Are All Religions True?

In this article, we will answer the question, “Do all religions lead to heaven?” or likewise phrased, “Are all religions true?” It’s a common question, especially in today’s culture and it needs to be addressed. If you prefer a quick answer to this question, please click here.

Recently, I have seen a post surfacing online that has a picture of all the major religious leaders (Buddha, Mohammad, Jesus, etc.) linking arms, and above the picture, it says: “Omnism - a person who does not claim any one religion, practice, or belief, but finds truth in them all.” In other words, “all religions are true”. Is it true, though, that the paths to salvation are many and not just down one particular way?  

While this may seem respectful to all religions and keeps up with the relativistic culture, it’s disrespectful to the different religions that don’t hold that pluralistic view and it’s also logically incoherent. I can understand how someone may take offense to this response, but I would like to unpack this further here in this article and hopefully shed light on the flaws with the Omnistic worldview, otherwise known as the Religious Pluralist view.

Is that even possible?

When someone says, “All religions are true” or something to that effect, we must ask ourselves, “What do we mean by true?” Truth is best defined as what fits best with reality. This truth, therefore, is objective (independent of somebody’s opinion) and not subjective (relative to each person – as in the taste of certain foods, preference of vacation spots, etc.). We see objective truth throughout nature and we experience it in our daily lives. For instance, take the law of non-contradiction which states that something cannot be true and untrue at the same time.

As an example, it’s contradictory and, thus, objectively false that somebody can be a married bachelor - you can’t be married and unmarried at the same time. In the same way, imagine someone told you that square circles are real – that would violate the law of non-contradiction because something cannot be a square and a circle at the same time. Or the law of gravity; no matter how much I believe it’s “true” that I can jump to the moon, the objective truth of gravity keeps me from doing so, independent of my feelings toward it.

As a last example, no matter how much I genuinely believe and feel that I can walk through the wall in my office, the objective truth of reality will set in when the wall smacks me in the face. The wall in this example can represent objective truth, and eventually, we will all be hit by it. So, when someone says, “All religions are true” or “It’s true that all religions lead to the same place”, we must keep this definition of truth in mind.

While there surely are similarities between the various world religions, it’s the differences that carry more weight. This isn’t just specific to religion either. Take medicine for example; imagine two tablets that look identical, but one will kill you and the other will cure you. In this example, both tablets share the true property of being small and white. However, it’s not the similarities that matter, instead, it’s the differences between them that are “do or die” (literally).

The same holds true for religion and our eternal destination. Let’s look at Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Christianity says Jesus died and rose from the dead, Judaism says Jesus died but did NOT rise from the dead, and Islam says Jesus did NOT die and did NOT rise from the dead. They can’t all be true, and this is no small matter either. As the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:14-19:

“And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” - 1 Corinthians 15:14-19

In other words, if Jesus did not rise from the dead, the Christian faith would be in vain, and not only that, we would be the greatest deceivers for spreading false truth! Another way to put this would be, if Jesus did not rise from the dead then Christianity is false. According to the law of non-contradiction, either one of the three options above are true (Christianity, Judaism, Islam), or none of them are! Jesus couldn’t have died and not died at the same time, nor could He have risen and not risen either - it must be one or the other. Either one religion is True or none of them are true, but they can’t all be true.

In the Omnism post, I came across, someone commented something similar to what is said above. The author of the post, however, responded by essentially accusing the commenter of falsely claiming to be the authority in which truth stems from. To paraphrase the comment from the author, “And who are you to say that’s true? Who is to say any one religion is true? You? The post says all that is needed to be said.” Now, there are some serious flaws with this comment.

First, when somebody uses personal attacks as a mode of argumentative response, that is a logical fallacy called an ad hominem. This is a fallacy because the truth of a matter is independent of the person who holds it. For example, imagine the biggest jerk in the world had created the cure for cancer, should we object to taking the cure because he simply isn’t a nice person? I sure hope not! We should instead investigate his claims using reason/evidence and if the truth holds up, we should rely on such findings independent of what we may think about the person.

Is THAT true?

Second, the answer to the comment (although it was probably meant to be rhetorical) should simply be the question returned to the person who asked it. By claiming “all religions are true,” one is making a truth claim. They are saying it’s true that all religions are true and it’s false that just one religion is true. In other words, they are claiming to know the truth – that all religions are true and one cannot be the only true religion.

Even though this person seems to make it seem like they aren’t making a truth claim, they indeed are doing just that! So, we have two truth claims being made. One is based on the law of non-contradiction (Jesus could not have risen and not risen at the same time, therefore all religions can’t be true) and the other is based on the mere existence of the post – in essence.

It seems to me that when people see a term that ends in “-ism” or “-ist” (such as “Pluralism” or “Atheist”) and a definition is provided, they are more inclined to rely on the idea as opposed to if it had no word to define it. Similarly, the modern culture has unfortunately seemed to adopt an unnecessary amount of trust in whatever is seen on social media. However, it isn’t the dictionary that determines the definition of a word, it’s the correlation the idea behind the word has with reality. In the same way, it isn’t a nicely put-together meme or video on social media that determines the truth of the matter.

