The only thing that can stave of catastrophe is the intervention of religious leaders in order to demand good will on the part of the citizens of the world...

There won't be anyone to represent the US, because we're too full of ourselves as individuals to accept spiritual oversight. The only decent religious leadership I have seen in the US is not crowd control, but one-on-one interaction, which, unfortunately, takes longer to develop; so, if it isn't already in place, IMO it ain't gonna be.

Feel free to differ, but I don't think we are going to get this one out of the anecdotal stage. It's a personal point-of-view.