Why does religion eventually disintegrate into sects?

Upvote:2

Religious schism is a long and proud tradition. Just this week the United Methodists had to split into two. But schism is not limited to religion, it occurs in any kind of community of practice. No matter if they have been stated by a God or not, the rules are never quite clear, leaving room for edge cases that if pressed, can become wedges. Religious texts, like most others, are composed in natural language, and interpreted by the populations of the future: these are perfect conditions for textual disagreement. Consider the degree of controversy over the meaning of the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, a very short text that is only two centuries old.

If a religious text can be written in a language of formal assertions that is meaningful now and into the future, I have yet to hear about it.

Aaron Brick 27586

📝 Were there any successful attempts by the Allies to "turn" groups of Axis soldiers?
📝 What happened in Kazakhstan that its population dropped from 16m to 14m between 1992 - 2001?
📝 Was Kandhar/Gandhar renamed Afghanistan?
📝 Did Native Americans ever fight the indigenous people living in Mexico before Europeans arrived?
📝 Why did Spain not participate in World War I?
📝 What were levels of insular migration like in pre-Industrial Britain (1650-1780)?
📝 Wendell Phillips Quote that "Revolutions Never Go Backwards"
📝 Newton a plagiarist?
📝 Did China ever consider a phonetic writing system?
📝 Is the Alexandria, Va. "Republican shooting" the first mass shooting of its kind in the USA?
📝 Does history use hypothesis testing using statistical methods?
📝 Why did Argentina invade the Falklands when they did, rather than wait for the pending sale of the UK aircraft carriers to complete first?
📝 Who are reputable historians who study ancient Greece?
📝 What were the factors that caused the world to move away from the Gold Standard in the 20th century?
📝 What is the difference between the Nobel Banquet and the Nobel Anniversary Dinner?
📝 What laws of war existed before the modern international treaties and conventions?
📝 Trying to identify a military uniform, ca. WWI
📝 What effect did the execution of Louis XVI have on French foreign policy?
📝 Were there occasions when a sovereign country voluntarily joined another country?
📝 What was the population of Muslims in the Indian subcontinent in 1800 AD?
📝 What is a "barso"? (ref. Richard Cocks' diaries)
📝 How did one look for missing people in the 19th century?
📝 Death by candle
📝 Estimating gross domestic product in ancient times
📝 How did ancient Nomadic communities conduct trade?
📝 Why did Michigan abolish capital punishment so early?
📝 Did ancient and/or medieval cultures that emphasized the danger of religious pollution also exert more control over women?
📝 What do historians mean when they say "divinity" in the context of Ancient Greece?
📝 What was said about Vermont in the Paris negotiations of 1782?
📝 During the Normandy landings, were any German naval assets brought to bear against the Allies?

Source: stackoverflow.com

Travel Tips

Search Posts

📝 Why does religion eventually disintegrate into sects?
📝 Why does the United States keep using "old" date representations and imperial system, while being in the minority?
📝 Why does Japan use the same type of AC power outlet as the US?
📝 If the Union Jack joins the flag of England and Scotland, why does it have a different shade of blue than the Scottish flag?
📝 Why does Ngram show an extreme spike in use of "LOL" in mid 1600s?
📝 Why does German money from the 1940s not bear Nazi symbols?
📝 Why was "leaping into the river" a valid trial outcome to prove one's innocence?
📝 Why does this London Underground poster from 1924 have a Star of David atop a Christmas tree?
📝 Why does the King of Spain still claim defunct titles like the King of Hungary?
📝 Why does Latin America have a higher number of surviving Native Americans than North America?
📝 Why does the Great Wall of China follow such a bendy route?
📝 Why does Romanian culture have Latin influences?
📝 Why does a Star of David appear at a rally with Francisco Franco?
📝 Why does the US use the opposite convention to the rest of the world for colour-coding harbour buoys?
📝 Why does Edinburgh Castle's one o'clock gun fire at 1pm instead of, say, noon?
📝 Why does this statue have five legs?
📝 Why didn't Japan expand into Ezo?
📝 Why does the CIA report on the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich refer to it as "Operation Salmon" rather than "Operation Anthropoid"?
📝 Why does Europe have so few skyscrapers compared to East Asia?
📝 How does Göbekli Tepe fit into the current picture of society development?
📝 Why does Japan celebrate the Gregorian New Year but China still celebrates Chinese New Year?
📝 Why does the amount of days in an year on average of the Gregorian calendar only have 4 decimal places (365.2425)?
📝 Why didn't Stalin use force to bring Tito into line?
📝 Why does Sugar Island belong to USA?
📝 Why did France put so many resources into fighting Algeria in comparison to its other former colonial holdings?
📝 Why did the British have so few destroyers going into World War II?
📝 Why does US currency have a 25 cent piece and a 20 dollar bill instead of a 20 cent piece or 25 dollar bill?
📝 Why does clock time start in the middle of the night?
📝 Why didn't invaders of India ever cross into Myanmar and beyond (east)?
📝 Why does the US House of Representatives have a ceremonial mace, but the Senate does not?

Why does religion eventually disintegrate into sects?

More post

Search Posts

Related post