Summary On Pluralism

In the article “Problems and Promise in Pluralism,” Annalee R. Ward discusses the potential problems that might arise from religious pluralism and presents the potential impact and promise of religious pluralism that can benefit society as a whole. The author stresses the challenges religious pluralism presents to a person of faith in a society that favors the privatization of religion (Ward, 2004). Ward attempts to answer this following question: “If people are truly followers of a religion, how do they separate their faith from their life?” (Ward, 2004, p. 1). The author then goes on to describe two assumed problems in the pluralism topic and possible answers to this problem (Ward, 2014).

First the author states that, practitioners of one
According to Ward (2004), “using Scott’s distinctions between types of tolerance and the banner of academic freedom, pluralism in higher education proffers a reasonable worldview for diverse scholars to peacefully coexist and to do so authentically” (p.5). The author presents Mouw and Taylor’s definition of authenticity (Ward, 2004). Mouw contends that, Christians ought not be supporters to uncivil discourse because doing so detracts from their witness rather than advancing it, but rather, one should speak with conviction and serenity (Ward, 2004). Moreover, Mouw asserts that the approaches of evangelism and dialog should be considered as complementary, rather than opposites (Ward, 2004). According to Ward (2004), similarly Taylor in The Ethics of Authenticity says that, “life is fundamentally dialogic and we can know only through languages. Furthermore, we define our very identity through dialog – with or against others” (p. 6). Therefore, dialog can be considered a crucial pillar of communication studies and an important condition for religious individuals to coexist (Ward,
First, the author believes that although religious pluralism presents challenges to the individual’s integrity and academic assemblies, pluralism can still be beneficial if individuals take into consideration the different dimensions pluralism renders; and thus promoting different religious point of views to coexist and also bolstering the authenticity of academic freedom (Ward, 2004). Ward introduces works of other authors on the same topic to fortify his claim. The author also brings forward personal experience from observation to persuade the reader into agreement. However, none offer any evidence that the acceptance of pluralism will ultimately prevail or work. The research in the article lacks validity because Ward never presents any sort of statistical analysis to support the claims proposed in her argument; and therefore, the lack of data analysis and collection undermines her position on the