The name is absent

44 The Rice Institute Pamphlet

gions will continue to exist side by side in the immediate fu-
ture. Although there will be increased proximity between
their adherents, no one faith will replace all others, Braden
has shown that Mohammedanism, Buddhism, Hinduism,
Christianity and Judaism all face common problems in en-
couraging thoughtful devotion in cultures which are influ-
enced increasingly by scientific knowledge.²⁴ Readjustment
of attitude, leading to greater tolerance, must take place in
a milieu which includes vital non-religious forces. Unhap-
pily, the religions which have encouraged mankind’s highest
aspirations have been responsible as well for controversy and
even violence. Religious education can serve a positive func-
tion only as it helps to dispel intolerance by understanding.

In the modern world, religious training must provide in-
creasingly for a knowledge of the teachings of other faiths.
There is positive gain when the adherents of a particular
religion know the beliefs and practices of the members of
another faith. Indeed, an individual cannot really understand
his own major group or the particular denomination of his
membership apart from some understanding of another
point of view. Much is to be learned about religion itself
from the realization that the world’s great monotheistic reli-
gions are not absolutely different. Moreover, Buddhism, Hin-
duism, Confucianism and Taoism share a large number of
common moral and spiritual aspirations with the religions
of the West. In the end, piety gains nothing from condemn-
ing another faith. The study of the world’s living religions
mitigates against the perennial tendency of piety to equate
cultural differences with the central tenets of religious teach-
ing. King has shown at length how the great motifs of devo-
tion-ritual, law and mysticism—are variously expressed
throughout the history of religion.'²⁵

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