read Diana Eck’s “What is Pluralism?” and “From Diversity to Pluralism,” and discuss how Eck defines pluralism.

For your paper, you will first read Diana Eck’s “What is Pluralism?” and “From Diversity to Pluralism,” which can be found here: http://pluralism.org/pluralism/what_is_pluralism and http://pluralism.org/encounter/challenges. While reading, have these questions in mind: • How does Eck define pluralism? • Who is allowed to speak in the “public square”? • What kinds of characteristics must these religions possess? • Next, you will read pp. 158-166 of Russell McCutcheon’s “Our ‘Special Promise’ as Teachers: Scholars of Religion and the Politics of Tolerance” on the course Blackboard site. While reading, have these questions in mind: • How does McCutcheon understand pluralism? • What are McCutcheon’s critiques of Eck’s notion of pluralism? • What characteristics must these groups have, according to McCutcheon, to be included in Eck’s Pluralism Project? First Component of the Assignment: • In a 1100-1400-word essay, you will address a two-part prompt: • First, you must demonstrate that you have read the two assigned readings (Eck and McCutcheon) by answering the following: • How does each author understand pluralism? • What kinds of characteristics must these religions possess in order to be included in a pluralistic society? (Your answer to this question must be from each scholar’s perspective—Eck’s answers will be more straightforward, but you will have to think about what McCutcheon is saying in order to answer from his perspective.) • What are McCutcheon’s critiques of Eck’s idea of pluralism? What are his reasons for them?