God said what he created was basically good. But that was before he created mankind. Yet the historian Rutger Bregman has come out with a new book, Humankind, that tells, among other things, the story of six Catholic school boys that refutes the world famous Lord of the Flies. He says humankind is basically good. Of course, don’t the past 2,000 years of Christian history mean anything in the evolutionary progress of humankind? True, you can find in those 2,000 years instances where Christ’s teachings meant nothing, but that’s humankind’s story: two steps forward and one step back.
We look at Western Civilization today, and find that you can expect a basic civility from almost everyone you meet. But don’t forget, that has been 2,000 years in the making, and Western Civilization has influenced all the other civilizations in the world today. Good or bad, it has left its mark.
Of course, you can undo 2,000 years in one temper tantrum. That is the effect of the free will with which humankind has been gifted.
Civilization 