This letter is in response to a column by Dr. Ree Wells printed in The Chart on April 2.

In regard to your article, “Embracing religious pluralism; examining new ways to pray,” I would like to offer you a few considerations to think about.

Ravi Zacharias is a native of India and is no stranger to eastern philosophy. On the social ladder in India, he was among the elitists, being born into the highest Indian caste. Despite this elitist status, Zacharias came to know Jesus Christ on a bed of suicide early in his life. Educated at Cambridge and various other schools, he has offered mankind beautiful insight into the world of philosophy. In his book Can Man Live Without God, Zacharias wrote:

“Critical thinking is a basic law. August Comte was right in his observation that ideas govern the world or throw it into chaos.”

Does religious pluralism throw the world into chaos? I think it does.

The pivotal belief at the center of pluralism is the affirmation that truth is relative. This position is held by a large number of people, not just in the United States but around the globe. The question that should be asked is whether or not the statement “truth is relative” is inclusive or exclusive. If the statement is inclusive, then the statement in itself is not always true; if it is exclusive, then it is positing an absolute when absolutes are being denied. This is just one example of how pluralism does not hold together logically.

Besides this fact, pluralism contradicts itself in other areas. Is it not the intent of pluralists to make everyone feel better by telling them it doesn’t matter what they believe and to spread peace and love in the name of tolerance? It seems so, but what is the consequence of this? The consequence is that the notion of truth is killed. We cannot sacrifice truth and the altar of respect. Do we love someone if we allow that person to indulge in practices that we know are contradictory to the truth? The Bible tells us to “… put away all falsehood, and tell your neighbor the truth because we belong to each other (Ephesians 4:25).” If we truly want to love one another we need to do just this. Jesus Christ has commanded us to love, not to be tolerant.

I agree with Zacharias when he wrote critical thinking is a basic law, and I will further emphasize that ideas do indeed: govern the world or throw it into chaos. Do the ideas that are contained in the Bible throw the world into chaos or make sense of it? I encourage you to investigate the absolute claims of the Christian message. Jesus did not say he was “a way,” “a truth” and “a life,” but that he was “the way,” the truth” and “the life,” and that no one can come to the father except through him. It is an audacious claim worthy of inquiry.

Jake EvansSenior Studio Arts Major