomorphic and anthropocentric) that was dominant at that time?
While we can only hazard vague educated guesses about what the many dimensions of the post-traditional religion of the 21st century and beyond will look like, it seems reasonable to assert with considerable confidence that future religion will be characterized by an embrace of religious pluralism and a rejection of exclusivism. The notion that there is only one true religion and that religions can be neatly categorized into “true” and “false” is already rapidly disappearing among many populations, and the pluralistic appreciation of a multiplicity of spiritual beliefs and practices will likely, over time, become the new norm. The exclusivist assertion that there is only one true religion, one true revelation, one true set of beliefs, and one true path to salvation is simply not credible to people whose perspective is fully informed by study of the history of religions, which exposes the sociopolitical factors that influence the formation of each religion; study of World Religions, which demonstrates the multiple commonalities between traditions; and, perhaps most importantly, direct experience with people of other faiths, which is inevitable in an increasingly multi-cultural world in which traditional boundaries of communication and interaction are rapidly collapsing. We already see a movement away from the traditional exclusivist norm as, for instance, the boundaries between various branches of Christianity are dissolving, with practicing Lutherans being quite comfortable attending a Presbyterian service or even a Catholic Mass, and indeed with many Protestants not even familiar with the theological differences that once created a sharp and often acrimonious wall between different denominations. Today many Protestant Christians would be hard-pressed to describe the theological differences between, for instance, Lutheranism, Methodism, and Presbyterianism, and many (perhaps most) mainline Protestant congregations are populated by members who are there simply by virtue of family tradition rather than theological choice. But this openness to other traditions also extends beyond the different branches of one’s own faith and into completely different traditions, as we see, for instance, Christians and Jews engaging in activities such as practicing Buddhist meditation, participating in Hindu religious festivals, participating in indigenous shamanic rituals, and reading sacred texts from multiple traditions. We appear to be heading for what Duane Bidwell has referred to as believers who are “spiritually fluid” (see Bidwell’s When One Religion Isn’t Enough: The Lives of Spiritually Fluid People). Rather than feeling a need to be confined to one tradition, the spiritually fluid believers (which appear to be rapidly increasing in numbers) do not identify with any one tradition, but feel comfortable drawing different elements of their spiritual life from different religions. The spiritually fluid believer might, for instance, participate in a Christian Mass, practice Buddhist meditation, hold a worldview derived from Hindu Vedanta, and read Confucius for ethical guidance, all the while seeing no conflict in the blending of various traditions and not exclusively identifying with any one of them. To the spiritually fluid believer, being religious does not require identification with a specific historical tradition, but rather consists of an acceptance of and commitment to spiritual reality that transcends association with any particular expression of faith. This is not to suggest movement toward a naïve and uncritical acceptance of any and all ideas and practices labelled “spiritual” by someone somewhere. Discernment of what is spiritually and ethically meaningful and edifying necessarily will continue to occur, but from a starting point of openness to the reception of elements (beliefs, practices, experiences, etc.) of religious value from any tradition. One’s own favored tradition or the historically dominant tradition of one’s culture will no longer automatically have a privileged place as the arbiter of what constitutes spiritual legitimacy. This embrace of pluralism and movement toward spiritual fluidity doesn’t mean that we are necessarily headed toward some sort of universal, global One Religion. Spiritual beliefs and practices are influenced by many variables, some reflecting differences in personality and taste, some reflecting local traditions, and countless other subtle differences in human personality and culture that lead to a preference for one rather than another mode of spirituality. These factors will likely ensure that, as the religion of the future slowly evolves, it will develop along branches that reflect these many differences in preference, but the new normal in which such variations exist will almost certainly be one which strongly affirms religious pluralism, respecting but not constrained by the traditional Axial Age religions which still dominant the world’s spiritual landscape.
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