# Have any religions dropped major tenets because facts got in the way? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 5, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-religions-dropped-major-tenets-because-facts-got-in-the-way/788195 "2017-06-05T17:46:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-religions-dropped-major-tenets-because-facts-got-in-the-way/788195/41 "2017-06-09T02:10:49Z")
Define “major tenet.” Seriously, St. Peter and his fellow Apostles never gave, say, evolution a moment’s thought in their lives. So, if a Christian denomination changes its stance on evolution, is that a “major tenet”? ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-religions-dropped-major-tenets-because-facts-got-in-the-way/788195/42 "2017-06-09T03:33:37Z")
The current Pope I expect will be announcing some major changes to how we should interpret the bible. I have heard several statementsa he has made favoring science over the bible. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-religions-dropped-major-tenets-because-facts-got-in-the-way/788195/43 "2017-06-09T03:45:47Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > (Emphasis added.) You are misreading me, because I was referring to the fact that a saint being declared locally is not the same as Rome’s declaration. Thus the contrast I made between the two. Those who were never added to the rolls by Rome were also never taken off the rolls by Rome, so what’s that emphasized sentence got to do with the previous affirmation? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-religions-dropped-major-tenets-because-facts-got-in-the-way/788195/44 "2017-06-09T03:53:41Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > The current Pope I expect will be announcing some major changes to how we should interpret the bible. I have heard several statementsa he has made favoring science over the bible. That wouldn’t be a major change. The Catholic church doesn’t consider science and the bible to be in opposition, or to require any kind of prioritisation, one over the other. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-religions-dropped-major-tenets-because-facts-got-in-the-way/788195/45 "2017-06-12T05:26:16Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > What’s the Church’s line on _women_ who remarry after widowhood? Or do their subsequent marriage(s) not get sealed? > [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Subsequent marriages for women are “for time only”, that is for only this life. Children of these couples go with the mother and the previous husband. Do they make any attempt to reconcile that doctrine with the part where Jesus was asked about this and his answer was that marriage and pair-bonding were for living people, and the concepts did not apply to the afterlife? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-religions-dropped-major-tenets-because-facts-got-in-the-way/788195/46 "2017-06-12T05:52:43Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Define “major tenet.” I just noticed this thread and have been reading through it wondering “What counts as a ‘tenet’ (major or otherwise)? How is it defined?” ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-religions-dropped-major-tenets-because-facts-got-in-the-way/788195/47 "2017-06-12T12:19:47Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I just noticed this thread and have been reading through it wondering “What counts as a ‘tenet’ (major or otherwise)? How is it defined?” There are a few major tenets shared by all Christian churches, and a few others specific to individual Christian denominations. The main ones are: There is one God, who created everything that exists. This God became human, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus offered a way to eternal life, by believing in him and obeying his commandments. Jesus died on a cross, returned to life, and will one day return. Again, St. Peter and his fellow apostles were as scientifically illiterate as most people of their time. They didn’t know anything about evolution or the structure of the solar system, and probably never gave either subject any thought. To me, then, it’s silly to treat those things as major tenets. Now, you’re free to regard the real major tenets as false or even as ridiculous, but none of them is disprovable by science. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-religions-dropped-major-tenets-because-facts-got-in-the-way/788195/48 "2017-06-12T13:47:34Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Do they make any attempt to reconcile that doctrine with the part where Jesus was asked about this and his answer was that marriage and pair-bonding were for living people, and the concepts did not apply to the afterlife? Nope. Not at all. Mormons don’t believe that the Bible was necessarily translated correctly and that many parts of the Bible were taken out. They also believe that modern revelation trumps ancient revelation. Mormons tend to be fairly illiterate concerning the Bible compared to most mainstream Christians. More time is spent studying the Book of Mormon and modern revelations. The idea of eternal marriage is actually tied up in polygamy and the doctrine of eternal progression. That is, God was once a mortal man and humans have the capacity to become gods and goddesses themselves. Both of these doctrines are far less acceptable to other Christians. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-religions-dropped-major-tenets-because-facts-got-in-the-way/788195/49 "2017-06-12T14:57:02Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Now, you’re free to regard the real major tenets as false or even as ridiculous, but none of them is disprovable by science. Or provable by either science _or_ religion…yet. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-religions-dropped-major-tenets-because-facts-got-in-the-way/788195/50 "2017-06-13T19:06:05Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Do they make any attempt to reconcile that doctrine with the part where Jesus was asked about this and his answer was that marriage and pair-bonding were for living people, and the concepts did not apply to the afterlife? They do. They believe that the dead can’t enter into marriages. (But can be in a state of marriage.) They have living people play the part of dead relatives to “seal” those relatives in the afterlife. Similar to how they have living people stand in for dead people to baptize the dead. Let’s just say they read that text differently from everyone else. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-religions-dropped-major-tenets-because-facts-got-in-the-way/788195.md?page=2)