"Religious Evolution: Why People Change Their Beliefs"

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Many scientists believe that human beings are predisposed to seek out and search for a higher power that is the source of creation. Author, Dr. Dean Hammer, in his book, “The God Gene – How Faith is Hardwired into our Genes” even suggests that spirituality and religious belief are evolutionary attributes that help people deal with all the challenges of life. Dr. Hammer is a molecular geneticist.

To be sure, archologists have evidence of religious rituals and practices as far back at the origin of our species, homo sapiens, some 300,000 years ago. Religion has played a major role ever since throughout all of human history.

However important religion has been to humanity and to individual humans, exactly what people believe has continued to change for many reasons. Human beings are dynamic creatures. We change and adapt to changing circumstances, new knowledge, new challenges and new pressures that affect all civilizations. Naturally, because of this, religions change as well.

The western religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam share the same belief in God and see God as a being outside of the universe – totally transcendent and not subject to the laws of the created universe. God is uncreated, not bound by time or space. This is the God of the Bible and the Qur’an.

Hindu’s see God, whom they call Brahman, as ultimate reality. They do use the western word “God” for Brahman. To Hindus, God is imbedded in all things in the universe. It is a very different view than that of the western religions. God or Brahman is the supreme reality. It is the infinite, formless, all-pervading consciousness that sustains everything. Rather than being separate from creation, Brahman is the very fabric of existence. The universe is considered an extension or expression of this divine ultimate reality.

While Hindus worship millions of Hindu gods and goddesses, they believe that all of these gods and goddesses are only manifestations of Brahman. All is Brahman, including you and me.

What is called “The Tao” or “The Way” in Chinese Taoism is very similar to the Hindu notion of Brahman. As the Taoist scripture, “The Tao Te Ching” says, “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The Tao that can be told is the mother of ten thousand things.

In past sermons, I have explained that religions often adapt and change beliefs when they come in contact with other religions. This is so-called syncretism that I spoke about in my last sermon.

I gave you the example of how when Persia controlled the lands of Israel from 539 BCE to around 330 BCE. The Persians brought with them the religion of Zoroastrianism which holds a belief in there is only one God. Ancient Jews believed there were many gods. It just that their god, YHWH was the most important and most powerful.

Zoroastrians believe in angels and devils. They believe in a judgement day. They believe in the coming of a Messiah. They believe in heaven and hell. Ancient Jews believed none of these things (except, perhaps angels). With Persian control of Israel for two hundred years, many scholars suggest these ideas found their way into Judaism. Then they found their way into Christianity and later Islam. It is pretty clear that syncretism occurs in all religions because people adopt ideas they are exposed to.

But there are other reasons religious beliefs change. A good example is Christianity. The original Christians were Jews who came to follow their fellow Jew, Jesus. And keep in mind, Jesus was never anything but Jewish. He was born a Jew. He lived as a Jew, and he died as a Jew.

During the first century CE, the original Christians still considered themselves Jews. They practiced the Jewish rituals found in the Torah, rituals such as circumcision and kosher dietary laws. These Jewish Christians believed Jesus was an anointed prophet sent by God. They believed his presence began the “last days” when the world would be destroyed by God followed by a new kingdom on earth which would be established by Jesus. (Zoroastrian ideas!)

St. Paul, wrote his epistles in the 50s CE, a generation after the death of Jesus. Paul’s epistles/letters to different Christian communities became the very first Christian scriptures. The gospels were not written until decades later. Paul’s main message was to non-Jews – the Gentiles. Paul, like Jesus, believed the world was in the last days. As he said in his letter to the Corinthians, “ But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” What Paul believed was that the world would end in his lifetime and Jesus’ resurrection was proof of this.

Another major belief promoted by Paul was that Jesus was a sacrifice to God for the sins of humanity, the sins of Adam and Eve in particular. In other words, Jesus was a sacrifice to himself, since he was God. In particular, God was mad because Adam and Eve had sinned in the Garden of Eden by eating a forbidden fruit. As a result, God closed the gates of heaven. By murdering Jesus, the Romans created a sacrifice that apparently pleased God, so he then opened the gates of heaven.

This is the so-called “atonement theory.” It was gradually adopted by Christians. So, a major figure in a religion’s history can radically change the beliefs in a religion. Paul definitely did this through his epistles. The atonement theory is he very epicenter of Christianity.

