ABSTRACT
While the present is dominated by populist nationalism, the future is perceived to be so threatening as to be described in apocalyptic terms by secular as well as religious people. Religions offer struggle but the hope of ultimate victory, while secular accounts are sure of “the end of the world as we know it”. Fundamentalists selectively emphasise elements of the mainstream religious narrative, concluding that they alone will be entrusted with inflicting God's just wrath on the world. Finally, the author makes a plea for religion to create a narrative which favours certain binary alternatives over their opposites, for example inclusion, enquiry, dialogue, humility, and need.
