All major religions of the world such as, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, teaches the Truth, instills morals, and teaches their followers to pray, to meditate, to reunify themselves with their source. Yet differences in these religions establish borders and serve to disprove beliefs of other religions that are contrary to their own. While most people look toward the differences to reject other religions, the similarities found between all religions give evidence that they have commonalities that do not separate them but compliment them. By focusing on the similarities between major religions, it is reasonable to assume that the differing views, with in these religions, are the cultures' interpretations of their experience with the transcendent in relationship to themselves and are ultimately referring to the same Ultimate Reality. Similarities are found in the development of religious ideas and traditions and their fundamental assumptions that the Ultimate is infinite and ineffable. By examining the different attitudes taken by individuals within these major religions we begin to see the advantage and disadvantages of their practices of exclusivist and a more pluralist view on religions.
             People, who develop an exclusivist view on religion, believe that their religion teaches the Truth, and any opposing views must be false (Panikkar, 532). This attitude, although allowing the individuals to stay dedicated to their beliefs without question or doubt, does not allow the individual to acknowledge any beliefs that vary from their own and this develops an ignorance and arrogance toward other religions. In "A Defense of Religious Exclusivism," Alvin Plantiga states that there is a widespread apprehension that exclusivism is morally wrong. He defends the exclusivist attitude by stating that the exclusivist cannot deny his or her own personal or internal knowledge (Plantiga, 520). Yet for one to say that i...