| abstract
| - Syncretism is a concept prevalent in parts of the Western world which mingles different and often contradictory beliefs and religious doctrines into a personal faith which can be described as "self-made-religion" or "patchwork-religion". Many Christian denominations agree that although there are elements of truth in other religions, for example the belief in one God or the advocacy of family values, these religions differ in many respects from Christianity. The New Testament rejects syncretism as an appropriate response to God, teaching instead that Jesus is the truth and the only way in passages such as John 14:16.
- Syncretism consists of the attempt to reconcile differing beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. In paganism, it may refer to attempts to merge and analogize several originally distinct traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, and thus assert an underlying unity allowing for an inclusive approach to other faiths. Religious syncretism exhibits the blending of two or more religious belief systems into a new system, or the incorporation into a religious tradition of beliefs from unrelated traditions. This can occur for many reasons, and the latter scenario happens quite commonly in areas where multiple religious traditions exist in proximity and function actively in the culture. Religions may have syncretic elements to their beliefs or history, but adherents of so-labeled systems often frown on applying the label, especially adherents who belong to "revealed" religious systems, such as the Abrahamic religions, or any system that exhibits an exclusivist approach. Such adherents sometimes see syncretism as a betrayal of their pure truth. By this reasoning, adding an incompatible belief corrupts the original religion, rendering it no longer true. Indeed, critics of a specific syncretistic trend may sometimes use the word "syncretism" as a disparaging epithet, as a charge implying that those who seek to incorporate a new view, belief, or practice into a religious system actually distort the original faith. Non-exclusivist systems of belief, on the other hand, may feel quite free to incorporate other traditions into their own. In modern society, religious innovators sometimes create new religions syncretically as a mechanism to reduce inter-religious tension and enmity, often with the effect of offending the original religions in question. Such religions, however, do maintain some appeal to a less exclusivist audience.
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