Retraction Watch

[Aggie]

Interesting blogsite that tracks retractions in scientific and mathematics journals:
http://retractionwatch.wordpress.com/

[Opsa]

Very cool. Can we get one for religions, too?

[Aggie]

No, they don't admit their mistakes, and the peer-review process is a bit suspect.

[Opsa]

Pity, though. It would be a very active site, as rules get re-structured to fit circumstances.

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you ... unless..." (that list could get quite long. Maybe a website wouldn't be able to handle it.)



_{I suppose this isn't taddy of me, so I apologize. I'm only playing.}

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Looking back at history?

Religions always either adapt, or they die out into obscure mythology and take their place on the shelves under "Interesting and Obscure Ancient Superstitions".

The literalist branches of any religion are always temporary structures.   Kind of like religious weeds-- they spring up every generation or so, and they either last as long as the original idea-seed personality does (who is always a charismatic and impressive personality) or else they evolve into a more liberal theology and move towards the mainstream.

For example:  United Methodism.  It started out as pretty much an offshoot-cult, with quite strict interpretations of their holy book, fairly literal in most ways.  Eventually, it's charismatic founder dies, and those that were left, for the most part, moved towards the more liberal, non-literal interpretive theologies, to where they remain today.  Certainly, some of their more fundamentalist/literalist branches did not-- and those are all but gone, or they morphed into something else, and were revived by a new influx of charismatic leadership.

The point I'm trying to make, is that the strict literalist/fundamentalist groups do not last long-- they either morph into a more flexible view, or they die away.   To be reborn under a slightly different name, with a new crop of simpletons at the helm, and sheep who follow mindlessly.

If you examine the train of events, though, there is always a kind of disconnect-- the dying out of the old literalist group, and the subsequent renewal as a new generation falls under the sway of the simplistic ideas of literalism.

But it always has to have renewal, because a strictly literalist view cannot survive close examination--- it simply requires too much denial of actual reality, to persist.  You can only maintain complete denial of reality for so long, and sooner or later, reality intrudes and undermines the religion.

Think:  Ozone Layer.   The O3 is constantly being depleted by natural processes of chemistry.  But it's also constantly being renewed by the influx of ultraviolet radiation from the sun.  At any given instant, the total supply of O3 is pretty constant.  But examination of any sample of O3 reveals it's freshly made-- never old.  You cannot get a sample of 100 year old ozone from the earth's atmosphere.

So, too the fundamentalist-literalist religions do not truly have an unbroken line into the past; superficial resemblances at best, hopping and skipping over the generations, being re-created anew like weeds in a garden.

The weeds die out, or are pulled up.  But within a short time, fresh weeds sprout-- appearing to be identical to the previous weeds, but they are in reality brand new plants....

[Swatopluk]

The Roman Catholic priesthood also procreates nonsexually
as did obviously the Skoptsy

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

The Roman Catholic priesthood also procreates nonsexually
as did obviously the Skoptsy

Oh.  my.