Pluralism supports diverse views in philosophy, religion, or society, allowing beliefs and power centers to share influence and views about reality. I have been teaching the Bible, ethics, church history, and theology in jail since 2015 in a context of Abrahamic religions (faiths that believe in one God and revere the heritage of the patriarch and prophet Abraham). In my understanding, there are many ways to follow God and God loves us all. In class, it is sometimes appropriate to present pluralistic examples from scriptures other than those of my own Christian faith. I just developed the attached handout to distribute to my class tonight. Here are the scriptures I present in the handout,
Qur’an
The [Muslim] believers, the Jews, the Christians, and the Sabians – all those who believe in God and the Last Day and do good – will have their rewards with the Lord. No fear for them, nor will they grieve. (Quran 2:62)
We have assigned a law and a path to each of you. If God had so willed, He would have made you one community, but He wanted to test you through that which He has given you, so race to do good: you will all return to God and He will make clear to you the matters you differed about. (Quran 5:48)
People, We created you all from a single man and a single woman, and made you into races and tribes so that you should get to know one another. (Quran 49:13)
(Arabic Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur’an, 2016)
Tanakh – Hebrew Bible
And God said, “Here is the sign I am giving you of the covenant between Me and you, and every living being with you, down to the last generation: I have placed My bow in the cloud – it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth…When the bow is in the cloud, and I see it, I will remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living beings, all that live upon the earth.”
(Genesis 9:12-16, Hebrew translation: The Torah: A Modern Commentary, Ed: W. Gunther Plaut, 2006)
O ETERNAL One, Your faithfulness reaches to heaven;
Your steadfastness to the sky;
Your beneficence is like the high mountains;
Your justice like the great deep;
human and animal You deliver, O ETERNAL One.
How precious is Your faithful care, O God!
Humankind shelters in the shadow of Your wings.
They feast on the rich fare of Your house;
You let them drink at Your refreshing stream.
With You is the fountain of life;
by Your light do we see light.
(Psalm 36:5-10, Hebrew translation: Sefaria Library, 2023, sefaria.org)
New Testament / Christian Scripture
But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:44-45)
“I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. (John 10:14-16)
Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every people anyone who fears him and practices righteousness [acts justly] is acceptable to him.” (Acts 10:34)
Welcome those who are weak in faith but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions…Who are you to pass judgment on slaves of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand…For we do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord: so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. (Romans 14:1-8)
After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. (Revelation 7:9)
(Greek translation: Holy Bible / New Revised Standard Version / Updated Edition, 2021)
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