The inclusivist rejects what each worldview says about itself and claims they are compatible against all the evidence every religion has declared about itself. If the inclusivist is correct, then every religion is wrong. That isn’t so inclusive, then, is it?

Christians claim that the only way to restore our relationship with God is through Jesus Christ. This is an exclusive claim: there is only one way to God. But why would God be so narrow? Isn’t it arrogant for Christians to say Christianity is superior to other religions or worldviews?[i] Isn’t inclusivism a better way than exclusivism?

As one bumper sticker and meme says: “God is too big to fit into any one religion.”[ii]

This is the inclusivist or pluralist perspective. It’s the big tent perspective, where all roads lead to ultimate truth and no one way leads to that ultimate reality. You can get there by walking any path you’re on.

Two commonly used analogies give us a sense of what is intended. The first likens truth to a hub on a wheel, with all various religions and perspectives envisioned as spokes on a wheel, meeting at the hub. Whatever spoke you might be doesn’t matter so much. What matters is that we all will ultimately meet at the hub together.

The second analogy likens ultimate reality to the top of a mountain. Many paths might lead up a peak from all sides, but they all meet at the peak. Only there can one have the vantage point to look out and see how these paths could meet up at the same destination.

This inclusivist position resonates with our cultural moment and impulses.

Listen to these three proponents of inclusivism.

Inclusivist Mahatma Gandhi says, “My position is that all great religions are fundamentally equal.”[iii] Gandhi puts forward the inclusivist position that nothing essentially differentiates religions and worldviews.

Inclusivist Oprah Winfrey endorses this critique of exclusivism, “One of the biggest mistakes humans make is to believe there’s only one way. Actually, there are many diverse paths leading to God.”[iv] Is Winfrey right that all paths lead to the top of the mountain? Do all spokes lead to the hub?

Inclusivist Rabbi Shmuley Boteach says, “I am absolutely against any religion that says one faith is superior to another. I don’t see how that is anything different than spiritual racism.”[v] Rabbi Shmuley Boteach levels the assertion against exclusivists that to believe there is only one way is to be a spiritual racist. Are exclusivists the religious equivalent of racists?

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