Should modern values change Christianity? Of course they should.

[Soph0571]

For the last 2000 years as the West has developed its customs rights and laws they have looked to the bible to help shape the fundamental culture and behaviours of nations. Here we are in 2018, living in the secular west and enjoying a freedom of choice that man and women kind has never known before. Only a generation ago women were condemned for having children out of wed lock, now about 50% of children are born to non-traditional families. In living memory gay men were sent to prison for their sexuality. Now the freedom for them to marry and be as miserable as the rest of us is here. Still the religious right resists change.

In the UK our rather unfortunate habit of jumping into ships to spread the good word of the bible led to an Empire on which the sun never set, a legacy of slavery, enforced conversions and colonialism that will forever be a stain on our national character. But time moved on. Values changed and as our values changed so did those of the church. Forced conversions of native peoples became something that was part of an embarrassing history, rather than as strategy for continued growth of church membership.

It would seem to be that the church does change with the times. Just more slowly than anyone else. Something that the religious right always fights against but generally they seldom win the battle in the long run. A classic example of course is the Inquisition. Not a great look for the Catholic Church. Fast forward a few hundred years and we can safely say that modern values helped change that very Christian policy of torture and murder. Can you imagine if Pope Francis came at you with a hot poker today? The outcry would be immediate and prolonged. Modern values would just not allow it.

So here we are today. At yet another crossroads. Christianity, in the form of the religious right particularly, is resisting embracing the values of the 21st century with a fierce howl of protest at the unfairness of it all, that they are right dammit. That they know the truth, that their values are the only values, that they are RIGHT. But hell, they say that again and again, a myriad of issues over the generations that would lead to the death and destruction of all, the collapse of civilisation, the falling sky and the end of the world. But nothing bad happened and so the values of the church developed to better reflect their communities. Again, and again and again. So, should modern values change Christianity? It already does. Just not as quickly as we would like sometimes. Think of those poor witches burning on the stake in medieval times, I bet they wish someone in power had had a light bulb moment before they were condemned. But eventually that light bulb moment came and Christianity grew up a little bit more.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. If modern values didn't change Christianity, we'd still be burning witches (Democrats of course).

[Nitram]

2. So now we're just slut-shaming them.

[lindysalsagal]

4. Show of hands: Who beat their slave this month?

I do believe that all religions change with the times. There's never been a time or a place where it didn't.

Otherwise, it would die with it's followers.

[Iggo]

5. ...into a standard run-of-the-mill mythology?

Yes.

[uriel1972]

6. Shouldn't...

An eternal... all knowing... all loving... all good... all powerful... omni etc... god have taught the "right" values in the first place... cos when I look at the old and the new testaments there aint a whole lot of decent compassion going on.