Religious exclusivism, or religious exclusivity, is the doctrine or belief that only one particular religion or belief system is true.^[1] This is in contrast to religious pluralism.

Some attempts have been made to portray Buddhism in an exclusivistic framework by pointing out that the implication that those who do not accept the teachings of the Buddha, such as the Noble Eightfold Path, are destined to repeat the cycle of suffering through endless reincarnations; while those who practice the true way can reach enlightenment. Neo-Buddhist groups sometimes consider their tradition the true path to enlightenment and engage in strong evangelical efforts to influence those they consider to be in darkness. Several sects associated with Nichiren Buddhism may be included in this category.^{[citation needed]}

However, many followers of Eastern religions are not exclusivist. For example, there are millions of Buddhists who would also consider themselves to follow Confucianism or Taoism.^[2]

Perry Schmidt-Leukel pointed out that the parable about the blind, which tries to describe the elephant in Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rûmi's Mesnevi, but whose original origin is in the Buddhist Pali Canon, is more related to religious exclusivity rather than pluralism in the Buddhist context. In the Buddhist context, the elephant refers to true dharma, the blind refers to those who have views opposing Buddha, the sighted person refers to the king who was Buddha in his previous life, and the clear statement of the text is that blind people cannot enter the path of true salvation, and this is stated in the text as blind people "cannot go beyond Samsara". Only Buddhas show the path to salvation and they will provide the means to cross the Samsara river. The parable ends with a very clear analogy: The light of other teachers is like the light of a firefly, whereas the Buddha's light shines like the sun: "When that illuminator appears, the light of the firefly goes out and shines no more."^[3]

Some Christians^[4] have argued that religious pluralism is an invalid or self-contradictory concept. Maximal forms of religious pluralism claim that all religions are equally true, or that one religion can be true for some and another for others. Most Christians hold this idea to be logically impossible from the Principle of contradiction.^[5] The two largest Christian branches, the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, both claim to be the "one true church" and that "outside the true Church there is no salvation"; Protestantism, however, which has many different denominations, has no consistent doctrine in this regard, and has a variety of different positions regarding religious pluralism.

A number of Christian denominations assert that they alone represent the one true church – the church to which Jesus gave his authority in the Great Commission. The Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox communion and the Assyrian Church of the East each understands itself as the one and only original church. The claim to the title of the "one true church" relates to the first of the Four Marks of the Church mentioned in the Nicene Creed: "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church". The concept of schism somewhat moderates the competing claims between some churches – one can potentially repair schism. For example, the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches each regard the other as schismatic rather than heretical.^[6]

Many mainstream Protestants regard all baptized Christians as members of a "spiritual Christian Church", which is not visible or institutional; this belief is sometimes referred to by the theological term "invisible church". Some other Christians, such as Anglicans of Anglo-Catholic churchmanship, espouse a version of branch theory which teaches that the true Christian Church comprises Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, Old Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, Scandinavian Lutheran, and Roman Catholic branches.^[7]

The Bhagavad Gita warns against exclusivism:

यत्तु कृत्स्नवदेकस्मिन्कार्ये सक्तमहैतुकम्।

अतत्त्वार्थवदल्पं च तत्तामसमुदाहृतम्

But that which clings blindly to one idea as if it were all, without logic, truth or insight, that has its origin in Darkness.

— Bhagavad Gita, 18:22

Although Hindu sages such as Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Sri Ramana Maharshi have the approach that all religions contain the truth and lead to the same ultimate goal, some Hindus have stated that this universalism is contrary to Hinduism.^[8]

Muslims believe that Allah revealed the Qur'an to Muhammad. Other Islamic books considered to be revealed by God before the Quran, mentioned by name in the Quran are the Tawrat (Torah, Hebrew: תּוֹרָה) revealed to the prophets and messengers amongst the Children of Israel, the Zabur (Psalms) revealed to Dawud (David) and the Injil (the Gospel) revealed to Isa (Jesus). The Quran also mentions God having revealed the Scrolls of Abraham and the Scrolls of Moses. Most Muslims, however, maintain that previous messages and revelations have been partially changed or corrupted over time^[9] and consider the Quran to be the unaltered and the final revelation from Allah. Religious concepts and practices include the five pillars of Islam, which are basic concepts and obligatory acts of worship, and following Islamic law, which touches on virtually every aspect of life and society, encompassing everything from banking and welfare, to warfare and the environment.^[10][11][12]

Islam began its history with an exclusivist attitude toward polytheist religions, but an inclusivist attitude toward monotheists, including Christians and Jews. Believers in the oneness of God were given the status of dhimmi, conferring on them certain rights, including the right to practice their religions openly and not to be pressured to accept Islam.^{[citation needed]}

