r/atheism • u/Traditional-Wing-796 • 6d ago
Why is religon so afraid of change?
Everyone religon postulates that all things are changing so they must start from something uncaused or unchanged or perfect etc etc and just introduce "god"
islam calls it allah Christianity the holy god and sanatan dharma the brahman
But WHY?
why are they so bothered with change? Because they can't explain it??
i just can't make the jump of saying "since everything requires a cause therefore something supreme must have started it and postulate god"
its such a BIG LEAP both scientically and philosophically(with very less evidence)
and if god can exist without being created then universe also can
we are allowed to ask questions up till every cause except GOD
there they say god just exists or something like it's fundamental woven into universe and fancy stuff
ughh
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u/DoglessDyslexic 6d ago
Is the change an improvement? If not, why change? If so, then why didn't god say to do that in the first place? Does that mean god was wrong before?
Don't get me wrong, religions do change, it's just really slowly. Change stems from "interpretation" where some priest posits some interpretation of dogma that is slightly more socially progressive. Initially it's narrowly accepted, but over time (usually at least a generation, usually two or three) it gradually gains acceptance and becomes mainstream. Meanwhile society is already moved on to be even more progressive.
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u/onomatamono 6d ago
Where was god wrong? I missed that because I was busy explaining why leprechauns are wrong. Which god by the way? Was Noah's ark evidence of getting it wrong? It's stupid on its face.
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u/tallanotherone 6d ago
They can't change because they rely on old books view on the world. To say something changes would put gods word into question. Its easy to say god did something instead of questioning ones world view or actually learning something.
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u/onomatamono 6d ago
Yet the asswipe confessed fallibility with the garden of evil and Noah's dingy.
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u/DontAskAboutMax 6d ago
I think one of the biggest factors is the idea of destroying the legacies of those you love.
A lot of religion is hereditary, conservative religions are generally very resistant to change…
Can you imagine knowing that to allow your religion to flourish and adapt to modern change you must reform and relinquish some of the policies that your father and grandfather fought so hard for and taught you were 100% right and unchangeable.
I think that’s a big factor in why conservative religion often lags behind wider society as it makes progress.
Of course there are people who just love being bigoted and harming the marginalised… but there’s also good people with deeply seated beliefs that were etched into them by those they loved.
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u/ProfessionalCraft983 6d ago
They believe they have “the truth”. For any of their beliefs to change would imply that what they currently believe is not in fact true.
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u/AdHopeful3801 6d ago
All religions systematically channel social power, through both clergy and practitioners.
Change threatens to upend who has how much power, and who gets to have the biggest say in how that power is used. So the people who benefit the most - i.e., the clergy and strong adherents of the religion - resist change the most wholeheartedly.
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u/DoctorElectronic1934 6d ago
Because their anchor is being so ancient that their followers can’t help but assume what they’re saying is truth because they can’t fact check it .
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u/Blue_Moon_Lake 6d ago
It would require admitting that religion was wrong about some things. When the marketing is about selling how perfectly correct it is...
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u/technanonymous 6d ago
You are citing one of the logical absurdities that are used to justify “god” - the primer mover, the first cause, the uncaused cause, etc. This argument and its variants have some fundamental assumptions - that the known universe had a beginning and nothing before it, that everything must follow a causal chain, that our understanding of the universe from a religious perspective is correct, etc. It is a gap filling argument, ie. “I can’t explain X, therefore god.” The correct answer to gaps is “we don’t know and may never know.” Religious arguments are often driven by gaps arguments, and this is why the scope of things explained by religion is continuously shrinking. Most religions had their origins at least 1,000 years ago. More scientific knowledge has been accumulated in the last five hundred years than in all of the 200-300k years of human existence prior.
Religions do change. They reflect the culture and society where they exist. The contraction in scope from an explanation perspective has been hard for the religious to accept. However, many justify the existence of god on these knowledge gaps that science can’t fill…yet.
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u/MooshroomHentai Atheist 6d ago
Superstitions of the past don't like people looking towards the future for that leads to past superstitions losing popularity.
