What kind of a world would it be if the stories and ideas that captured our attention reflected our common humanity? It might be a world where we can envision ourselves as sisters and brothers in a large human family, says Jean Vanier, the founder of L’Arche, an international network of communities where people with and without intellectual disabilities live together. Today, at 86, as he joins the pantheon of Templeton Prize winners that includes individuals such as the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa, Vanier sees a world teetering between love and fear, where the culture erects walls of distrust that lead people to fear those who are different.

Tragedies such as the recent Haiti earthquake that claimed the lives of tens of thousands of innocents call into fundamental question the idea that the world is overseen by a just and loving God. As individuals who lose loved ones navigate the stages of grief, including for many feeling anger at God, social and communal pressure for quick healing and avoidance of the difficult struggle to understand why terrible things happen to good people can add to their burdens.