Evolution of Religion

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are evolved religions. They all appeared at arbitrary points in human history, have all changed their doctrines along the way, and continue to evolve even today. Although these religions all claim to be the answer, none of them is. At best, they are works in progress, an important point for believers to keep in mind, since absolute certainty has led -- and continues to lead -- adherents of these religions to commit hateful acts in the name of God.

Even if we accept the notion that the Earth is merely 6,000 years old, as Christians once claimed, Judaism didn't begin to take shape as a religion until 4,000 years ago. Christianity, meanwhile, has been around for less than a third of recorded history, and Islam is 600 years younger still. Are we really to believe that God has changed his mind about what makes him happy?

None of these religions, meanwhile, has remained true to its original form. Judaism has evolved partly in response to external pressures and partly in response to the increasingly enlightened cultural environment. For example, after the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D., animal sacrifice became increasingly difficult to perform from a logistical point of view and was eventually abandoned entirely. However, even if a new Temple were built today, one has to wonder if animal sacrifice would be practiced there, or would Judaism recognize the pointless waste associated with such behavior?

As a species of religion, Judaism has split into several sub-species, including Hassidic Jews, Orthodox Jews, Reform Jews, Reconstruction Jews, and so forth. But Judaism has been affected by more granular examples of genetic drift, most notably with respect to the core document of the Jewish faith, the Ten Commandments. Face it, if God came down and handed you a stone tablet with ten rules on it, would you dare tinker with those rules? Yet this is exactly what Judaism has been doing for thousands of years via the Talmud, a scholarly work that has far more significance for practicing Jews today than the Ten Commandments ever did.

The evolutionary history of Christianity, meanwhile, would require a book all to itself if we were to fully trace the various bifurcations, mergers, extinctions, and adaptive mutations that have taken place. Today there are more than 500 Protestant denominations, in addition to the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Catholic variants. At what point does a situation become too ridiculous for even the most ardent adherent? When it comes to religion, the answer is, never. True believers in every one of these religions could explain to you why their approach is the right one.

In 1968, against the generally prevailing trend, the Methodist and United Brethren Churches merged to form the United Methodist Church. Interestingly, you can go into a United Methodist Church and find them singing "Give me that Old Time Religion" or "Rock of Ages," and no one in the congregation will so much as crack a smile at the irony of it.

Some denominations, such as the Church of Christ, try to double-think their way around their short history by claiming to be Bible based. "What makes us the right answer," they say, "is that we strictly follow the New Testament, take communion every week, and practice only full-immersion baptism of people who have reached the age of consent." If you dare point out that the New Testament says nothing about weekly communion or the exact rules of baptism, an astute adherent will reply by saying, "When a scripture is vague, we do things the same way Christians did it in the first century." An interesting answer, except that first century Christians didn't have churches, they met in each other's homes. They also didn't have Hi-C grape juice. Their communion drink was wine.

But such non-sequiturs abound, products of Christianity's twisted evolutionary path and the desire of Church leaders to obfuscate the nuttiness of what they're doing. Christianity, in all its forms, is suffused with petty, pointless, dead-end doctrines that are the religious equivalent of the human appendix.

Islam, for its part, split into three sub-variants before Mohammed's corpse was even cold in its tomb. The burkha is a relatively new development in Islam's history, as is the antagonism between Judaism and Islam. Given that both religions worship the same God and recognize the Bible as divinely inspired, it's clear that religion is being twisted into a political tool in the Middle East.

Suicide bombers, far from being guaranteed a quick ride to heaven, violate two dictates of the Koran: that suicide is a sin, and that innocents should never be targeted in a war. But religious adherents have long been comfortable ignoring scripture when it proves inconvenient -- a clear sign they don't really believe in God, or at least, don't really believe in their religion.

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have all evolved over time, and they will continue to evolve. Does this imply that these religions are entirely false? No. However, it does show that they are not eternal, immutable, or flawless. Each of these religions has fallen victim to misinterpretations of scripture. Each has been guilty of committing hateful acts in the name of God. Even today, religion continues to serve as a justification for violence, bigotry, and criminal behavior.

Christianity was once used to justify slavery, but do you really think that affected God's opinions on the matter?

Far from being absolutely certain of their own righteousness, religious people should acknowledge that their beliefs were different a hundred years ago and will be different a hundred years from now. As such, believers should be less willing to set themselves up as examples of superior morality, and more willing to question modern interpretations of scripture. Such interpretations have been proven wrong before, and they will be proven wrong again.