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Appiah acknowledges that religion can play different roles in the cosmopolitan goal of

universality. On one hand, religion can try to cross all cultural and national boundaries. For
example with Islam, Muslims can be of any race, creed or nationality. The spreading of religions
can allow them to be dissociated from just one particular cultural and allow them to
"contaminate" other regions. This spreading could fulfill the goals of believers by spreading
their doctrine, but also it can have an influence on other things in many different cultures. On
the other hand, religion can be very dangerous, and contradict the cosmopolitan beliefs. As with
the case with many other facets of life, supremacy plays a role. Some believers of different
religions believe that they hold the real truth and that life is only done correctly if lived by their
doctrine. This mindset forces a need to get others to act in one way and follow the same set of
rules; it forces uniformity and encourages intolerance. Uniformity opposes contamination and
Appiah believes uniformity stifles growth. Moreover, the intolerance creates tension that
sometimes leads to violence.

I too, like Appiah, believe in being a global citizen and being open to other viewpoints. Appiah's
claim that we can see new viewpoints and experience other cultures without having to subscribe
to everything mirrors Livingston's viewpoint that one could learn about other religions without
being spiritually promiscuous. I believe the tension caused by believers who encourage
uniformity could be soothed if they realized that tolerance does not necessarily mean that you
concede to others' viewpoints but that you learn to respect the differences. In my opinion, a good
example of being open is the Hindu approach to religion: the notion that other gods are a
reflection of their true god. Hindus can be seen in Muslim, Christian or other religious places of
worship. They do not seem to agree that Allah is the one and only, but through their beliefs are
able to coexist and use otherness as a reflection of their own faith. I also agree with Appiah that
tolerance and contamination does not call for uniformity but for a consensus; meaning that the
different cultures and beliefs are different tunes within a global song. The tunes avoid monotony
while mixing harmoniously. Respecting differences and allowing new influences allows people
and cultures to grow and evolve. "Change is the only constant in life" -Heraclitus.

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