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 | "We are in a transition between a new consciousness and old definitions. The new consciousness will win but as with every human struggle to emerge from ignorance, there will be casualties long after the issue is decided." Retired Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong speaking about same-sex marriage. 1 |
| "On each of these issues, at one point the church had near unanimity of opinion and then, over time and painfully, changed its mind to almost the exact opposite view." Jack Rogers. referring to Christian beliefs on slavery, roles of women, and homosexuality 2 |
The need for revised ethical policies and understanding of truth:
There has been Increasingly rapid social change since before the Protestant Reformation in the early 16th century CE. Challenges to traditional Christian beliefs have arisen from other world religions, anti-religious sources, and from science -- including astronomy, medicine, social sciences, geology, biology, human sexuality research, biblical research, etc. As each new ethical or religious "hot topic" comes to the fore, Christian denominations are forced to respond to the challenge. Liberal denominations tend be the first to change; mainline faith groups follow; conservative groups are often the last to alter. The process sometimes takes a century or more to complete on each topic.
Faith groups have developed many new policies or modified old ones over the past 200 years. For example:
| A century and a half ago, the main "hot religious topic" of the day was human human slavery. One illustration of this was a debate in 1844 among the American Baptists: should slave owners be eligible to be appointed as missionaries? Many Baptists in the southern US thought that they should, and broke away to form the Southern Baptist Convention. Many other denominations split on north-south lines as various Christian denominations took either an abolitionist or pro-slavery stance. | ||||||||||||
| Fifteen years later, in 1859, Charles Darwin published "Origin of Species." This eventually touched off a firestorm of controversy over the authority of the book of Genesis in the Bible. The debate between evolution and creation science seemed to be temporarily settled in 1925 after the John Scopes trial. However, it simply went underground. It has since been reactivated, with the addition of a new belief system based on the existence of a supernatural entity or entities: intelligent design. | ||||||||||||
| Starting in the late 19th century, major ethical topics of the day were
related to the status of
women:
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| A quarter century ago, in late 1969-JUN, a Stonewall riot in a New York bar caused "the hairpin drop heard around the world" and triggered a concerted drive for equal rights by gays. lesbians and bisexuals, including the right of same-sex couples to marry, the right to be considered for ordination, and have their unions recognized by church ceremonies. 1 Religions have responded in various ways. |
The dynamics of religious change:
As noted in the above quotation by Jack Rogers, former moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA), at least some Christian denominations have extensively modified or even reversed their teachings on a wide variety of social topics including Sabbath observance, human slavery, racial segregation, the role and status of women, divorce, remarriage, equal rights for homosexuals, etc. They have also altered their teachings on such theological matters as salvation, the afterlife, Hell, end of the world, etc. It is important that people understand how Christian denominations have been able to change their teachings over time.
Many religious do not readily accept change. In the larger world religions, religious beliefs are grounded in a holy book -- the Hebrew Scriptures for Jews, the Holy Bible for Christians, the Qur'an for Muslims, etc. Religious beliefs evolve only as the interpretation of their holy book(s) change. However, many people resist change; they seek out faith groups because they need constancy in life -- an fixed anchor that they can count on. Sometimes change involves great agony, internal conflict, and even schism and violence.
If the general public realized how how extensively faith groups have changed and even reversed their teachings over time, they might develop a different understanding of currently "hot" religious topics. They might anticipate future changes and be able to adapt more easily to them.
In contrast, all scientific beliefs are open to falsification. Scientists know that their beliefs only approximate reality. Their beliefs are grounded in observations. New data is continually becoming available. Scientists expect and aggressively search out change. Fame and grants come to those scientists who are on the cutting edge of new discoveries. As a result, change comes rapidly.
Some examples of religious change:
Many denominations pride themselves in maintaining "the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" 2 unchanged to the present day. In spite of this, major changes in beliefs and practices have occurred over the past two centuries :
| Premillennialism, declared a heresy in ancient times, was reintroduced in the 19th century, and is now the most popular belief about end times among conservative Protestants. |
| The idea of the rapture also first surfaced in the 19th century. It involves saved individuals -- both dead and alive -- rising from the Earth to meet Jesus in the sky. |
| Most denominations have abandoned the teaching of Hell as a place of eternal torture. When mentioned at all, it is often presented as being in a state of isolation from God. |
| Human slavery was once widely considered totally compatible with the Bible, and a normal, natural cultural institution. It is now recognized as a profound evil by essentially all Christian denominations. |
| Ordination of qualified female candidates was rarely allowed in the past. Severe restrictions on women's roles in the church, family and society have largely been lifted by liberal, mainline, and some conservative denominations. |
| Homosexuals were once universally despised as sexual perverts and criminals for whom the appropriate Christian response was the death penalty. 3 Today, some liberal denominations have accepted gays and lesbians for ordination, have fought instances of discrimination against them, and have blessed their unions. Mainline denominations are now conducting sometimes destructive debates over the issue and may well experience schism. Conservative denominations have generally not begun the transition and have no intention to start anytime soon. |
"Dr. Phil" often says that the best indicator of future behavior is past behavior. If this is true, then Christian denominations may well go through the same agonizing processes to change their beliefs and practices about women and homosexuals as they did during the 19th century over human slavery.
