There are generally two tests for truth: the correspondence test, where assertions of fact can be tested against reality; and the coherence test, which ensures that all the assertions that make up a worldview cohere with one another, or are consistent with one another. Correspondence to fact and systemic coherence make for the test of any worldview.
Let me carry this a little further. How does one actually build a worldview? Invariably, give or take some minor points, a worldview is based on eight basic components:
A good worldview must have a strong basis in fact. This point alone has a two-edged reality: First, can the assertion being made be tested against reality? And second, is the assertion clearly false? If one assertion in the system is clearly false or cannot be tested against reality, there is a failure to meet the test of truth.
A good worldview must have a high degree of coherence or internal consistency. The New Spirituality fails miserably here. I shall demonstrate how as we come to the end of this section.
A good worldview must give a reasonable and logical explanation for the various undeniable realities that we sense all around us.
A good worldview will avoid the two extremes of either being too complex or two simplistic.
A good worldview is not explained by just one line of evidence.
A good worldview must explain contrary worldviews without compromising its own essential beliefs.
A good worldview cannot argue just on the basis of a private experience, but must have some objective standard of measurements.
A good worldview must justifiably explain the essential nature of good and evil, since those two alternatives are the principal characteristics differentiating human beings from all other entities or quantities.
Once a worldview has been established, it becomes the grid for making particular judgments. To say that there are no moral absolutes and then castigate Christians for being hypocritical assumes that hypocrisy is a moral flaw and a contradictory position and, therefore, is to be vilified. To say that there is a spark of divinity in all of us and then treat the lower castes as “less divine”—to even create such a system that categorizes people like this—is again to run afoul of reason. Worldviews begin by definitions. Definitions create boundaries. Violations of those boundaries elicit condemnation. That condemnation itself excludes. It is impossible to sustain truth without excluding falsehood. All religions are exclusive.
