ABSTRACT
This chapter explores ideas of evil and salvation through a sociological perspective on meaning-making, allied with ideas of merit, ritual, and ethics. Ideas of evil and salvation underlie all worldviews, where evil depicts perceived flaws in existence, and salvation methods for overcoming them. Moreover, ideas of merit often play a part in the dynamic relationship between ‘evil' and ‘salvation'. Today, the potential ‘evils' of global warming, pandemics, and wars assume a high profile and invite new approaches to human meaning-making, identity, and destiny. The idea of salvation needs some explanation in terms of Worldview Religious Studies because its strong association with ‘world religions' might be seen by some to disqualify it for ‘worldview' use.