What are racism, sexism and homophobia?
The most important changes in religious beliefs over the past two centuries have been over racism, sexism and homophobia -- specifically the abolition of human slavery, the attainment of equality by women, and seeking equal rights for homosexuals and bisexuals.
Unfortunately, the English language lacks precision in matters related to these words. Consider the term "Racism." It has at least three main meanings:
| A belief that people of other races are inferior to individuals of one's own race. |
| Hatred, fear, or rejection of persons of one or more races. |
| Promoting or applying laws or customs that discriminate against persons of one or more races. |
Often, one must study the context in which the term is used in order to determine which meaning is intended.
The three meanings are related. A racist will often start with a belief that people of a given race are inferior. This leads to hatred, fear, or rejection. The final stage is to actively discriminate against persons on the basis of race.
In this section of the web site, we will use the third definition for racism when describing how Christian denominations changed their teachings on the ultimate manifestation of racism: human slavery in North America. Similarly, we will describe changes in Christian teachings on discrimination against women, homosexuals and bisexuals.
Visitors' reactions to this section:
This section generates many irate Emails from readers.
| Many believe that their interpretation of the Bible requires that women -- and sometimes men -- be restricted to certain specific roles in the family, church and the rest of society. They conclude that such restrictions cannot be considered to be sexism because they see it as part of as God's will for humanity. There is not much that we can do in response to such Emails, except to point out the definition that we use of the term "sexism." Sexism is an action; it is still sexism even if it is motivated by religious belief. |
| Others believe that same-sex behavior is profoundly sinful, irrespective of the nature of the relationship. Because their interpretation of the Bible's "clobber passages" on homosexuality, they conclude that discrimination against persons with minority sexual orientations is God's will and cannot be considered on a par with racism and sexism. Again, all we can do is point to the main definition of "homophobia." |
| Still others are distressed because, to them, "homophobia" means fear of homosexuals. They do not fear gays and lesbians; they merely want to discriminate against them by withholding fundamental human rights and perhaps imprisoning them for their behavior. Actually, the term has many meanings, and nobody has created a word that refers uniquely to discrimination against homosexuals. Until such a term surfaces and becomes generally accepted, we are forced to use "homophobia." |
Why is religious change such a touchy topic?
Faith groups do change their beliefs and teachings over time in response to secular pressures, cultural pressures, and theological developments. However, this is a topic that many denominations do not handle well. After all, if a denomination openly discusses how it has committed errors in the past, or has changed its teaching or behavior, its members may wonder which of its current teachings are in error. They may ask which will need to be changed in the future; what current church beliefs and practices will be seen as sinful by future generations?
The Roman Catholic Church ran into this problem in the year 2000 when Pope John Paul II issued the "Memory and Reconciliation" document. It apologized to "women, Jews, Gypsies [Roma], other Christians, and Catholics" for mass murders and other forms of oppression committed by church leaders during the previous 16 centuries. Some observers were critical of the document:
| Joan Ryan of the San Francisco Chronicle asked: "But what about the mistakes of the present? Let's hope acknowledgment of today's exclusion and rejection of women won't have to wait for whoever is pope during the next Jubilee." 3 |
| Father Jean-Louis Brugues noted that Roman Catholics from outside the United States and Europe had expressed discomfort at atoning for the sins of past church leaders. He said: "There was also concern, especially in areas where Christians are in a minority, that seeking forgiveness might be seen as a sign of weakness.'' 4 |
And so, many denominations tend to ignore past changes and teach that they follow the faith which was once delivered unto the saints 5
References used:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
- "Bishop Spong Q & A on Origins of Homosexuality," 2006-MAY-31 weekly newsletter. You can subscribe at: http://secure.agoramedia.com/
- Jack Rogers, "Jesus, the Bible, and homosexuality: Explode the myths, heal the church," Westminister John Knox Press, (2006), Page 17. Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store
- Joan Ryan, "A partial confession from the pope," San Francisco Chronicle, 2000-MAR-14, at: http://www.sfgate.com/
- Crispian Balmer, "Catholic Church establishes forgiveness framework," Reuters, 2000-MAR-1. See: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/ This article appears to be offline.
- From Jude 1:3: "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." (King James Version).
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Home page > Religious change > here |
Copyright © 2006 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally posted: 2006-MAY-29
Latest update: 2006-JUN-22
Author: B.A. Robinson
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