Is There An Evolution Of Religions?

[C.O.T.]

Hi, would like to ask your opinions on this idea. We are living on a time of quite high change and interculture mix, a little as the last century of the roman empire was with a lot of religions competing on the spiritual arena. And even the recuperation of ancient ones.
The idea is this: Do you feel that there is some kind of evolution between them? Or the changes and varieties are simply casual?

 

[Mythopoeika]

Hi, would like to ask your opinions on this idea. We are living on a time of quite high change and interculture mix, a little as the last century of the roman empire was with a lot of religions competing on the spiritual arena. And even the recuperation of ancient ones.
The idea is this: Do you feel that there is some kind of evolution between them? Or the changes and varieties are simply casual?

Evolution?
By their very nature, religions tend not to change their teachings and behaviour.
Possibly the only religion that has shown any attempt to 'move with the times' is Christianity.

 

[Xanatic*]

Not on purpose perhaps, but they do mutate. Look at how the Virgin Mary tends to take center stage in South America.
There is a kind of evolution of ideas, with the problem that what survives is what is useful, not what is true.

 

[Floyd]

'a' evolution?

 

[EnolaGaia]

Thread has been re-titled.

NOTE: C.O.T. is not a native English speaker.

 

[Floyd]

Evolution?
By their very nature, religions tend not to change their teachings and behaviour.
Possibly the only religion that has shown any attempt to 'move with the times' is Christianity.

There is a 'Reform' branch of Judaism whose members believe that their faith should evolve to suit modern times.

 

[C.O.T.]

The cults to virgin mary are very extended on Mediterranean, and from this zone have been extended to south America. Is a very curious cult, agree with the protestants, that seems better to try to keep some ideas previous to Christianity, triying to keep continuity whit the goddesses of fertility from past milenia.
But at the same time that shows too the idea: why to change religions?, Why to create new ones?
In england we have seen from the past century to nowadays the try to give some life to the Neolithic religions, that have extended to other countries and influenced culture. But, is the same? or in reality are christian interpretations of that religions. The people that burned some other in the wikerman are the same of nowadays "me too" ?

 

[Xanatic*]

The changes are not necessarily planned, but can be a reaction to new things/discoveries. For example smoking or eating beavers on a friday, those are new things that the religions might need to make a determination on, wether they are allowed or not.

 

[JamesWhitehead]

I believe archaeologists have uncovered sites which predate Judaism, where the famously-solitary Almighty was worshipped together with a spouse*. Needless to say, the notion of evolution is strongly-disputed and impossible to prove in this case. Darwinian concepts are alien to fundamentalist Jews and Christians in any form, come to think of it!

*"Some biblical scholars believe that Asherah at one time was worshipped as the consort of Yahweh, the national God of Israel."

"Worship solely of Yahweh became established only after the exile, and possibly, only as late as the time of the Maccabees (2nd century BC). That is when monotheism became universal among the Jews." Asherah, from Wikipedia.

 

[C.O.T.]

I think that there is in the international mistery community ( yes maybe could be called this name ) a narrative that have became dominant, for example the one of the ancient astronauts, and the one of Christ as a kind of Homer Simpson enjoying the infinite pleasures that marital life gives to us each day of our lives.
Both narratives pretending to look innovative are in reality deeply conservative. They sustain the main trends of the time: Dull materialism, and reproduction centered view of the spiritual life, as in the Neolithic.

 

[JamesWhitehead]

religions tend not to change their teachings and behaviour.

Roman Catholicism is an extremely conservative faith, which attracts some adherents for exactly that reason. When seismic changes are made - such as Vatican II - they provoke violent reactions and schismatic fall-out.

New religions have been founded, wherever a charismatic character has laid claim to divine inspiration. The Pursuit of the Millennium is the standard text on that fascinating subject. Usually they wither quickly, unless they successfully draw believers from mainstream faiths, so the ones which thrive do not fall too far from the tree.

Some sort of shift takes place in the twentieth-century, when sky-gods take on the science-fiction/psycho-analytic trappings of Scientology but the impulse of every cult and cabal is to nourish itself on the needs of its hosts.

 

[Endlessly Amazed]

@C.O.T., this is a great question!

