Religious Pluralism and the Heritage of the Enlightenment 1

For almost 1500 years the three great monotheistic faiths – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – have lived together, for better or worse, in relationships ranging from mutual respect and toleration to persecution. Moreover, the world into which they came knew of yet other religions, even if the Abrahamic faiths often dismissed these in disparaging terms as idolatry or superstition, and more new religions have emerged, or have been discovered, during the course of their history. So there is a sense in which religious pluralism as a phenomenon has always been with us.