page_title: Religious pluralism
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Religious pluralism / History
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: &#160; Titelblatt des Drucks des Augsburger Reichs- und Religionsfriedens Abschiedt der Röm. Königl. Majestat und gemeiner Stendt auf dem Reichßtag zu Augspurg a. D. 1555 auffgericht ..., Meyntz 1555 Mainz 1555
context_page_description: Religious pluralism is an attitude or policy regarding the diversity of religious belief systems co-existing in society. It can indicate one or more of the following:
  As the name of the worldview according to which one's own religion is not held to be the sole and exclusive source of truth, and thus the acknowledgement that at least some truths and true values exist in other religions.
  As acceptance of the concept that two or more religions with mutually exclusive truth claims are equally valid, this may be considered a form of either toleration or moral relativism.
  The understanding that the exclusive claims of different religions turn out, upon closer examination, to be variations of universal truths that have been taught since time immemorial. This is called Perennialism or Traditionalism.
  Sometimes as a synonym for ecumenism, i.e., the promotion of some level of unity, co-operation, and improved understanding between different religions or different denominations within a single religion.
  As a term for the condition of harmonious co-existence between adherents of different religions or religious denominations.
  As a social norm and not merely a synonym for religious diversity.
context_section_description: Cultural and religious pluralism has a long history and development that reaches from antiquity to contemporary trends in post-modernity.
  German philosophers of religion Ludwig Feuerbach and Ernst Troeltsch concluded that Asian religious traditions, in particular Hinduism and Buddhism, were the earliest proponents of religious pluralism and granting of freedom to the individuals to choose their own faith and develop a personal religious construct within it (see also Relationship between Buddhism and Hinduism); Jainism, another ancient Indian religion, as well as Daoism have also always been inclusively flexible and have long favored religious pluralism for those who disagree with their religious viewpoints. The Age of Enlightenment in Europe triggered a sweeping transformation about religion after the French Revolution (liberalism, democracy, civil and political rights, freedom of thought, separation of Church and State, secularization), with rising acceptance of religious pluralism and decline of Christianity. According to Chad Meister, these pluralist trends in the Western thought, particularly since the 18th century, brought mainstream Christianity and Judaism closer to the Asian traditions of philosophical pluralism and religious tolerance.
caption: Front page of the 1555 Peace of Augsburg, which recognized two different churches in the Holy Roman Empire.
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