Early in the twentieth century, a materialistic
interpretation of reality had consolidated itself so completely as to become
the dominant world faith insofar as the direction of society was concerned. In
the process, the civilizing of human nature had been violently wrenched out of
the orbit it had followed for millennia. For many in the West, the Divine
authority that had functioned as the focal centre of guidance—however diverse
the interpretations of its nature—seemed simply to have dissolved and vanished.
In large measure, the individual was left free to maintain whatever
relationship he believed connected his life to a world transcending material
existence, but society as a whole proceeded with growing confidence to sever
dependence on a conception of the universe that was judged to be at best a
fiction and at worst an opiate, in either case inhibiting progress. Humanity
had taken its destiny into its own hands. It had solved through rational
experimentation and discourse—so people were given to believe—all of the
fundamental issues related to human governance and development.
(“One Common
Faith”, a document commissioned by and prepared under the supervision of the
Universal House of Justice)
