I’m never shocked anymore to hear the retort from someone who considers him or herself religiously ‘inclusive.’  It usually sounds something like, “Christians are so arrogant because they claim to have the only way!”  The argument seems to be claiming that all religions—except Christianity—believe in a sort of “different-strokes-for-different-folks” theology.  As Hindu, Sri Ramakrishna once put it, “All religions are true.  God can be reached by different religions.  Many rivers flow by many ways but they fall into the sea.  They are all one.”  So, we’re to believe that all religions besides Christianity are accepting, even embracing, of other religious paths.  After studying the world’s great religions for some years now, I’ve come to the conclusion that anyone who seriously makes this claim is either grossly uninformed or deliberately dishonest.

While there is no lack of those touting this tolerant sounding religious inclusivism today, one of the biggest problems is that not one of the religious founders of any of the world’s great religions believed or accepted this.  Consider just a couple examples. 

Buddhism was born out of rejection of Hinduism.  We must remember that, despite what American Buddhists tell us today, while Gautama Buddha himself grew up a Hindu, he rejected the Vedas (Hindu scriptures) and the caste system.  So, Gautama clearly didn’t seem to think that all religions were equally true.

Hinduism, even with all its religious accommodations, works on the assumption that Hinduism has the correct view of reality and truth.  The famous 7th century Hindu philosopher, Shankara, went around debating vigorously with others, under the assumption, “If I win the debate, you must submit to this truth.”

Islam is quite obviously exclusive.  In fact, it is so exclusive that in order for me to perceive the miracle of the Koran—Islam’s greatest proof claim—I must be able to read it in Arabic.

Atheism also stands in the camp of those who make exclusive claims.  It is the absolute rejection of the viewpoint of those who believe in God.

So, why is only Christianity exclusive?  It’s not! Truth, by definition, is exclusive.  So, the moment that anyone opens his or her mouth to assert anything, an exclusive claim is being made about something.  And the speaker, not matter how “open-minded” he or she might claim to be, assumes that any contradictory assertion is wrong or less true.

So, when we get this common accusation hurled at us, we must be accurate enough with the facts to gently point out that all religions are exclusive at certain points—there are no exceptions.