Correlation with reality is what makes the word/idea true in the objective sense. How can we discover the correlation? By using reason and evidence and coming to a reasonable conclusion based on the evidence we have before us – leaving feelings and personal desires to the side. The apostle Paul in Colossians 2:8 says something along these lines:

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.” - Colossians 2:8

Therefore, just because the idea that all religions are true has been defined as Omnism, it doesn’t logically follow that it’s true. If that were the case, again, we would run into the law of non-contradiction. Not only do the specific religions contradict each other in major areas, but also the worldviews they are a part of do as well. A worldview is how somebody views the world. Worldviews impact the values we hold and ultimately our behaviors toward one another.

Theism (i.e., Christianity, Judaism, Islam) is the worldview that holds one Being exists, Naturalism (i.e., atheism) says there is no supernatural (no Being exists), and some Transcendentalist beliefs (i.e., Hinduism, Buddhism, New Age) hold that there are many supernatural beings that exist. Hopefully, it’s clear that one Being can’t exist while also not existing and having many Beings exist all at the same time – they can’t all be true.

Transcendentalism also generally teaches that "god" IS the universe - an impersonal force. The way in which specific religions in this worldview view how "god" is the universe varies. However, independent of specific beliefs, all beliefs in this worldview believe ultimate reality is either spirit, mind, or force.

If "god" IS the universe, and "god" is eternal (or else whatever/whoever created this "god" would then be the true God), then those of the Transcendentalist worldview must hold that the universe is eternal. This contradicts the strong scientific evidence we have for the universe having a beginning and thus being created (the Big Bang) and contradicts other worldivews! Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are all of the Theistic worldview. This worldview holds that there is one God who created the universe but is separate from His creation (although He can and does intervene when He chooses). Therefore, the religions within the Transcendentalist and Theistic worldviews cannot all be equally true. Either the universe is eternal, or it was created at some point, but it cannot be both.

For all the Theistic beliefs, it is considered blasphemy to say there is more than one god – there is only one God. Therefore, again, this is no small difference among the various religions. So, to answer the question of the author who made the post, “Who’s to say any one religion is true?”, reality is to say, and we can discover what best explains reality by investigating the evidence using reason.

That’s so unloving of you!

Now, concluding that Omnism is false and contradictory will not sit well with most people, especially in the relativistic modern Western culture we live in today. Our culture screams “inclusivity” wherever possible, while at the same time excluding the very people they are yelling at – let me explain.

The Bible teaches that Jesus is the Only Way to salvation (for an in-depth explanation on this topic, click here). For a relativist to tell you that all religions are true, and it is “intolerant” of you to think otherwise, makes them intolerant of your view! If your mind is going in circles, you’re not alone – the relativistic idea of truth is puzzling simply because it’s not in correlation with reality – it’s not objectively true. As author and speaker Mark Mittelberg eloquently explains:

"What's fascinating is that the people who condemn Christians for acting as if they're right and others are wrong are, in that very action, acting as if they themselves are right and Christians are wrong. So they are at that moment doing the very thing they say is wrong. When you think about it, it's pretty silly to condemn people for thinking they are right - because aren't you simultaneously thinking you are right in saying they are wrong? Or, broadening the point a bit, who in their right mind doesn't consistently think that they are right?... I mean, really, do you ever think you're wrong while you're in the midst of thinking that very thought? I don't think so; I think as soon as you start to realize your thinking is wrong you change your belief and start thinking differently! Therefore, for two reasons no one should condemn Christians just for thinking they're right and others are wrong: (1) everybody else does the same thing, and (2) Christians might really be right, after all." - Mark Mittelberg, The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask, pg. 241

They may even call you unloving for pointing this out, but you should ask them what they mean by that. In 1 John 3:18, the Apostle John writes,

“Little children, let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth.” - 1 John 3:18

Did you catch that? John, via the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, defines love and specifically mentions how love isn’t merely kind words or encouragement. Instead, he says real love is shown through actions – but not just any action, only those actions done in truth.

Here’s a commonly used illustration: if your child is doing something bad, harmful even, and you tell him/her to stop doing what they’re doing for their own well-being. Is this unloving? The child may very well think that what they are doing is truthfully good for them, therefore, should you as the parent let them “live out their truth” although you know the danger associated with it? Of course not! It’s actually the perfect act of love to correct your child to stop them from doing something that is harmful. You correct, because you love.

All this to say, there is objective truth that exists, and it certainly does have a role in religious matters. It simply isn’t objectively true that all religions are true, for the reasons I explained above. It’s either one of them is correct, or they are all wrong. All religions being wrong, by the way, is a fair stance to take!

However, the person who holds the view that all religions are false must be prepared to show that the evidence supporting any of the religions is false, which is simply too heavy of a burden to bear (specifically for Christianity).