In his new book "The Better Angels of our Nature" Harvard professor Steve Pinker argues that humans are becoming less violent.
" As Europe became more urban, cosmopolitan, commercial, industrialised and secular, it got safer. Perhaps as important is the increasing respect for women – violence is a problem not just of too many males but of too many young males... The human race has come to share the goal of finding ways of overcoming the universal appeal of aggression. The great social factors in reducing violence, he says, have been the end of slavery, the empowerment of women and the legalisation of homosexuality. Also, contraception has become cheaper, resulting in fewer children to unwilling parents.
Another change is the great revulsion from corporal punishment of children..... read more"
We were indoctrinated with the idea that the world is getting steadily worse; as an evangelical I was taught a similar mantra. I have long believed the opposite is true. I look forward to reading the evidence.