@ AoG - and your point in this post is what, exactly?
"LazyGun
/// And by any yardstick, our society is much, much better than it was in Victorian times. ///
And that may well be, but then Victorian times where much better than say Georgian times, and Georgian times much better than the first Elizabethan times.
How far do you want to go back, try 60 to 70 years ago, and surprisingly enough even the war years were better than today, I was there, was you?"
I was addressing a comment by Sandy - lighthearted or otherwise, that implied that the decline in religiousity since Victorian times could be equated with a view that society was worse now than then. I was pointing out that it wasn't, by pretty much any yardstick you care to use.
I am genuinely unclear as to the point of your post. First, you make the entirely sensible comment that each successive generation within our society has a better life. Then you say that life was better in the war years than now. Again, what yardstick are you using? It certainly was not better for people in the sense of living in peace - how many families had to live with the heightened sense of mortality? We were not materially wealthier, nor did we have as much choice and freedom as we do now. No, I dont think your comment holds true.