Intellectual questioning
Religions make claims about truth, yet some of their views are
not easy to reconcile. For example, doesn’t the theory of reincarnation of the soul, as
found in Hinduism, conflict with the teaching of several other religions that a soul has
only one lifetime on earth? And how can the notion of an immortal soul be reconciled
with the Buddhist teaching that nothing has a permanent soul or essence? We must also
ask questions about tolerance itself. Must we be tolerant of intolerance, even if it is
preached by a religion? Questions such as these arise naturally when we study religions
side by side. Such study sharpens our perception of the claims of religions and invites us
to examine important intellectual questions more closely.