William McKenzie recently used his “Texas Faith” column in the Dallas Morning News to explore the question: Is the world getting better? Rather than answering the question personally, McKenzie provides responses from several local religious leaders to respond. Each leader provided a narrative response. Their responses fall into three categories:
- The world is getting better. Those favoring this position include Geoffrey Dennis (Rabbi, Congregation Kol Ami, Flower Mound; faculty member, University of North Texas Jewish Studies Program) and Larry Bethune (Senior Pastor, University Baptist Church, Austin).
- The world isn’t getting better (but the USA and a few other countries are or may be). Those favoring this position include William Lawrence (Dean and Professor of American Church History, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University) and Cynthia Rigby (W.C. Brown Professor of Theology, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary).
- The question fails to allow for “the complexity of all we are dealing with.” Those favoring this position include and Daniel Kanter (Senior Minister, First Unitarian Church of Dallas).
So What?
For each of the following, how would you answer the question (Is the world getting better)?
- United States
- the earth’s 7+ billion human inhabitants
- the environment
As a person of faith, what do you understand your responsibility to be in terms of laboring to make the world a better place?