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Introduction
It is important to note that religion has always been a critical aspect of society, history, law, and family, where empires were built around them as the centers of power. Although one might state that the influence of religious thought was fundamentally oppressive, limiting, or hostile, the impact of their teachings on morality and the proper way of life cannot be ignored. Therefore, the pluralism of religion in a nation or the world is a positive development since it drives secular reasoning, mental health improvement through spirituality, and mutual respect through tolerance.
Discussion
Firstly, in order to address the concept of pluralism in religion, it is useful to define the term. It is defined as a state of society in which members of diverse ethnic, racial, religious, or social groups maintain and develop their traditional culture or special interest within the confines of a common civilization (Merriam-Webster 2022). In other words, pluralism is the pro-diversity of power centers, institutions, and religions. When it comes to mutual respect and tolerance, the pluralism of religion provides a basis to counteract violence between different religious groups (Jeynes 2018). In other words, violent behavior is generally reduced by being better exposed to religious teachings.
Secondly, mental health is among the most invisible but highly impactful well-being issues. Pluralism of religion can be beneficial for society by providing tools and methods of support for mental illnesses for a greater range of cultures. For example, PTSD symptoms can be better managed by culturally sensitive religious exposure (Jocson et al. 2020). Having many religions is about providing people from different cultural backgrounds with opportunities to improve their spirituality and mental health.
Thirdly, religious pluralism in practice manifests itself in secularism or separation of the church and state. Cases from the Nordic nations show that proper governance of religions within the framework of pluralism is mostly a governance issue (Eriksson 2022). Thus, any form of interreligious hatred is a result of poor policies protecting minority religious groups or ineffective governance from the secularist point of view and perspective.
However, the original argument does not carry the weight it was expected to carry to support pluralism directly. The argument could be improved by focusing on pluralisms benefits using examples from religions rather than selectively addressing the advantages of having religions. Therefore, the conclusion might be changed to reflect the data and evidence provided in a more open and transparent light. In other words, the argument should be that religions are beneficial because of spirituality, tolerance, and mutual respect, and thus, having many of them provides cumulatively more positive changes.
Conclusion
The key and valid counterargument could be about pluralism against religion. It could be argued that the listed benefits of religious pluralism are not indicative of the benefits of pluralism in particular but rather religion itself. In other words, the counterargument would emphasize that presenting evidence on how religions help with violence and mental health has zero relationship with pluralism but rather Christianity. In addition, it could be argued that religious benefits do not become amplified by the fact that there are many of them. Secularism might not be beneficial as well in conjunction with pluralism since religious centrality could provide even better results. Thus, the inherent weaknesses of the argument are the projection and connection of religious strengths with the concept of pluralism.
Bibliography
Eriksson, Kristin Skarning. 2022. Analyzing Governance of Religion in the Nordic Countries: Benefits of a Networks Approach and Roles of Research. Nordic Journal of Religion and Society 35(1): 2031. Web.
Jeynes, William. 2018. The Wiley Handbook of Christianity and Education. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Jocson, Rosanne M., Francheska Alers-Rojas, Rosario Ceballo, and Monica Arkin. 2020. Religion and Spirituality: Benefits for Latino Adolescents Exposed to Community Violence. Youth & Society 52(3): 349376. Web.
Merriam-Webster. 2022. Pluralism Merriam-Webster.com. Web.
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