McFaul’s Three Versions of Religious in 2050

Over the years, religion has acted as a unifying factor by bringing people from different cultures and nationalities together. Every religious affiliation group such as Christianity, Muslim, Hinduism and Buddhism has doctrines and values that have helped in unifying them. Most of the religious groups have hinged their teachings and enlightenments on the origin of the universe, history and the place of human kind. Similarly, religion has created divisions among their followers by teaching different worldviews that has for longtime deterred positive relationships among different individuals from different religious groups. McFaul provides three versions of how religion is going to be in 2050. The three versions reflect on whether religion is going to bring justice and peace or hatred in this “global village” world.

The three versions that McFaul addresses include, exclusivism, pluralism and inclusivism. Exclusivism is based on the conflicts between dissimilar religious affiliations because of their differences in terms of worldviews and ethics. Because of these differences, people will accuse their colleagues of not following the right path as their faith tells them to. Even though the world has undergone many changes in terms of economics, social and culture, major religious groups such as Christianity and Islam will fight for supremacy accusing each other’s faith. Despite universal shared ethics that cuts across all religious groups, different worldviews will cause drifts among their followers. According to pluralism version, people will still live together despite some differences between individuals from different religious background. The Internet will aid in sharing of views and opinions, hence ruling out any sense of belonging or ownership of certain religious group. Therefore, diversity will be enhanced and people will learn and appreciate their differences because tolerance to different worldviews will increase. In inclusivism version, people will become one family, accommodate each other and combine their many truths into greater truths. Furthermore, the laity and leaders will accommodate views of other people and leave together as one family. Global worldview and shared values will bring people together hence peace and justice will prevail. Amongst the three versions, pluralism is the likely version to be experienced by 2050.

By 2050, people from different religious affiliations will live together as brothers and sisters as this will be possible because of the availability of the worldwide web. This is evidenced through the quote, “The sprawling electronic communications web now riches the entire planet” (McFaul 34). The world has become a global village through connections of the internet around the world. People across the globe will interact freely with one another through venues such as social media. This will help people from different religious affiliations to share and discuss issues making them appreciate and accommodate diverse views hence staying together as brothers and sisters.

The number of laity and leaders of religious groups is reducing as pluralist expands and perception of people changes towards appreciation of diversity. People will embrace each other and stay together as one. This is demonstrated through the quote, ““… Despite our differences we can stay together” (McFaul 34). People’s scope of knowledge and understanding of religion is expanding. Ideologies held by earlier leaders are eroding and people are beginning to see the importance of living together despite having different religious opinions/beliefs. Therefore, by 2050, people will live together despite some differences in their worldviews.

Religion followers will have developed high cognitive ability and will be able to understand their worldviews. Followers will make informed judgment to unite them and ensure that peace and justice prevails. This is depicted through the quote, “The citizens of the global village have learned to live productively rather than destructively” (McFaul 34). This shows clearly that in 2050, people will have advanced in their cognitive ability and will have understood religion more. They will therefore make informed decisions that will help them move forward as a community not as a particular religious affiliation.

Out of the possible three versions, I agree that pluralism will prevail in 2050. The World Wide Web has turned the world into global village. This spectrum will help people and the society around the globe to interact, share their views, and appreciate each other’s views regardless of their belief inclination. People will live together and appreciate each other. The level of maturity and understanding among followers will also change triggering this wave of change. It is therefore true that religion is evolving and there is no doubt that people across religious affiliations will embrace and appreciate each other’s beliefs as they stay together and be their brother’s keepers.

Work Cited

McFaul, Thomas. “Religious in the future global civilization” Futurist. Sept/Oct. 2006: 30-36. (Excerpt).