No serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve
world peace, can ignore religion. Man’s perception and practice of it are
largely the stuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a
“faculty of human nature.” That the perversion of this faculty has contributed
to much of the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between
individuals can hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer
discount the preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital
expressions of civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order
has repeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.
- The Universal House of Justice (‘The Promise of World Peace, October 1985)
