If you believe your faith has arrived at ultimate truth, you might reject the idea that it will change at all. Since then, Christianity has continued both to grow and to splinter into ever more disparate groups, from silent Quakers to snake-handling Pentecostalists. It took three centuries for the Christian church to consolidate around a canon of scriptures – and then in 1054 it split into the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches. Early Christianity, for example, was a truly broad church: ancient documents include yarns about Jesus’ family life and testaments to the nobility of Judas. Tales of the Egyptian, Greek and Norse pantheons are now considered legends, not holy writ.Įven today’s dominant religions have continually evolved throughout history. And when a religion dies, it becomes a myth, and its claim to sacred truth expires. When we recognise a faith, we treat its teachings and traditions as timeless and sacrosanct.
When someone tries to start a new religion, it is often dismissed as a cult. We take it for granted that religions are born, grow and die – but we are also oddly blind to that reality.
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