Message of my class over the weekend was "Let there be no compulsion in religion" and I made sure to drill this in all my student's heads very well. I must admit, lots of what I teach my kids is not something I have known for a long time either, I learn as I go. And it's the best feeling in the world to know that your personal belief matches your religious belief.
I asked my kids if they thought our religion believed in "Exlusivism" and most of them confidently said yes. I don't blame them, ofcourse they think that they've got an eclusive right on Truth because they haven't been told otherwise. Then I brought in the idea of "Inclusivism" and all of the sudden they felt more comfortable thinking that this makes more sense and again majority agreed on the idea of inclusivism. And then I introduced to them the idea of "Pluralism" and I gotta admit that I felt a little discomfort and even disappointment from the class when it was revealed to them that No, they don't have an exlusive right to "The Truth" if there's such a thing.
I don't know if the disappointment was because they lost what they thought they had or because their personal belief didn't match with their religious belief. Either way, I am honored to be a part of their journey to self discovery.
Om like the Islamic blog site Islamicate
2 comments:
And that's all we have as of now... the journey. And why shouldn't it be great even when we're wrong? Honestly, when I learn something new, I'm a bit disconcerted at first, but once I get used to it, I think it a gift. Maybe that's why I love the academic world so much.
I just realized one of the points of your entry, and that is the issue of right. I love how you mentioned that Truth is often considered a right. When one accepts pluralism they must automatically recognize the rights of others, which is a lesson in and of itself.
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