Religions can evolve, and some can try other religions

Submitted by Richard Stoecker (United States), Jul 28, 2014 at 20:00

Religions can evolve, and are impacted by culture, so that with many religions an individual could not assess the present state of the religion by looking at original source documents.

The original sermons of Buddha as they are recorded might tell us little about life in present-day Tibet, Japan or other places with high percentages of Buddhists.

Christianity, as originally taught, would seem to have an implied pacifism but one of the paradoxes of Christian history is Christians have had to accept the necessity of war to preserve areas where adherents could live peacefully without threat from invaders.

A lot of Christians have a stereotype of Judaism based on what is taught in the books of Moses, however as one rabbi said, if everybody strictly applied the idea of an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth, the whole world would be blind and toothless.

Muslims could try other religions, but in the present state of things this can be very dangerous in Muslim areas where those who convert away from Islam to any other religion can be killed. Despite this, some Muslims have found the attraction of other faiths very strong.

The Declaration of Human Rights, in its statements about religion insists on the right of an individual to convert from one religion to another as led by the conscience without fear.

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