Religion in an expanding society

[frankiej]

The more society seems to expand, the more religions seem to compromise on scripture and cherry pick. This is also the case for scientific advances. For instance, it used to be accepted and taught in Christianity that the Earth is the centre of the cosmos. Now we know it is not. Christians now have the cheek of arguing the cosmological argument for existence of a God.

Evolution is now widely accepted in the educated Theistic community, and is seen as the tool that God used to create Mankind. Furthermore, females are now being accepted into the main ranks of some churches. I see this has only come about due to the equality that exists in society today so I ask one question: Will homosexuals soon be accepted by religion?

I ask this because I have become aware of a theme occurring. The more science and society advance religion seems to just discard scripture to fit into the world today. I find this contradiction of people’s faith almost hilarious and I suppose perhaps even pathetic.
The more tolerant religion becomes the more parts of its doctrine is rejected

[R-e-n-n-a-t]

Someday, yes. It will be accepted into religion approximately five to ten years after it's accepted into politics, which I guesstimate will be about ten or fifteen years from now.

If society accepts homosexuals, it would be suicide for most major religions NOT to accept it.

The other possibility is that we'll regress back to a homophobic society. If this happens, t'will be because of the negative influence of religion making peope less open-minded towards homosexuals.

Also, I agree with your assessent. What used to be evidence for science has now been twisted and corrupted into evidence for creationists. They steal scienctific discoveries just as they steal people, as they did when they claimed that Darwin had renounced evolution on his deathbed. The only person present, if memory serves, was a single deeply religious relative. How convenient.

[frankiej]

as they did when they claimed that Darwin had renounced evolution on his deathbed. The only person present, if memory serves, was a single deeply religious relative. How convenient.

amen to that ;-P
It definitely is absurd that a lot of "religious" people tend to be compulsive liers

[Nimzo]

The more society seems to expand, the more religions seem to compromise on scripture and cherry pick. This is also the case for scientific advances. For instance, it used to be accepted and taught in Christianity that the Earth is the centre of the cosmos. Now we know it is not. Christians now have the cheek of arguing the cosmological argument for existence of a God.

The cosmological argument has been batted about in various formulations since Plato and Aristotle, and has nothing to do with the location of the Earth in the universe. There is no Christian position on what that location is in any case, though the Catholic Church was somewhat attached to the geocentric model in the mediaeval period (keep in mind that Copernicus himself was a Catholic cleric) due to the enormous influence of Greek astronomy.

Evolution is now widely accepted in the educated Theistic community, and is seen as the tool that God used to create Mankind.

St. Augustine accepted an old-earth "allegorical" view of Genesis 1 as early as the 4th century - it is not a new phenomenon.

Furthermore, females are now being accepted into the main ranks of some churches. I see this has only come about due to the equality that exists in society today so I ask one question: Will homosexuals soon be accepted by religion?

Women have roles in ministry even in the New Testament. With regards to the homosexuality issue, the debate is about what Scripture's view of homosexuality is (made more difficult by the fact that there is no concept of "sexuality" in the Hebrew or Greek Scriptures). Some denominations already accept homosexual ministers, but not because they ignore what Scripture teaches about it.

I ask this because I have become aware of a theme occurring. The more science and society advance religion seems to just discard scripture to fit into the world today. I find this contradiction of people’s faith almost hilarious and I suppose perhaps even pathetic.
The more tolerant religion becomes the more parts of its doctrine is rejected

The theme that is occurring is the tension between different interpretations of relevant texts and scientific advancement, with some views being consistent with scientific discoveries and others not. There have been different interpretations of all of the issues you mentioned long before scientific facts which contradict some of those views were established.

[Doubting Thomas]

Funny how, even if Darwin did renounce evolution on his death bed, it is still a valid scientific theory with mountains of evidence to back it up. So even if he did just invent this theory of how life changes over time to try to disprove God's existence, he got it right.

[JohnDG]

Funny how, even if Darwin did renounce evolution on his death bed, it is still a valid scientific theory with mountains of evidence to back it up. So even if he did just invent this theory of how life changes over time to try to disprove God's existence, he got it right.

In the end he was just a shallow man afraid to die, story of my life not really. I don't care about death or the death of other's sadly, seen too many people die violenty and silently. Nullified Nuff Said

[frankiej]

In the end he was just a shallow man afraid to die, story of my life not really. I don't care about death or the death of other's sadly, seen too many people die violenty and silently. Nullified Nuff Said

Most people are afraid of death, the thought of nothingness and non-existence is difficult to understand for some. But I would say the same, I'm not afraid of death and I suppose I would say I am not afraid of others dieing... I may not want my loved ones to die but I understand that it is not necessarily something to be sad about.

At least I know they will not suffer the totalitarian hell known as heaven for eternity.

[Ace Otana]

The more society seems to expand, the more religions seem to compromise on scripture and cherry pick. This is also the case for scientific advances. For instance, it used to be accepted and taught in Christianity that the Earth is the centre of the cosmos. Now we know it is not. Christians now have the cheek of arguing the cosmological argument for existence of a God.

Evolution is now widely accepted in the educated Theistic community, and is seen as the tool that God used to create Mankind. Furthermore, females are now being accepted into the main ranks of some churches. I see this has only come about due to the equality that exists in society today so I ask one question: Will homosexuals soon be accepted by religion?

I ask this because I have become aware of a theme occurring. The more science and society advance religion seems to just discard scripture to fit into the world today. I find this contradiction of people’s faith almost hilarious and I suppose perhaps even pathetic.
The more tolerant religion becomes the more parts of its doctrine is rejected

What we are witnessing is religion rewriting itself. It's been doing this for centuries. It never remains the same and it's beliefs alter with new scientific understanding. Essentially, religion has no choice but to change to the new and greater informed community. No longer can they maintain the belief that the earth is the centre of the universe, because it means standing against overwhelming evidence and data. It would mean standing up against strong facts.
It all perfectly demonstrates that religion is anything but perfect.
The more we progress with scientific knowledge, the further religion is pushed back. Either it adapts to the knowledge, evidence and facts or become just like creationism. Just another epic fail, foolishly standing against overwhelming evidence and facts.

If we can go one step further and find out how the universe came about, we'd push the whole god thing way out of sight.
Religion's greatest threat, is knowledge. Watching religion rewrite itself highlights it's weakness.

[Faith No More]

Some Presbyterian churches are now accepting clergy who are homosexual and I guess the 'devout' are leaving it in droves.

[corndog36]

I believe that all of the prohibitions of homosexuality in the bible are quotes of Jewish law. I'm not aware of any specific mention, by Jesus, of homosexuality being a sin. Since Jesus opposed other aspects of Jewish law I don't think it will be a terribly tricky revision when the time comes. Maybe they will whip out the Mar Saba letter and say, "See, Jesus did it, so it must be OK after all."