Eighth Note to “Laila (Part Three)”

The endgame of world history or the telos of world history is either the triumph of religion, or its diminution. And of course, with the rise of the West a few centuries ago, modernity assumed the upper hand over religion. Now, and as statistics show, there is a “complex divergence” that is taking root in the world, in the sense that developed and rich means less religious, whereas poor and underdeveloped means more religious. It follows that religion will win out in world affairs if poor and underdeveloped wins out in world affairs, and modernity will win out if developed and rich wins out in world affairs. Hence, the answer to the question of whether world history will end with the triumph of religion or its diminution is conditional and is contingent upon economic and social factors as suggested by the facts and the statistics for the time being.