Culture: December 2005 Archives

Religion is one of the things that divides humanity today in spite of the Western Enlightenment, and it does so on a fundamental level. Many people identify themselves as Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Hindus, etc., first and human beings second. The specifics of these differences are too numerous to count and to overcome as a whole, but one difference that may be amenable to change and development is the concept of God implied in various conceptions of salvation and life after death.

Human history is not a series of secular happenings without any shape or direction; it is an evolutionary process, a meaningful development. Those who observe the peripheral movement are carried away by the wars and battles, economic disorder, and political upheavals. But the real drama is acted out in its inner layer, where the conflict between the limited effort of human beings and the sovereign purpose of the universe generate the momentum for progress.