You Can't Teach An Old Dog(Ma) New Tricks

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 8 August 2025 Dorothy Parker's witty quote, 'you can't teach an old dog(ma) new tricks,' is ever-relevant. It encapsulates the difficulty of trying to change or challenge deeply ingrained beliefs or ideologies. Dogma, in this context, refers to a set of principles or doctrines that are accepted as absolute truths. Parker cleverly employs a play on words, alluding to the idiom "you can't teach an old dog new tricks," to convey the rigidity and resistance that often accompany firmly held beliefs. It implies that attempting to alter or impart a fresh perspective to someone who is unwilling or closed-minded can be an arduous task. The quote serves as a reminder that changing long-established dogmas requires a willingness to be open to new ideas, a readiness to challenge established norms, and an acceptance of the possibility that one's belief system may need to evolve. This reminds me of U R Ananthamurthy's magnum opus 'Sanskara: A Rite for a Dead Man.' There's a line in that book, " All things, all ingrained and inveterate religious ideas like god, religion and rituals may go but dogmas are too obstinate. They don't easily go..." What's a dogma? Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that people are expected to accept as true without questioning. Dogmas are indeed more deep-seated than even the concepts of god and religion. Dogma is when a fiercely rationalist and atheist Hindu still performs Satyanarayan Pooja as integral to the housewarming ceremony or Griha Pravesh. While he believes, rather knows deep down, that there's no god and religions are otiose, he still believes that Satyanarayan Pooja will invite good tidings and it'll protect his new abode. This is dogma; this is Sanskara. A dogma is slightly different from a superstition. Dogma is a set of established, authoritative beliefs held by a religion or ideology, often serving as foundational principles for followers. Superstition, on the other hand, is a belief or practice based on ignorance, fear or a misunderstanding of cause and effect, often involving irrational or magical thinking. Salman Rushdie admitted in an interview that he was 'dogged by dogmas' even after relinquishing Islam, Allah and the Quran. He felt truly 'emancipated' and religiously 'liberated' the day he ate pork, abhorrent even to an ex-Muslim because of his/her religio-cultural conditioning right from childhood. Dogma is a conditioned belief that goes even deeper than god and faith. That's the reason, the so-called rationalists and atheists in Maharashtra (Maharashtra has the maximum number of atheists in India) don't eat non-veg during the month of Shravan (Sawan) because it's their dogmatic belief that it might invite the wrath of some 'divine' power! Not consuming non-veg during Shravan is in the consciousness of even an atheist or rationalist, so much so that he can't reason it out why having non-veg is frowned upon by the Hindu society of Maharashtra and other parts of India. When an avowed atheist and iconoclast E V Ramasamy Periyar's followers were kicking and defiling the Hindu deities, even 'atheist' Hindus were terribly disturbed by the open desecration of their (erstwhile) gods and goddesses! Fear of god or even a smidgen of respect for the idols remains in the crevices of even a (Hindu) rationalist or atheist. Criticise Muhammad before an ex-Muslim. He might feel uncomfortable and will still call him the Prophet / PBUH and refrain from calling him just Muhammad! This is dogma, which's so obdurate and utterly irrational. Alas, hardly anyone of us is completely free of all these irrationalities and dogmas. Because, we're not truly evolved or enlightened. Humans are eternally frightened beings. ----- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URl: https://www.newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/teach-old-dogma-tricks/d/136435 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism