On the sacral and on the development of moral rules

The rise of the modern world has been from its beginning on accompanied by the reflections on the decline of culture. The breakdown of the traditional behavioural norms used to be related to the rise of political criminality, which until recently seemed to have replaced the religious fanaticism, inq uisition and Crusades. It seems today, that we witness the end of the "poli tical era," the era of great secular ideologies, which in our century have mobilized unprecedented destructive powers. And the threat of extremism is still present. The argument of the paper is designed to show the fundamental meaning of th e moral rules for the functioning and further development of the society, a s well as the threat represented by the breakdown of these rules, sometimes related to as transcendental. The notion "transcendental" points out to th e limits of our intellect. It is then not surprising, that the moral rules as a part of cultural heritage have been up to now sanctioned by religion. The paper therefore begins with the explanation of the concepts of religion and culture. The examination focuses on so called "west" cultural region.