Throughout the twentieth century—now rapidly drawing to a close—there has been more massive change than in any other century in the history of humanity. The many, many earthshaking events throughout the 1900s have obviously influenced the way all of us think. Importantly, much of the history of this century has played a key role in influencing the way mankind defines God. Warfare, assassinations, and other atrocities have caused people to question not only the character but even the existence of divinity. Early on in the century, for instance, as the people of Europe and Great Britain were exposed to the graphic brutality of world conflict, a large number abandoned religion almost altogether.
"How could God allow things like this to happen?" people asked desperately. There really wasn't a satisfactory theological explanation for such bloodshed, so they felt they could only turn their backs both on religion and on the tragic events of war itself. A British poet, Ivor Gurney, in his poem "To His Love," wrote:
Cover him, cover him soon!
And with thick-set
Masses of memoried flowers—
Hide that red wet
Thing I must somehow forget.