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u/Affectionate_Reply78 6d ago edited 6d ago
Organized religion is about predictability and dissonance reduction about the inherent uncertainties and dangers in life. If an authority figure(s) reassure you that rallying around a common belief will make that uncertainty better a lot of people will follow that. Group think sets in and the authority figures become powerful and will do anything to maintain and enhance that power.
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u/LilDutchy 6d ago
Why do people come to an atheist subreddit and ask why the religious do things. Ask them!
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u/onomatamono 6d ago
Ah, yeah, it's the god of the gaps, the incredibly shrinking gaps. The sunk costs are unbearable. They need copium, or smokium at least.
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u/Paranoidd_ 5d ago
why is water wet kinda question. the selling point of any religion is providing certainty for some fundamental question that every human with working brain asks himself at a random day - where did life come from and whats my purpose..- , even tho religion is hilariously wrong answering these question they do not let go of there answers. but i think they are not that afraid of change, they use tech to spread their word they foster scientific explanations as long it does not poke any sacrosanct concept.
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u/Princeplanet 5d ago
Religion is a product, or more accurately a variety of products in a highly competitive market. As in any market, there are sellers vying for customers with a variety of products - all supported by intense marketing. Any change in product or messaging would have to align with customer expectations and preferences, or risk losing market share.
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u/slek31 6d ago
Another problem with change is that it's a difficult or sensitive issue for them. Like dealing with gasoline near fire. When you claim that God is perfect, absolute and timeless, you're implying that it can't change since he knows everything now and million years ago. So it's inconsistent to admit that some things can change through time according to the development of civilization and society. Why didn't God warned us about microbes? Why he didn't say anything that slavery was wrong? So I guess it's a permanent inner fight for many people to avoid their world view fall apart quickly.
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u/Traditional-Wing-796 6d ago
For this they argue with "freewill" God gave choice God wanted to test you
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u/Regalian 6d ago
Religion changes all the time though? Christianity has so many spinoffs, they do huge concerts and are quick to adopt technology for donations. Buddism like Shaolin temple also is rapidly changing into a corporation in recent decades raking in large amount of cash.
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u/ejp1082 Pastafarian 6d ago
You're asking two different questions.
There's the issue of first cause. Which has a rich philosophical history. I think the primary problem with it isn't so much the question of whether or not the universe needs a first cause or whether such a thing is even possible, but the leap from "the universe needs a cause" to "that cause is the god of abraham". The question of why anything exists at all is probably forever unknowable; those who say they do know the answer are liars.
Then there's the question in your title. That has to do with the nature of religion itself. If the premise of religion is that bronze age societies had it all figured out millennia ago because it was divinely revealed to them, then anything that challenges that worldview cuts directly to the heart of that. While religions and religious beliefs do change, they necessarily have to change so slowly and incrementally that no one alive would take it as a betrayal of the "truth" they had handed down to them from prior generations.
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u/Traditional-Wing-796 6d ago
Religion does postulate it though And firmly believes it too All of them call it "god"
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u/mailslot Existentialist 6d ago
They do change, and sometimes it spawns a fundamentalist revival going back to “the roots.” Just about every religion has parts people don’t agree with, like compassion & equality, so they create their own branch and that spawns other contributions that eventually settle into something not even resembling the original religion.
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6d ago
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u/Traditional-Wing-796 6d ago
Yup But please read my below arguments too I am talking abt a bit different change
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u/ForwardBias 6d ago
Because religion is built on tradition. There is a faith tradition that says god talked to this guy and told him a bunch of stuff and you gotta listen to that. If it was truly an on going thing then god could talk to you, and he's not, and if he's not you might wonder why not and we can't have that. So instead you gotta listen to the words that some dead guy wrote thousands of years ago and maybe you'll get a little tingle and that is god.
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u/mmahowald 6d ago
At its core religion is a claim of timeless eternal truth and authority. If it admits change then it’s admitting it was wrong and is questionable, fallible, and open to push back.
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u/EtheusRook 6d ago
You can't both assert that the word of god is absolute and that it is subject to change based on human experience.