Ever since the 19th century, many have put all of their hope into the promise of progress.
This idea touches all aspects of life, such as technical innovation, medical advancements or political revolution.
It can be tempting to put all of our faith and hope in the future and the potential for new advancements that will radically change human society.
False hope
Pope Benedict XVI reflected on this modern concept in his encyclical, Spe salvi, and how much of a slippery slope it is to put our hope in human achievements:
Again, we find ourselves facing the question: what may we hope?...First we must ask ourselves: what does “progress” really mean; what does it promise and what does it not promise? In the nineteenth century, faith in progress was already subject to critique. In the twentieth century, Theodor W. Adorno formulated the problem of faith in progress quite drastically: he said that progress, seen accurately, is progress from the sling to the atom bomb.
Certainly progress in the world can lead to some very helpful innovations, but when it is detached from our ultimate destiny, progress leads to self-destruction.
Pope Benedict XVI was clear in his belief that we should not put too much of our hope into progress:
Now this is certainly an aspect of progress that must not be concealed. To put it another way: the ambiguity of progress becomes evident. Without doubt, it offers new possibilities for good, but it also opens up appalling possibilities for evil—possibilities that formerly did not exist. We have all witnessed the way in which progress, in the wrong hands, can become and has indeed become a terrifying progress in evil. If technical progress is not matched by corresponding progress in man's ethical formation, in man's inner growth (cf. Eph 3:16; 2 Cor 4:16), then it is not progress at all, but a threat for man and for the world.
Our hope needs to firmly rest first and foremost in God, trusting in his ways and having faith in his promises.
Only with that foundation can humanity ever progress in the correct way.
However, it's never healthy to put all of our trust and hope in men and women, believing that we can achieve greatness without God.
Progress is not always good and when it is divorced from God, it becomes a threat to all of humanity.
