This is a modified version of an article that originally appeared in The Free Press under the title "The Golden Age of Humanity? We're Living in It." Free Inquiry is republishing it with the gracious permission of The Free Press and the authors. Copyright is retained by The Free Press.

Read this article and find accompanying references at:

https://secularhumanism.org/2026/05/medieval-christendom-are-they-serious/

About the Author:

Steven Pinker is the Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and the author of When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows

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