Ellis: "I am surprised at the ready acceptance of the idea of an evolving religion. How can the nature of God change since it represents perfection and is basically beyond human understanding unless there is faith?"
You seem to saying that religion = God; but you do raise an important point about the definition:
Microsoft® Encarta® 2006 has several:
"religion
1. beliefs and worship: people's beliefs and opinions concerning the existence, nature, and worship of a deity or deities, and divine involvement in the universe and human life
2. system: an institutionalized or personal system of beliefs and practices relating to the divine
3. personal beliefs or values: a set of strongly-held beliefs, values, and attitudes that somebody lives by
4. obsession: an object, practice, cause, or activity that somebody is completely devoted to or obsessed by
The danger is that you start to make fitness a religion.
5. christianity monk's or nun's life: life as a monk or a nun, especially in the Roman Catholic Church "
In debating the evolution of religion (Christianity in particular), I refer to the first 3 definitions.
God is, of course, by definition, immutable; and it's no simple matter to determine if changes have occurred in personal concepts of God over the millennia; but changes in religious institutions are very apparent, as are attitudes and behaviours of believers.
"Social evolution, if taken as evolution of society, is exactly on a parallel to the biological evolution of new species, developing newer forms"
http://www.motherservice.org/Essays/Social%20Evolution.htmSocial evolution does occur, and it follows that religion, as a social structure, is also subject to evolution.
