Many of us tend to assume that our society is basically generous and principled, that our values and our tribal or religious identifications are righteous. The evidence, however, suggests that there is a chasm between our personal beliefs and the impact of our collective actions on the larger world. For example, we continue to buy bananas and coffee, despite evidence that they are generally grown on plantations stolen from indigenous peoples, that their production dumps toxic chemicals on the earth and into the water table, that their laborers often work at unsustainable wages and have no land on which to grow their own basic foods. Even as our national, social and religious communities help to secure our prosperity and identities, these often come at the expense of others who stand outside those boundaries. Numerous challenges are displacing traditional borders and assumptions.
Old questions have new contexts.
The human desire to form community, once expressed in the tribe and validated by a religion, now faces the complexity of a global village. Other commonly-held assumptions are also under assault. These interchanges connect us to the world's problems, and bring those issues into our homes and religious communities. The challenges seem to make unreasonable demands on us. It's certainly tempting to re-warm the American Dream, to retreat to comfort, prosperity, entertainment and technological wonders, to try to beat the dangers back around the corner and out of sight.