Discuss and reflect upon the following quote from John Hick’s article and draw upon examples from your own experience within your culture and from experiences at UWC. It could be written as a philosophical essay, or as a freer, personal reflection.
“We live as part of a world wide human community that is at war with itself. In many places men, women and even children are killing and being killed in conflicts that are both validated and emotionally intensified by religion. And this is possible because each faith has traditionally made its own absolute claim to be the one and only true faith. Absolutes can justify anything. Today, to insist on the unique superiority of your own faith is to be part of the problem. For how can there be stable peace between rival absolutes? In the words of the Catholic theologian Hans Kung, 'There will be no peace among the peoples of this world without peace among the world religions'. And I would add that there will be no real peace among the world religions so long as each thinks of itself as uniquely superior to all the others. Dialogue between the faiths must continue on an ever increasing scale. But the only stable and enduring basis for peace will come about when dialogue leads to a mutual acceptance of the world religions as different but equally valid relationships to the ultimate reality.”
(John Hick, Religious Pluralism and Islam - Lecture delivered to the Institute for Islamic Culture and Thought, Tehran, February 2005, http://www.johnhick.org.uk/jsite/index.php/articles-by-john-hick/6-religious-pluralism-and-islam, accessed 10th of November 2023)