Mendelssohn’s Metaphysical Defense of Religious Pluralism

Abstract

Monotheism has a bloody history. It has become common to account for this bloodiness by contrasting monotheism’s exclusiveness with polytheism’s tolerance: “Monotheism, in its war against polytheism, is an attempt to impose unity of opinions and beliefs by force, as a result of an uncompromising attitude towards the unity of God. Polytheism, by contrast, by its very nature includes an abundance of gods and modes of ritual worship, and so has room for different viewpoints and beliefs and therefore is pluralistic. This pluralism is not just the product of compromise, but is in fact an ontological pluralism that constitutes a deeper basis for tolerance.” But there is another side to monotheism. For in claiming the universality of religious truth, monotheism contains a strong foundation for human unity. In the wake of the Reformation and the Hundred Years’ War, many European philosophers sought to articulate a conception of monotheism that allowed for and indeed encouraged religious pluralism. Moses Mendelssohn, the great Enlightenment Jewish philosopher, is known for his eloquent pleas for the political tolerance of religious