theological imperialism

Huxley's religious future

"Like any other form of imperialism, theological imperialism is a menace to permanent world peace. The reign of violence will never come to an end until:

• First, most human beings accept the same, true philosophy of life;
• Second, this Perennial Philosophy is recognized as the highest factor common to all world religions;
• Third, the adherents of every religion renounce the idolatrous time-philosophies, with which, in their own particular faith, the Perennial Philosophy of eternity has been overlaid;
• Fourth, there is a world-wide rejection of all the political pseudo-religions, which place man's supreme good in future time and therefore justify and commend the commission of every sort of present iniquity as a means to that end.

If these conditions are not fulfilled, no amount of political planning, no economic blue-prints however ingeniously drawn, can prevent the recrudescence of war and revolution."

Aldous Huxley (1945) The Perennial Philosophy; Flamingo; ISBN 0006547338