Objection #1:

All Religions Are True

In other words, religious pluralism says that all religions are true and that nobody can say that

one is more true than the other.

That is the issue that we are dealing with tonight.

By now, most everyone has seen this bumper sticker.

Maybe you even have it on your car.

This bumper sticker is typically a passive way of people trying to convince the religious crowd

that we all worship the same god(s), so there’s no reason we can’t all get along.

“I believe that everyone has the right to believe what they want to. What is true to one person doesn’t

have to be true to someone else, but that doesn’t mean they both can’t be true. That’s why I believe all

religions are different roads up the same mountain.”

- Anna, a dental hygienist from Omaha, Nebraska

“All religions of the world are right. They’ve just all got their own way of saying what is true about God.

Who are we to say that one or more of them are wrong when they’re just expressing their beliefs the

best way they can?”

- Aaron, a car salesman in Kennesaw, Georgia

Are Anna and Aaron correct? Is truth completely objective to the individual person? Are all religions

true and just have a different way of expressing that truth?

The law of non-contradiction (LNC) is second of the three classic laws of thought from Aristotle.

LNC creates a dichotomy wherein two parts are mutually exclusive and jointly exhaustive.

In other words:

o “Two or more contradictory statements cannot both be true in the same sense at the

same time.”

Ontological: “It is impossible that the same thing belong and not belong to the same thing at the

same time and in the same respect.”

Psychological: “No one can believe that the same thing can (at the same time) be and not be.”

Logical: “The most certain of all basic principles is that contradictory propositions are not true

simultaneously.”

At a moment, I claim that Buster belongs to only me, while at the same moment, my neighbor

claims that Buster belongs to only him.

Both claims are mutually exclusive and cannot be true in the same sense at the same

time.

Either one or none of these statements can be true at the same moment.

Buster either exclusively belongs to me, exclusively belongs to my neighbor, or he does

not exclusively belong to either one of us.

At a moment, John asserts that the Loch Ness Monster exists, while at the same moment John

claims that the Loch Ness Monster does not exist.

Both claims are mutually exclusive and cannot be true in the same sense at the same

time.

Either one or none of these statements can be true at the same moment.

John either believes that the Loch Ness Monster exists or believes the Loch Ness

Monster does not exist.

In the very same moment, I claim that this shape is a triangle while my fiancé Mikayla claims

that this shape is a square.

It is completely possible that my statement, that the shape is a triangle, is true, but if I

am indeed correct, Mikayla’s claim concerning the shape, that it is a square, must be

false.

Both claims contradict one another in sense and time; therefore, the claims cannot both

be true at the same time in the same place.

Either one is correct, or neither are correct.

Hinduism is a religion that has undergone many various phases.

Hinduism has experienced phases in the following:

o Monotheism, polytheism, henotheism, and animism

There are almost no restrictions for a religion to be labeled as Hinduism; but they must do the

following:

o Regard the Vedas as divinely inspired and authoritative

o Accept the caste system

o Respect the veneration of the various levels of deities and spirits, including the

protection of cows.

In the caste system, reincarnation is affirmed.

In typical Hinduism, Krishna is the chief god.

Buddhism is a religion which reformed from Hinduism and denied the existence of the millions

of gods within its mother religion.

Aside from this, in classical Buddhism, truth comes in the form of the “Four Noble Truths.”

1. The truth that suffering exists (Dukkah)

2. The truth that suffering exists with a root cause (craving).

3. The truth that suffering can be eliminated (Nirvana).

4. The truth that there is a way to eliminate suffering known as the Noble Eightfold Path.

Islam is an Abrahamic religion, meaning they believe they serve the god of Abraham (known to

Muslims as Allah; known to Jews and Christians as Yahweh).

Allah is one and incomparable to other gods.

Allah is Unitarian and does not exist in a triune nature like Christians and some Jews believe.

Mohammad is the final prophet of Allah.

Jesus was simply a man and prophet.

The purpose of existence is to worship Allah.

Five pillars:

Creed, daily prayers, almsgiving, fasting, and pilgrimage.

Judaism is a monotheistic religion which centers around the God of Abraham, also worshiped by

Christians and believed by Muslims to be the god of Islam (Allah).

Yahweh is the one true God and creator of the universe.

Most sects believe the Torah of Yahweh (Genesis-Deuteronomy) are the most important books

of the Tanakh (Christians Old Testament).

Orthodox Judaism believes that God’s commandments are an expression of his love and that

those who do them are living righteous lives.

“Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your Torah/Law is truth” – Psalm

119:142.

Catholicism is a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion that believes that Yahweh is triune in nature

and exists in three distinct persons: father, son, and spirit.

Jesus Christ, the center of Catholicism, is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) and that

salvation comes by him.

The pope is the vicar of Christ and is infallible when pronouncing church doctrine.

Mary, mother of Jesus, is the mother of God and ever-virgin.

The Catholic Church is the one true church and it alone is acceptable to God.

Upon death, men will be judged and enter one of three places: heaven, hell, or purgatory.

Protestant Christianity (PC) is a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion that believes that Yahweh is

triune in nature and exists in three distinct persons: father, son, and spirit.

Jesus Christ, the center of PC, is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) and that salvation

comes by him alone.

Jesus Christ is God manifested in flesh, commonly known as the “Son of God.”

Jesus Christ suffered a sacrificial death so that his righteousness could be imputed onto those

who believe in him.

The 66 books of the Protestant Bible are divinely inspired and authoritative.

There is an analogy that many religious pluralists will use; it involves an elephant and six blind men.

One man grabs the elephant’s tail and says, “Elephants are long and flexible like a rope.”

One man grabs the elephant’s side and says, “Elephants are huge, flat, and tough! Elephants are

like a wall.”

Another man grabs the elephant’s tusk and says, “Elephants are like a spear.”

o The analogy then says that religions are the same way; everyone has a part of the truth,

but nobody has the whole truth.

But……. The only way for someone to know

that everyone only has part of the truth, is to

assume that he or she has all of the truth – the

very thing he or she says that no one has!

As we can see, contrary to those who believe that all religions are paths up the same mountain, the

major religions of the world differ greatly on the most crucial aspects of their faiths.

By the logic that we have examined, if Jesus is correct, no other religion is true.