Religion Evolves

Many religious people believe that the religion they believe in is the one true religion and that the elements of their belief system are true and fixed for all time. For example, I have many acquaintances who are strongly committed to the King James Edition of the Bible and are convinced that it is the one, true rendering of the scriptures; they will not accept as valid any other version. However, the King James Bible is only five hundred years old and was written by authors commissioned to King James of England. The basic idea was to present a translation of scripture that would be supportive of royalty and the aristocracy. There were certainly other translations of scripture prior to the King James prior to that edition. Yet I know many people who believe that the King James is the one true and authentic version of God's word. This is ludicrous; what was God doing up to 1600.

In fact religious teachings that are popular at any point in time reflect social and cultural variables that are popular at that particular time, and any given religion - Christianity for example - reflects the norms that are popular at that time. Religions change in terms of what beliefs they emphasize to make them acceptable and popular and to reflect current norms.