These discoveries may render out of date some of the details of older theological dogmas, may force their restatement in new intellectual frameworks. But they do not touch the essence of the religious vision itself, which is the faith that there is a plan and purpose in the world, that the world is a moral order, that in the end all things are for the best. But it cannot get on with a purposeless and meaningless universe.
Religion offers a structure of meaning and purpose for the individual and community.
It often accomplishes this task by putting such meaning and purpose within the context of a story or root metaphor. Across the history of religions there have been many such stories. The interactions between such stories and our changing knowledge of our world and the universe suggest a fluid and dynamic state of challenge, change and transformation. It is the question of meaning and purpose in the world and humankind's place within it that remains critical to the continued existence of religion. It suggests that some of the stories are more suitable as a vehicle for communicating new knowledge and assimilating this knowledge.