Stem cell research, nuclear energy, sexual identity,
ecological stress and the use of wealth raise, at the very least, social
questions that have no precedent. These, and the countless other changes
affecting every aspect of human life, have brought into being a new world of
daily choices for both society and its members. What has not changed is the
inescapable requirement of making such choices, whether for better or worse. It
is here that the spiritual nature of the contemporary crisis comes into
sharpest focus because most of the decisions called for are not merely
practical but moral. In large part, therefore, loss of faith in traditional
religion has been an inevitable consequence of failure to discover in it the
guidance required to live with modernity, successfully and with assurance.
(From “One Common Faith”, a document commissioned by and prepared under the
supervision of the Universal House of Justice, 2005)
