This was an eye opener and source of joy to listen to renowned philosopher Kwame Appiah. In this one hour lecture he draws the line on interpretation from religious scripturas and he argues if they would not be open for interpretation , they would not be useful tools to guide people.
He draws his argument on the most basic religious arguments which has created disagreement even amongst religious leaders from the same faction. One example to that is Kosher/ Halal fish. Fish with scale are Kosher friendly and no scale are not….sounds very clear cut or not? What about fish with weird scales …like Estrogen? And the list goes on the bird list from Torah .
the priest and scholars often want to insist that the doctrine that they are the masters of drives practice. But interestingly, it is often it is to ignore the reverse practice that indeed doctrine driven by the practice , through forms of worship, familiar feelings and traditions of social regulations.
Practice although changes overtime and this could happen slowly or quickly, and thus change practice could lead to change belief. Scripture passages could get new interpretations and if they can not adopt they can are forgotten and abandoned. Put it this way, if by this standard we still were practicing a passage such as : slaves should submit themselves to their masters however they are cruel…
For that matter it is important to realise if scriptures are not open for interpretations they will lose their ability to guide people through centuries. In a sense when it comes to their survival their openness is their way of sustaining themselves through test of time. If not we can easily lay prey to the fundumentalist way of thinking assuming there is only one way of practicing assuming the type of religion we choose to abide by.
How could you apply this to my own teaching and practice?
As a non religious person of Muslim background I wholeheartedly agree with professor Appiah in a sense religious should give us the way we find peace and tolerance rather than a medium which divides us and devises as as human race. This view can teach us to reflect on tolerance and acceptance of each others views and not to hold ours superior to the rest .