Dr. Martin Marty, who has been called “a lot smarter than the rest of us,” spoke to a packed auditorium on Monday night. He spoke on Religious Pluralism as Threat and Promise. The facts of pluralism, according to Dr. Marty, are that any number of people can play, great numbers of people do, there are certain rules of the game and everyone knows the customs, manners and ethos of the game. The first rule of the game is the First Amendment, which says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” This gives all religions the freedom to worship freely in our country, which is the basis of religious pluralism. “People all around the world fight against others who are different,” said Dr. Marty. This is one of the threats of pluralism. This is seen when people try to put the 10 Commandments in public schools and buildings. There is a strong impulse to do this, even though not everyone in these institutions practices all of the commandments. This can, and does, cause problems between different religious groups. Another threat is that different religions easily attract people from other religions. People are drawn in by one aspect of a religion, but then they realize that they don't agree with all of the other beliefs that the particular religion practices. Dr. Marty feels that this happens to a lot of people who join because of one thing, but they are then turned off by things they didn't realize about the religion before they joined. “There is a strong impulse to do this because there are beliefs ingrained in us so deeply that we don't even realize that they are there,” said Dr. Marty On the other hand, the promise of religious pluralism is that America can be a model for religious acceptance. There are so many different religions that are accepted in the United States, according to Dr. Marty, that other countries that aren't so tolerant can learn from our example. “Because of the fact that we are a republic, all religions have equal footing here,” said Dr. Marty. This is the promise of religious pluralism here in America. Dr. Marty mentioned how it is easy for people to only be around people who are like them, but he also says that we need to fight the impulse to do this. We need to make an effort to be around people who are different from us so that we can learn new things from them. Dr. Martin Marty has received over 67 doctorates, and he has taught for over 35 years at the University of Chicago. He is the founding president of the Park Ridge Center for the Study of Health, Faith and Ethics. He served for a decade as an ordained Lutheran pastor before joining the University of Chicago faculty.