Religion should change with the times (Page 3)

many societies pretty much mixed cultural traditions with religious beliefs. see the vatican city, poland, the south america states, they are so very influenced with catholicism. the middle east, arab states, and muslim states are very much influenced with islam in their culture.

As they say 'change is the most certain thing in life'. The world around us is constantly changing. Religion has no choice if it ought change or not. It will change. Take a look at the history of religion and the concept of God itself, it has evolved dramatically with changing times. Forces of change are continuously reshaping how people perceive God and religion.

Those who rigidly hold onto their beliefs are delusional. They delude themselves to believe that something can withstand everything and stand permanently as a rigid immovable structure.

A large part of the problem in the world is the fear of change. People are terrified of change. They fear that even the slightest change will shatter the whole world around them. That is why they cling to their texts, beliefs, or whatever it is that drives them and force the world to comply, come what may, lest there be change.

Generally religion has two parts.

One part relates to worldly affairs and another part to the realms of the spirit and God etc.

The first part may need some tinkering over the ages.

But here is where there is a lot of controversy too.

Often  a simple text can be interpreted in so many ways. Each person does it to justify their own actions.

 

The second and more important section is for the true seekers and this may not differ much. In any case Truth is beyond words and cannot be written down. Sometimes the more we write the more confusing it becomes.

Religious texts should not be re-written according to me. But yes, the customs and traditions need to be updated. Basically, how we interpret it needs to be changed. Religion should be a guide and not a rule.

Change is good.. but somethings are better if they dont change.... ... relgion is one such thing......it arose out of simple thinking which is more or less impossible these days......listening some of the ABCD's of today

No I don't believe Religion should be changed. Who has a right to change what great saints and sages wrote aeons ago? Only religion is the path to liberation from this materialistic world. If religion is changed and tweaked to suit people's needs, how will people get liberation? How will they merge with God?

Seeing you after a long time, Lalitha.

I mostly agree with you, that people should be allowed to believe and follow whatever they want to, without being forced to change their way of thinking (as long as no one is being harmed). However, one mustn't forget that religions were written in a time, a place, a culture completely different than ours. Think about the laws of our countries about a few years ago...and think of what it is today. It has changed a lot, did it not? New things are constantly emerging, many old things are being substituted with new technologies. Change is something that is bound to happen with the progress of time, no matter what. Think about the evolution of religions and systems of beliefs: first it emerged with animism, the belief that every single entity in the world has got a life of its own, and every single thing is conscious in its own way. Animism gave birth to Nature worship, which, in turn, gave birth to Polytheism. Henotheism emerged from polytheism, and monotheism emerged from it.

I don't think it is fair to change things that causes no harm or distress to other human beings (spiritual issues can remain what it is now); I, however, feel that certain issues, like religious issues related with politics, economics, sociology, human rights, etc, that needs to be given a second look.

Strange as it may sound, there are those religious fanatics out there (coming from every groups), who feels that "honorably killing" innocent lives of infidels, or shedding innocent bloods of non-believers is a "noteworthy" job to do, based on their twisted interpretation of religious scriptures and ideologies, not understanding that any extreme statements made in religious scriptures might only be suited for the particular period of time, and also in certain circumstance.

For instance, killing for self defense is justifiable (as far as I know) in every religion, law, ethics, etc. A religious scripture may be describing a scenario when a follower of that particular religion may have killed a life of an infidel to save his own life (self defense), but just reading the statement out of context may make it seem as though the religion is persuading people to slaughter infidels, when in reality, that's not the case. Then again, killing people in war ground (that, too, for self defense) is justifiable, but the moment the war is over, and you have no fear of loosing your life, it become a grave sin to take a life with your own hands, in all religions, ethics and laws.

Religious scriptures may have been written in times and places and cultures and areas where the situation/circumstance was very different from ours, hence we have no other means but to modernize our interpretation (not the actual scripture; but out outlook our interpretation) of it with the passage of time.

That's NOT going against one's religion or permanently changing it; it's just broadening our outlook towards it, to reinterpret it based on the time we are living. Personally, I don't see why God would would be against it. Changing something permanently is not the same as changing our outlook towards it.


Edited by PhoeniXof_Hades - 22 August 2009 at 6:12am

Change is the order of nature and will take place whether we want it or not.