What I find interesting is that sacrifice was always a key component of Jewish thought and ritual. The whole Jewish religion since ancient times had involved sacrifice to God so it is no surprise to me that Jesus’ death was eventually viewed as yet another sacrifice.

By the end of the first century and throughout the second century, Christianity continued to change dramatically. Increasingly, Christianity separated itself from Judaism. Many gospels were written and dozens of Christian sects developed, each with differing thoughts of who Jesus was and how a Christian should act. The role of priests was established in the second century and eventually bishops. Bishops oversaw groups of churches and began to identify acceptable beliefs and those that were considered heretical. This was also the time when the role of women in the church was gradually marginalized, and church authority was controlled only by males.

By the third century CE, there were hundreds of very different beliefs about who Jesus was and what beliefs were acceptable for Christians. This was creating a political nightmare for the Eastern Roman Empire which was experiencing many religious clashes and conflicts. So, in order to establish a common belief system and eliminate religious conflict, the Emperor Constatine in 325 CE summoned the bishops from around the empire and forced them to agree on a common belief system for Christianity. This resulted in the creation of the Nicaean Creed which is said in most Christian churches today.

We believe in one God, the Father almighty,  maker of heaven and earth,         

of all that is, visible and invisible. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God …

So, established authority, politics and often male hierarchy play roles in changing and controlling religious beliefs. Since the time of the Council of Nicaea, church councils have continued to promulgate Christian dogma up to the present time.

With the fall of Rome, Europe was plunged into hundreds of years of complex change. During the Middle Ages, Europe was beset by a series of famines, epidemics and constant warfare. In the 14^th century alone, it is estimated that half of Europe’s population died from the Black Death – the Bubonic Plague. All of these factors impacted religious beliefs.

With these tragic events, Christians began to take an apocalyptic view of this world. It was thought that life was a divine test and personal piety became essential and was most important. Many Christians began to view this world as merely “the workshop of the devil.” The main purpose of life, it was thought by many, was to live a perfect Christian life so as to gain escape from this world to heaven and an eternal life of bliss. In other words, tumultuous events in a society can definitely impact religious beliefs.

As the 16^th century emerged, two factors dramatically impacted religious beliefs in Europe. The first was the perceived corruption in the Christian church in Rome. Multiple popes vied for control of the church. At one point there was a pope in Rome and one in France. Many of the church’s hierarchy were morally corrupt and living lives of wealth and splendor rather than being examples of the peasant, Jesus. The selling of indulgences to build St. Peters in Rome caused many Christians to move away from respecting church authority. (People who spent a lot of money on indulgences were given a guarantee that they would go instantly to heaven upon their death.)

To compound this, the German princes were seeking autonomy from Rome and an escape from the grip of the Holy Roman Empire. Henry the VIII in England severed his relationship with Rome because of Rome’s refusal to grant him a divorce. All of these factors caused the Protestant Reformation or Protestant Revolution as some would call it. In other words, corruption in religious institutions and political machinations cause religious beliefs to change.

And with the charges of corruption and political intrigue religious authority figures arose in Europe which established different Christian belief systems and different religions. The most important of these figures was Martin Luther, a former Catholic monk and John Calvin, both of whom had very different views on what Christianity meant. Calvinism, in particular, was a dour religion which emphasized the absolute depravity of human beings and the evil nature of the world which Calvin saw a contest between God and the Devil.

It was Calvinism in the form of Puritanism that found its way to New England from 1629 to 1640 after the religious persecution under Charles I of England. The Puritans established Congregational churches throughout New England. Their most famous minister and theologian was Jonathan Edwards who lived in the first half of the 18^th century. Jonathan Edward’s most famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” kind of says it all:

"The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you... there is no other reason to be given why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God’s hand has held you up."

Jonathan Edwards beliefs and views came from Calvinism which, in turn, was influenced by the debacles in Europe including famine, disease, war and the corruption in the church.

But many Americans in New England saw their life in America as a good thing. Rather than being the so-called workshop of the devil, life was pretty good for at least the Europeans who came to America. Intellectual Americans were also influenced by European Enlightenment ideas which called for reason and rationalism in religion, a belief in religious tolerance and a separation between church and state.

