In a wide-ranging interview, Michael Harris—an influential British rabbi—discusses the differences between Modern Orthodoxy in America and in the UK, the recent history of Britain’s United Synagogue, and the implications of ancient Near Eastern texts for understanding the divinity of the Bible, among other topics. He also advocates a “moderate” and carefully defined form of religious pluralism. (Interview by Alan Brill.)
Modern Orthodoxy should resist a strong pluralism that views Judaism and other faiths as equally true, [claiming], for example, Judaism is true for Jews, Christianity for Christians, and Islam for Muslims. There is a more moderate but still valuable kind of pluralism, suggested by the medieval sage Menaḥem Me’iri, according to which we [should recognize as valid] the self-understanding of other religions as religions without accepting all their [theological] claims as on a par with our own. Believing in the truth of the core [tenets] of our own faith is also perfectly compatible with a positive attitude toward other faiths.
As a religious Jew who believes that Judaism is right and Christianity (for example) wrong on the messianism of Jesus and the relative status of the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, I can and should still accept that Christianity teaches a great deal of moral truth, that it brings blessing to the lives of many individuals and communities who adhere to it, and indeed that it strengthens the moral fabric of many contemporary societies, including the Western ones in which we live. We should also be open to what other faiths and their literatures can teach us—for example, . . . by their ability to convey shared truths in a particularly powerful way.
Read more on Book of Doctrines and Opinions: https://kavvanah.wordpress.com/2016/02/11/interview-with-rabbi-michael-harris-faith-without-fear/