Unique intuition

Nostra Aetate declared that we should have “sincere reverence” for “those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she [the Church] holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men. Indeed, she proclaims, and ever must proclaim Christ ‘the way, the truth, and the life’ (John 14:6).” So the great, durable religions of mankind, such as Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam, and Hinduism, are not just the product or expression of the cultures in which they were engendered. Nor are they simply the product of “artistic” or moral thinking. They are the product of properly religious insight, which is its own particular and unique way of seeing into the way of things. This unique “religious intuition” or “religious sense” has created the most lasting and important human artifacts, by shaping millions upon millions of human lives over many centuries.

- Evaluating the World’s Religions | Francesca Aran Murphy | First Things