The social ship has steamed out of the sheltered bays of established tradition and has begun its cruise upon the high seas of evolutionary destiny and the soul of man, as never before in the world's history, needs carefully to scrutinize its charts of morality and painstakingly to observe the compass of religious guidance. Mankind is on the march toward a new and unrevealed planetary destiny.ĩ9:1.2 Religion must become a forceful influence for moral stability and spiritual progression functioning dynamically in the midst of these ever-changing conditions and never-ending economic adjustments.ĩ9:1.3 Urantia society can never hope to settle down as in past ages. The human race must become reconciled to a procession of changes, adjustments, and readjustments.

This new and oncoming social order will not settle down complacently for a millennium. Conditions of living alter so rapidly that institutional modifications must be greatly accelerated, and religion must accordingly quicken its adaptation to this new and ever-changing social order.ĩ9:1.1 Mechanical inventions and the dissemination of knowledge are modifying civilization certain economic adjustments and social changes are imperative if cultural disaster is to be avoided.

True religion does oppose violence as a technique of social evolution, but it does not oppose the intelligent efforts of society to adapt its usages and adjust its institutions to new economic conditions and cultural requirements.ĩ9:0.3 Religion did approve the occasional social reforms of past centuries, but in the twentieth century it is of necessity called upon to face adjustment to extensive and continuing social reconstruction. Religion has thus indirectly tended to perpetuate the established order of society, to foster the maintenance of the existent type of civilization.ĩ9:0.2 But religion should not be directly concerned either with the creation of new social orders or with the preservation of old ones.

The chief problem of religion was the endeavor to replace evil with good within the existing social order of political and economic culture. In past ages, since social reforms were largely confined to the moral realms, religion did not have to adjust its attitude to extensive changes in economic and political systems. The Urantia Book Paper 99 THE SOCIAL PROBLEMS OF RELIGIONĩ9:0.1 RELIGION ACHIEVES ITS highest social ministry when it has least connection with the secular institutions of society.

Cosmic foresight