These influences caused the rise of liberal Christianity, especially in the formation of the Unitarian and the Universalist movements. I have spoken about this before. Essentially, the Unitarians were mostly urban intellectuals who saw Jesus as the son of God but not God himself – hence the word “unity” or Unitarian.

The Universalists were mostly rural farmers who believed in the trinity – father, son and holy spirit but they did not believe in hell. They believed God was too loving to condemn anyone to hell – hence universal salvation for all.

An amusing somewhat accurate saying was that “Unitarians believed they were too good for God to damn them, but Universalist believed God was too good to damn them.”

Of course, all the factors that influence changing beliefs in religions also impacted changes in the Unitarian and Universalist movements causing them to merge in 1961. UU beliefs today are very different than they were 200 years ago. Today we are a religion that enables everyone to develop their own set of beliefs based on their own knowledge and life experiences. We do not share any common religious beliefs or dogmas or creeds.

So, this brings us to a final factor in changing religious beliefs and this is the individual. Regardless of all the other factors mentioned, individuals throughout human history have developed and changed their own religious beliefs based on their knowledge, study, personal reflection and meditation and their own life experiences. Many of you here fall into this category. I certainly do.

As many of you know, I grew up staunchly Catholic. I even went to a Catholic military high school – this at height of the anti-Vietnam war movement. Since I was a child, religion has always been very important to me and as I grew older, I studied religion a lot. I prayed a lot for guidance. I went on retreats. I even went through my own Protestant reformation and became a Lutheran. But none of this worked. As I became more spiritual, I became less religious. I found truths in the world’s religions but not “the truth.” Eventually in my 30s, I found Unitarian Universalism which allows me to grow and change spiritually without the hinderance of creeds, dogmas and religious authorities.

In studying the world’s religions, I learned about many examples of individuals who have changed their religious beliefs on their own, often with great peril to their own safety and security. Let me offer you one who is a good example. This is Meister Eckhart, a German Catholic Dominican friar who lived from 1260-1328.

Meister Eckhart lived at a time when questioning church dogma was an act that could put your very life in peril. As Meister Eckhart studied, prayed, meditated, and practiced his ministry, he came to racially change his views on God. Rather than seeing God as the transcendent, detached being who created the world, Eckhart began to see God as “a bottomless, ineffable void and pure nothingness that lies beyond human contemplation.” He also suggested God is present in all things. In other words, God is not separate from the universe as the church had long believed. God is imbedded in the creation itself. Actually, Meister Eckhart’s views of God are similar to the Hindu concept of Brahman. He had no knowledge of Hinduism. His ideas are also similar to the Taoist notion of “the Tao” – the way.

Not surprisingly, Eckhart’s beliefs about God caused the Church to subject him to a Papal inquisition for heresy in 1326. His trial took some time, but he passed away before the Inquisition could issue a verdict although the Pope condemned many of his professed beliefs. Meister Eckhart’s view on God are accepted by the Catholic church today.

Meister Eckhart would fit into today’s Unitarian Universalism. This sounds a bit strange, but it is not. This is because Unitarian Universalism enables every person to bring who they are and what they believe to the wider congregation. And this is why UUs have a wide set of religious beliefs that often change as individuals grow through their lives. There is no other religion I know of that enables a person to do this.

But one final thought. Many supposedly religious people are actually not thinking people. These type of people go through the rituals and practices of a particular religion without really thinking about it or challenging their beliefs. I think this describes most religious people. They just accept what they have been told since childhood.

Spiritual people question religious beliefs. They may accept the beliefs of a particular religion but not without struggling with it, questioning it, and finally accepting it. This is no less true for Unitarian Universalists.

I think we are all called to question religious beliefs, struggle with them, study them, mediate on them and finally develop our own special and unique religious beliefs that will enhance our personal connection with the sacred – however we each define it.

I was looking for a good quote to summarize this and, I have to admit, AI found it for me which is rather humbling. From AI - “Struggling with religious and spiritual beliefs (and perhaps changing them) is an essential catalyst for growth, proving that authentic faith requires honest inquiry rather than blind certainty. Wrestling with these concepts breaks down illusions, deepens self-awareness, and fosters a profound, resilient, and personalized understanding of the divine.”

Reverend Christopher McMahon

UU Chatham

June 28, 2026