New Futures and the Eternal Struggle between Good and Evil

Although we live in a modern world dominated in many ways by the rationality of science and technology, age-old millennial beliefs in the supernatural, good and evil, a coming apocalyptic upheaval, and a day of judgment are still widely held throughout the world. Even among non-religious people, similar beliefs exist, especially in political ideologies. Focusing on evil, I contend that most evil is not the result of malevolent monsters or demented individuals. Rather, most evildoers are ordinary people, like you and me. Some people, usually reluctantly, use evil means to achieve their ends. Other people, righteously convinced that they are good, demonize their enemies and feel justified in doing horrendous things to them in the name of destroying the evil that they personify. Doing so, they start a tragic circle of escalating retaliation, cruelty and violence. But