Ajahn Joe Smith - Diversity and Pluralism

I was a devout Christian, both Pentecostal and not, for 10 years. At 21 I became a Buddhist and have lived in an ethnic non-Christian faith community [Thai Buddhist] for about 5 years. So, I have first hand experience of many of the difficulties the Cahill and colleagues (Cahill et al.) spoke of regarding those communities in Australia. From this background I appreciated what I thought was Cahill and colleagues’ accurate description of the religious profile of Australia, both past and current, including non-Christian faith communities.

I thought Cahill and colleagues did encompass, accept and respect the Australia’s diverse religious profile rather than just coming from a point of toleration. I believe that is the essential point which needs to be understood regarding “diversity” (Rock). It was in their discussion of “social capital” that their attitude of embracing and celebrating diversity became clearest for me. On page 73 Cahill and colleagues reported comments on the way social capital could be destroyed. I thought they should have tried to summarise the comments in a basic principle like “focussing on difference exclusively, without [firstly] recognising similarities, or common ground”.

On page 99 Cahill and colleagues said “The use of the exemplary Christian prayer, the Our Father, to commence each parliamentary day was raised though some Christian leaders considered it ought to be acceptable to all faiths since the name of Jesus is never mentioned.” I was disappointed that Cahill and colleagues did not show understanding of the religious position of Muslims at this point; specifically that Muslims do not think of Allah [God] as a “father”. I think not ding so would be an example of Cahill and colleagues’ Judeo-Christian religious bias.

I thought Cahill and colleagues approached the topic in a pluralistic way, which valued diverse cultures, but still maintained core principles of Australian government ("Pluralism"). Many of the definitions I found online for pluralism did not mention the latter aspect. It would cause many social problems in Australia, if a faith community could establish a religious dictatorship and not be bound by democratic principles, on the grounds of religious freedom.


References

Cahill, Desmond, et al. Religion, Cultural Diversity and Safeguarding Australia : A Partnership under the Australian Government's Living in Harmony Initiative. Canberra: Dept. of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs and Australian Multicultural Foundation in association with the World Conference of Religions for Peace, RMIT University and Monash University, 2004.

"Pluralism". 2009. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. March 16 2009.

Rock, M. "Definition of Diversity". 1999. University of Oregon. March 16 2009.