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lex orandi, lex credendi
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• Roman Catholicism

 

Definition:
According to Catholic tradition, lex orandi, lex credendi - the law of prayer is the law of belief. What this means is that how a person worship not only shows what the person really believes, but that how a person worships can ultimately decide what that person really believes.

As people's patterns of actual worship change, so will their underlying beliefs - even without their realizing it. It is because of this that the Catholic Church can be so strict in maintaining what many might regard as superficial practices, causing them to be seen by many as old-fashioned and tyrannical. The hierarchy realizes that allowing even minor changes in the practice of worship could lead to unforseen and unintended changes in beliefs, and the Church is one organization which understands how to think about how things will turn out over very long spans of time.

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