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You know religion is in trouble when even its leaders suggest we take a step back from it.

Tibetan Buddhism is no major faith worldwide, but its 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso is a globally known and influential religious figure. Said to be the reincarnation of his predecessors, the Dalai Lama was discovered through mystical omens and visions, was confirmed through "proofs" of his reincarnation, and was raised in a monastery. He conducts Buddhist rites, partakes in esoteric meditation practices, and hobnobs with popes, bishops, preachers, and gurus of all sorts. You can't get much more "religious figure" than that.

The Dalai Lama is also an author, and is working on a new book: Beyond Religion (out on Dec 6, 2011). Huh? Is this a warning of the dark immoral abyss awaiting those who venture beyond faith and dogma? No; according to the Dalai Lama, what lies beyond religion is secular morality – and the ethics we humans need to pursue.

The Huffington Post prints an excerpt from Beyond Religion. Huffpo may be a name you don't associate with reliable reporting, but unless there's been some big screw-up, the text comes from "His Holiness" himself. There's no religious bashing within (unless you're one of the hyper-coddled believers who label any lack of fawning Jesus-praise as bashing), yet the text suggests that religion is just another human system that can work for good or for bad, that the fact of multiple conflicting religions makes belief unfit as a universal basis for ethics, and that the creation of universal ethics need not depend on religion. Or as the Dalai Lama says:

What we need today is an approach to ethics which makes no recourse to religion and can be equally acceptable to those with faith and those without: a secular ethics.

Wow. Now let's see if we can get some popes, imams, evangelists, and the like to board that train, and some real progress may lie ahead for humanity.