Re: Re: Do belief systems evolve?

On 25 Nov 2003 17:29:01 -0800, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Diederik)
ejaculated:

>In reply to the subject title, of course belief systems evolve, look
>at all the different species of christianity, judaism, or islam.  You
>have wahabism, catholics, lutherans, methodists, rabbinic jews, hasdic
>jews, orthodox this and that, etc.  Let's just look at christianity. 
>All these different variants of christianity with their different
>traits weren't created by gawd at the same time.  There wasn't an Adam
>and Eve of the lutherans, and a seperate Eden with a seperate Adam and
>Eve for the catholics, etc.  Christianity started as the teachings of
>Jesus, was modified by Paul, split into catholocism and the orthodox
>religians, then protestantism and anglicism evolved from catholocism. 
>Many sects evolved from protestantism.  Someone should come up with
>somthing similar to a phylogenetic tree for religion.  I don't feel
>like doing it though.

Actually, there were sects sloughing off of Catholicism hundreds of
years prior to the Protestant Reformation, which also wasn't a
monolithic movement.  There were at least 2 distinct branches right
from the start.  Luther based in Germany and Calvin based in
Switzerland.

However, prior to these 2 big reformers you had individuals such as
Jon Hus and John Wycliffe laying the seeds for the coming Reformation.
Not to mention the constant stream of heretics that the Catholics had
to keep excommunicating (Waldensians, Albigensians, Fraticelli)
starting in the 11th and 12th centuries.

--
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither 
liberty or security"
 - Benjamin Franklin