To be free to believe

The truly religious spirit is more fundamentally alive today than at any previous time. Everywhere people are ready for the light and expectant of a new revelation.
Only great and fundamental principles of living can really meet mankind's need. Religion in the new age must be based on truths which are universally accepted. These are:

1. The fact of God, both transcendent and immanent.
2. Man's relationship to God; we are all "sons of the one father."
3. The fact of immortality and of eternal persistence, arising from man's essential divinity.
4. The Continuity of Revelation and the Divine Approaches; God has never left Himself without witnesses.
5. The fact of our relationship with each other, or of human brotherhood.
6. The fact of the Path to God, trodden down the ages by mystics, occultists and saints of every religious faith.

The source of all the great world religions and philosophies is the spiritual Hierarchy of the planet, whose members are called the custodians of the divine Plan.
Today another great approach of God to Man, a new revelation is possible. Humanity awaits the reappearance of the world teacher, head of the spiritual Hierarchy, known as the Christ in the West and the Lord Maitreya in the East, and recognised by many names -- Messiah, Imam Mahdi, Zarathustra -- in the different world religions.

The concept of a world religion and the fusion of faiths is now a field of discussion. In the future world all men of spiritual inclination and intention will keep the same holy days, pooling their spiritual resources in a united and simultaneous spiritual invocation.
God works in many ways, through many faiths and religious agencies. The universal platform of the new world religion will be built by emphasising essential doctrines and the unity and fellowship of the spirit.

READ MORE

Too much democracy may not be a good thing

One example of a more general suggestion that Zakaria makes, namely that too much democracy may not be a good thing. In a complex modern nation-state, the electorate is unlikely to have sufficient knowledge to judge on the suitability of every state official, particularly those in very specialised fields, and so may choose to delegate this selection process to the leaders they have elected. And in any case, voting directly on every body that influences the conduct of politics in a democratic state is impossible, as governments must also pay attention to the input of leaders in business and religion, and, increasingly, to other non-governmental organisations that have been set up by groups of citizens concerned about specific issues. The degree of influence that these ‘special interest’ groups have over the conduct of government represents a challenge – too much, and it might be argued that democracy is weakened to the point of oligarchy (the rule of elites); too little, and the culture of justified challenge to governmental excesses that characterises most democracies is neutered.

In the articles which follow, we reflect on some of the issues that arise when considering liberal democracy: what are the qualifications of the democratic politician, and how did this role arise




Read More

extract from a worldgoodwill newsletter