"The laws of the Past can never dictate to the present:  for the experience that humanity needs can only come to it at the present moment." ~Isha Schwaller De Lubicz

    I don't know if they still do, but I remember when I was a kid that some comic books ran a feature on funny blue laws that were still on the book.  These are laws that usually made perfect sense at the time they were written but, because the times and society has changed, they have become laughable and should be removed or rewritten for the modern society.
    In religion, the same is true.  There are, of course, universal spiritual truths that never change, but there are also many things taught in churches that were adapted from the social rules of the age and the churches are reluctant to update them.  Some examples include the restrictions in some churches against women in the clergy, against priests having wives, and against gays in general.  All of these are based on social rules from two thousand, three thousand, or even five thousand years ago and never updated.  As a result, these churches are finding it harder and harder to relate to people today and many are either not joining churches or leaving the ones they have joined.  Churches, just like social institutions, need to be able to change with the times as long as what they change is not those universal spiritual truths.