In practice, however, neither the inclusion of Jews and Christians nor militant exclusivism toward "pagans" was always practiced. Trinitarian Christians were accused of idolatry because of their veneration of icons and were also sometimes treated as polytheists because of the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation.^[13] Jews generally fared better than Christians under Islamic rule.^{[citation needed]} Jews and Christians are viewed largely favorably as compared to any other religion.^{[citation needed]}

The basic attitude of Muslims toward other religions are varied today, and certain Islamic nations, such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, are more exclusivistic toward other religions than are others, such as Indonesia and Egypt.^{[citation needed]}

Islam does accept sincere Jews, Christians, and Sabians as people "of the Book" along with Muslims.^{[citation needed]}

The hadith attributed to the prophet Muhammad and known as the hadith of 73 sects states that there will be 73 different sects and groups within Islam and that only one of these groups will reach salvation or heaven, while the others will be destined for hell. Two separate narrations of the hadith are as follows:

“The Jews split into seventy-one sects, one of which will be in Paradise and seventy in Hell. The Christians split into seventy-two sects, seventy-one of which will be in Hell and one in Paradise. I swear by the One Whose Hand is the soul of Muhammad, my nation will split into seventy-three sects, one of which will be in Paradise and seventy-two in Hell.” It was said: “O Messenger of Allah, who are they?” He said: “The main body.” (Sunan Ibn Majah 3992, Book 36, Hadith 67)^[14]

Another version of Hadith: "Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Amr: that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "What befell the children of Isra'il will befall my Ummah, step by step, such that if there was one who had intercourse with his mother in the open, then there would be someone from my Ummah who would do that. Indeed the children of Isra'il split into seventy-two sects, and my Ummah will split into seventy-three sects. All of them are in the Fire Except one sect." He said: "And which is it O Messenger of Allah?" He said: "What I am upon and my Companions." " (Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2641, Book 40, Hadith 36)^[15]

Scholars of major Islamic sects have commented that the sect that achieved salvation in this hadith is the sect to which they belong. For example, Abū l-Ḥusayn al-Malaṭī, ‘Abd al-Qāhir Sunni scholars such as al-Baghdādī, Abū l-Muzaffar al-Isfarā'inī, al-Shahrastānī, Sunnis were the saved sect, according to an Ismā'īlī scholar such as Abū Tammām al-Khawārizmī, Ismailis, according to important Mu'tazili scholar Qāḍī 'Abd al-Jabbār the sect that achieved salvation was the Mu'tazilites.^[16]

Most Jews believe that the God of Abraham is the one true God. The Jews believe the God of Abraham entered into a covenant with the ancient Israelites, marking them as his Chosen People, giving them a mission to spread the concept of monotheism. Jews do not consider their chosenness to be a mark of superiority to other nations, but a responsibility to be an example of behavior for other nations to emulate.^[17]

• One true church
• Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus
• Far-right politics
• Spanish Inquisition
• Mleccha
• Dalit
• 73 Sects (Hadith)

• Corney, Peter, and Kevin Giles. Exclusivism and the Gospel. Kew, Vic: St. Hilary's Anglican Church, 1997. OCLC 38819137
• Dickson, Kwesi A. Uncompleted Mission: Christianity and Exclusivism. Orbis Books, 1991. ISBN 978-0-88344-751-2
• Griffiths, Paul. Problems of Religious Diversity. Exploring the Philosophy of Religion. Blackwell Publishers, 2001. ISBN 0-631-21150-0
• Küng, Hans. Christianity and the World Religions: Paths of Dialogue with Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Doubleday, 1986. ISBN 978-0-385-19471-6
• Quinn, Philip, and Kevin Meeker. The Philosophical Challenge of Religious Diversity. Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN 978-0-19-512155-1
• Frank Morales - Neo-Vedanta: The problem with Hindu universalism
• Perry Schmidt-Leukel, Religious Pluralism and Interreligious Dialogue:the Gifford lectures, New York: Orbis Books-an extended edition, 2017.
• Perry Schmidt-Leukel, Buddha Mind-Christ Mind: A Christian Commentary on the Bodhicaryavatara, Leuven-Paris-Bristol: Peeters, 2019.
• Perry Schmidt-Leukel and Joachim Gentz (Eds.), Religious Diversity in Chinese Thought, Macmillan:Palgrave, 2013.
• Perry Schmidt-Leukel, Hans-Peter Grosshans and Madlen Krueger (Eds.), Ethnic and Religious Diversity in Myanmar, London-New York; Bloomsbury Academic, 2022.
• Kadir Gömbeyaz, The Influence of the 73 Sects Ḥadīth on the Classification of Theological Sects in Islamic Heresiographical Literature, ULUM:Journal of Religious Inquiries, 1/2 (December 2018), pp. 245–258 doi number and link