I guess it depends on the time frame. Over multi-millenia, religions change noticeably. During a single lifetime, we don't really notice much change except for rare events like the 1960s Vatican II for the Roman Catholics: worshiping in the local language and not the universal Latin, women helping at mass, etc. (yes, that is an editorial italic.)

However, Christianity itself has changed a lot over the past 2000 years, so much that if Jesus came back, I doubt he would recognize it. Ditto for Islam and Muhammed, Buddhism and Buddha.

I think that the next big shift, happening right now, is the development of some sort of universal spirituality which allows for direct access by each individual to the divine, not through the mediation of priests, rabbis, gurus, and others. This has been building since the 1840s in the Americas and Europe. I am not stating it is confined to the Americas and Europe, only that I know about these regions, and I don't know much about other places.

 

[C.O.T.]

the development of some sort of universal spirituality which allows for direct access by each individual to the divine, not through the mediation of priests, rabbis, gurus, and others

Are this the Blavatsky and Theosophical society ideas? Sorry im not the most skilled person on Theosophy.

 

[Endlessly Amazed]

Are this the Blavatsky and Theosophical society ideas? Sorry im not the most skilled person on Theosophy.

No, not at all. I hope not. Madame B and theosophy were a part of this movement, but they did not start it nor further it. I think they were partly deluded, partly corrupt. Madame B and her inner circle created a rigid hierarchy in which they were in control - which greatly limited the idea that ordinary persons could directly access the divine. - at least without the guidance of the inner circle's "advanced souls".

Full disclosure: many years ago, I was a founding member of the Phoenix AZ (USA) Theosophy study group. I was enthusiastic for about a year, and then the more I studied, and the more I came to know about it, I realized it was not real. I have not had this sense of disillusion about other religions or spiritual beliefs even when I didn't follow them.

Perhaps I was unduly influenced by some of the unpleasant Theosophists I met.

What are the big spiritual beliefs where you live?

 

[Victory]

I believe archaeologists have uncovered sites which predate Judaism, where the famously-solitary Almighty was worshipped together with a spouse*. Needless to say, the notion of evolution is strongly-disputed and impossible to prove in this case. Darwinian concepts are alien to fundamentalist Jews and Christians in any form, come to think of it!

*"Some biblical scholars believe that Asherah at one time was worshipped as the consort of Yahweh, the national God of Israel."

"Worship solely of Yahweh became established only after the exile, and possibly, only as late as the time of the Maccabees (2nd century BC). That is when monotheism became universal among the Jews." Asherah, from Wikipedia.

I have always cast doubt on the idea that Monotheism replaced idolatry for the Jews living there.

It is clearly stated in the Bible (Old Testament) that idolatry had periods of practice in ancient Israel which were temporary, adherents being both Jews and non-Jews.

The very intrinsic concept of monotheism to Judaism, and the growth of that idea outwards from one man - that to me makes a nonsense of these ideas that two deities were originally worshipped by some people who identified as Jews and then it gradually got whittled down to worshipping one deity.


As for the subject matter of the thread, it can well be argued that the Druze faith is hybrid.

The Druze can be "academically " identified from 1000 years ago, though they can also be traced back to biblical times and Jethro (the original, not the recently deceased Cornishman.)

The Baháʼí faith is to my knowledge hybrid and date back 160 years.

 

[Endlessly Amazed]

Do we have any Fortean member who attended the last Parliament of Religions? It used to be every 100 years - how was any continuity maintained? - but now it is more frequent. If so, perhaps they could tell us about any evolution of religions.

 

[charliebrown]

According to the Pew Organization which studies trends, covid pushed religious attendance down, but for the first time many young people claim no preference to a particular religion.

Will religious organizations recover ?

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

Today's Church of England, with the now routine ordination of female vicars and blessings for gender-neutral marriages, would be pretty well unrecognisable to Henry VIII.
And it's been a while since the Catholic Church launched an inquisition or crusade.

 

[C.O.T.]

I think that is very unprovable that religions with human sacrifices, like in Maya culture or in Celtic ones return. Well, maybe there is still someones that miss it , but is quite unprovable that showed it or make proud public defence of that.