Many years ago I asked a group of men if they believed human morality was improving and if we were becoming a better society. To my surprise a bright attorney quickly responded, “Absolutely.” I was dumbfounded. He proceeded to share his optimism about the future as if human beings were perfectible and that a Utopian society might be achievable in our lifetime. That was well over twenty-five years ago and I wonder if he has changed his mind.

In his early years, the great twentieth century thinker and author H.G. Wells believed passionately in the perfectibility of human beings in our society. Yet shortly before his death, Wells completed his final work, The Mind at the End of Its Tether. In it, he concluded that “there is no hope for mankind.”

Can the human heart be changed? Can it be transformed to do good? I invite you to join me in considering these questions.