Do Religions Necessarily Contradict Themselves?

[Sunstone]

Do religions necessarily contradict themselves?

I can't say I know an answer to that question, but I have often heard that religions -- particularly Abrahamic religions -- do contradict themselves. I've even heard that, say, Taoism contradicts itself. So, do all religions contradict themselves? And if so, is that evidence that there's something about religion in itself that leads to religions contradicting themselves?

Now, if it is indeed true that most or all religions contradict themselves, then the only thing I can think of at the moment that would cause that is this: Religions -- even small ones -- have so many adherents that in order to satisfy everyone, they need to attract quite different kinds of people. Both religious conservatives and religious liberals, for instance. And perhaps to do that, they need to say things that are contradictory.

Indeed, it seems intuitively obvious that a small group of people can achieve greater uniformity of belief, values, and goals than a much larger group. But that doesn't directly address the issue of whether religions necessarily contradict themselves, for perhaps a religion could have an overall coherent message, and only the follower's interpretations of that message were contradictory.

Of course, a lot of us believe our own religions are completely without any contradictions. "All apparent contradictions in the religion of Erotic Dancing Girls are only apparent! A deeper, more profound reading of our sacred text, How to be Over-Dressed While Wearing Nothing but a G-String, will reveal to the astute scholar that those apparent contradictions can be resolved by pondering the underlying, esoteric uses of whipped cream and cherries!"

So what do you think? Do religions necessarily contradict themselves?

 

[sun rise]

Do religions necessarily contradict themselves?

I have two different takes on the question. The first is a fun one in my opinion that Walt Whitman wrote about himself, but I believe applies to your question: Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.

The other is a poem that Daniel Ladinsky "rendered" (I would use inspired) from Hafiz. This is from the perspective that the Divine is far beyond the limited human intellect

I have a thousand brilliant lies
For the question:

How are you?

I have a thousand brilliant lies
For the question:

What is God?

If you think that the Truth can be known
From words,

If you think that the Sun and the Ocean

Can pass through that tiny opening Called the mouth,

O someone should start laughing!
Someone should start wildly Laughing –Now!

From “I Heard God Laughing: Renderings of Hafiz”

 

[Shushersbedamned]

No.

Truth is contradictiory. Religion is not truth and so it cannot be very contradictory

 

[arthra]

I can't say I know an answer to that question, but I have often heard that religions -- particularly Abrahamic religions -- do contradict themselves

It may be one looking at a religion from the outside may believe there are contradictions when on deeper study and reflection it is a "seeming" or an "apparent" contradiction.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

It may be one looking at a religion from the outside may believe there are contradictions when on deeper study and reflection it is a "seeming" or an "apparent" contradiction.

Putting aside your own religion, do you not see contradictions in some other religions?
Or is it that you see the religion as consistent, but the interpretation as not?

Do you limit religions in some ways?

 

[Kirran]

What comes to my mind upon reading this OP from our esteemed post-leonine friend is this.

If someone were to read I Am That, with a view to figuring out the philosophy it taught and formulating it and logically figuring out the contradictions and seeing whether they thought it made sense, it seems very likely to me they'd easily manage to find all sorts of ways in which Maharaj's teachings contradict themselves.

But to look at it in that way would be to totally miss what Nisargadatta really IS and what he's teaching.

I don't know to what degree that is helpful to the OP's quest.

 

[HonestJoe]

Do religions necessarily contradict themselves?

Not necessarily I don’t think. It’d be perfectly possible to come up with a coherent set of religious beliefs that are entirely consistent and non-contradictory. In practice though, it probably wouldn’t remain that way once people get involved. People contradict other people (and often ourselves) all the time and I see no reason why people wouldn’t do that in relation to religion (if not more so given its nature).

 

[David T]

Do religions necessarily contradict themselves?

I can't say I know an answer to that question, but I have often heard that religions -- particularly Abrahamic religions -- do contradict themselves. I've even heard that, say, Taoism contradicts itself. So, do all religions contradict themselves? And if so, is that evidence that there's something about religion in itself that leads to religions contradicting themselves?

Now, if it is indeed true that most or all religions contradict themselves, then the only thing I can think of at the moment that would cause that is this: Religions -- even small ones -- have so many adherents that in order to satisfy everyone, they need to attract quite different kinds of people. Both religious conservatives and religious liberals, for instance. And perhaps to do that, they need to say things that are contradictory.

Indeed, it seems intuitively obvious that a small group of people can achieve greater uniformity of belief, values, and goals than a much larger group. But that doesn't directly address the issue of whether religions necessarily contradict themselves, for perhaps a religion could have an overall coherent message, and only the follower's interpretations of that message were contradictory.

Of course, a lot of us believe our own religions are completely without any contradictions. "All apparent contradictions in the religion of Erotic Dancing Girls are only apparent! A deeper, more profound reading of our sacred text, How to be Over-Dressed While Wearing Nothing but a G-String, will reveal to the astute scholar that those apparent contradictions can be resolved by pondering the underlying, esoteric uses of whipped cream and cherries!"

So what do you think? Do religions necessarily contradict themselves?

Do religions necessarily contradict themselves?

I can't say I know an answer to that question, but I have often heard that religions -- particularly Abrahamic religions -- do contradict themselves. I've even heard that, say, Taoism contradicts itself. So, do all religions contradict themselves? And if so, is that evidence that there's something about religion in itself that leads to religions contradicting themselves?

Now, if it is indeed true that most or all religions contradict themselves, then the only thing I can think of at the moment that would cause that is this: Religions -- even small ones -- have so many adherents that in order to satisfy everyone, they need to attract quite different kinds of people. Both religious conservatives and religious liberals, for instance. And perhaps to do that, they need to say things that are contradictory.

Indeed, it seems intuitively obvious that a small group of people can achieve greater uniformity of belief, values, and goals than a much larger group. But that doesn't directly address the issue of whether religions necessarily contradict themselves, for perhaps a religion could have an overall coherent message, and only the follower's interpretations of that message were contradictory.

Of course, a lot of us believe our own religions are completely without any contradictions. "All apparent contradictions in the religion of Erotic Dancing Girls are only apparent! A deeper, more profound reading of our sacred text, How to be Over-Dressed While Wearing Nothing but a G-String, will reveal to the astute scholar that those apparent contradictions can be resolved by pondering the underlying, esoteric uses of whipped cream and cherries!"

So what do you think? Do religions necessarily contradict themselves?

Coherent message... Laws of physics that's contradictory yet taken, as pure sharp clarity that's bs.

There is no such thing as a free lunch except for the cosmos another Contradiction nonsense.

Is religion the only narrative community with that problem. ? I know it's not.