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Gone are the days of regal empires expanding and contracting as they take each step into the previously unknown and unimagined -- but still with us are their lessons for religious interaction and practice in an interconnected world.

That's one of the key points made in journalist Robert Wright's exploration of the history of spiritual belief in his latest work, "The Evolution of God". Wright, a resident of Princeton and the author of "The Moral Animal" and "Nonzero," finds that all three Abrahamic religions are nimble enough to adapt to the ever-changing moral realities of their adherents.

"Ancient empires are the closest ancient equivalent to a modern globalized world," Wright told The Jewish State in a phone interview. He said the religions have shown throughout history that they "can become internationally inclusive in a context of empire, that all three of them show that, and that that's kind of hopeful given the fact that we now live in the modern equivalent of an ancient empire -- in other words, a globalized society."

Wright does not consider himself an adherent to any of the major religions, though he does proclaim sympathy for a kind of neo-Buddhist outlook on human nature and in general projects a hopefulness about the future of spirituality and human interaction. Facts on the ground -- including a society's drive for morality -- shape religion more than religion shapes the mundane, he said.

"But in the short term, religious doctrines do matter," Wright said. "Even though the character of a religion is shaped by the facts on the ground, the character is not going to disappear overnight or change overnight when you rearrange those facts. The mood of a religion acquires a certain momentum."

Books about religion written by those who claim to have no dog in the fight often take a critical, atheism-heavy stance on organized religion. Wright said that such negativity usually comes not from detached appraisal, but rather from those who dislike religion to begin with.

Wright puts the responsibility for man's actions on the nature of the people involved, and said a person's religious practice will follow his moral compass.

"I almost think religion is kind of a neutral medium in that sense," Wright said. "So my optimism, such as it is -- and it's only a guarded optimism -- is grounded in more my views about the direction in which the material world moves. And the material world does manifestly move toward greater and greater interdependence. And I'm hopeful that religion can adapt intelligently to that."

On that note, in the book Wright states that people's conception of God moves in a morally progressive direction. He writes: "the bad news is that the god you thought was born perfect was in fact born imperfect. The good news is that this imperfect god isn't really a god anyway, just a figment of the human imagination." Wright conceded that this means man's conception of God will be a continuously imperfect understanding, but that that should not preclude having faith in a divine entity.

"Our conception of an electron will always be imperfect, that's becoming clear to us," Wright analogized. "On the other hand, there's something there that we're talking about when we talk about electrons, and science has moved us closer to understanding their nature, even if we'll never get there entirely."

This point is illustrated in Wright's section on the tone of the Jewish narrative during the Israelites' exile under the Persian Empire. When Cyrus the Great expanded the Persian Empire so that the Jews did not border enemy states, and when he allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem with a form of self-rule, a more compassionate and tolerant Jewish divinity emerges, shattering a Christian myth in the process.

"One standard story told by Christians is that you have this kind of belligerent, narrow-minded God in the Old Testament and then Jesus comes and everything changes," Wright said. "I don't think that's really the case. I think it's always about what is the social and geopolitical environment in which the believers are living."

The extent to which social morality is tied to religious belief is being tested today in Europe, where many countries are adopting a more secular multiculturalism in place of a church-centric foundation. Wright said a society can show tolerance based in secular values as well.

"But I think that religion is going to be with us for long enough that it matters -- my argument that religion is capable of making the adaptation toward an ever-expanding moral compass matters, because for much of the world that is going to be where values are refracted, I think," he said.

In terms of one of today's major religious challenges, the West's clash with radical Islam, Wright believes history is useful here too. He said when people feel threatened -- materially or with regard to their values -- they tend to lash out, often in conquest.

"So I would say I think [President Barack] Obama is broadly on the right track in trying to make sure that Muslims feel respected by the West, and by trying to stop the encroachment of the settlements on the West Bank -- that's all consistent with my story," Wright said.

He reiterated the emergence of a more "moderate" strain of Judaism during the Persian Empire after the Jews no longer felt threatened or disrespected, and said it's a model Islam would likely follow.

"I think that can happen again, and it can happen with Muslims as well as with Jews," he said.

"The Evolution of God" is available from Barnes and Noble, Borders, Amazon.com, and other major booksellers.