# What's the point of a religion if it constantly updates to adapt to changing society? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 27, 2021, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-a-religion-if-it-constantly-updates-to-adapt-to-changing-society/938865 "2021-03-27T18:44:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 18
**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:** [May 15, 2021, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-a-religion-if-it-constantly-updates-to-adapt-to-changing-society/938865/341 "2021-05-15T04:52:59Z")
Which reminds me of a classic Damon Knight short story, “_Shall The Dust Praise Thee?_” As summarized by Wiki: "God arrives on Earth, ready to inflict the Day of Wrath on humankind, but finds that all life has already disappeared. The angels tell God that there has been a great war between England, Russia, China, and America which has wiped out all life on earth, and that the true end of days had already occurred through nuclear warfare. No living creatures, no water, no grass, nothing but dust and brittle stone remain on the world. All that remains of humanity is the phrase left by the last humans as a message to God, saying, “WE WERE HERE. WHERE WERE YOU?” ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2021, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-a-religion-if-it-constantly-updates-to-adapt-to-changing-society/938865/342 "2021-05-15T05:15:59Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > It’s trying to convert people to your _ideas_ . Gay rights are an idea. They’re a good idea, they’re an idea that I’m very invested it, but they’re also an idea that had to be sold to the public to get accepted. [Promoting positive media representations of queer people has always been a major tactic for gay rights organizations.](https://www.glaad.org/inclusion) The positive attitudes I’ve seen include the ones that gay people don’t molest children, and that a gay couple can have a nice home life. Do you see ads with gay couples pushing products part of this selling? I see them as finally recognizing part of the customer base. Back in the bad old days I saw some criticism of straight people keeping photos of spouses and children on their desks since gay people could not. Not a good criticism, but the current situation where I hope gay people can do the same is a much better way of dealing with this. Is a photograph of a same sex partner selling gay rights? I see it as just exercising equality. Where I live, at least, that battle is over. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2021, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-a-religion-if-it-constantly-updates-to-adapt-to-changing-society/938865/343 "2021-05-15T13:43:28Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > But religionists who act in that manner are not referred to as “militant” so why apply that label to atheists? Because the default state in our society is “religious”, and like many other parts of our society, there’s a huge double standard for what you can and cannot do without being attacked as “crazed” or “militant” depending on whether you fall into the default state or not. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2021, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-a-religion-if-it-constantly-updates-to-adapt-to-changing-society/938865/344 "2021-05-29T14:02:56Z")
Clearly the point of a religion is to get a good debate going among atheists! 😁 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-a-religion-if-it-constantly-updates-to-adapt-to-changing-society/938865.md?page=17)