An example of religious shaping

My son is in an online school, today in his government class the following appeared.

In the early nineteenth century, Universalists were regarded with fear and suspicion because they believed that God was too merciful to send anyone to hell.

Finally, after dealing with prejudice and with being barred from giving any testimony in courts of law, Universalists changed their theology. They still believed that God was too merciful to send anyone to hell, but now they believed that God would punish sinners by sending them to hell for a period of time before letting them enter heaven.

This was enough to convince their neighbors to stop worrying that Universalists were going to lie under oath.

When I read it, I couldn’t help but think about all the twists in turns in our own religions beginnings. In church we teach it as a simple straight forward event. More and more I am convinced it isn’t.