I think the reason that North Korea is not blustering nuclear war threats now that the attention has been diverted from it is due to two things: one of which is the existence of moral absolutes. In other words, they are wrong, and they can't deny that they are wrong when ultimately challenged by the US.
Acceptance (or non-acceptance) of the existence of moral absolutes is a watershed issue. For instance,when Education Secretary Roderick Paige told a Baptist publication, "All things equal, I would prefer to have a child in a school that has a strong appreciation for the values of the Christian community, where a child is taught to have a strong faith," Executive Director Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State Page’s remarks show "an astonishing mix of disrespect for both American’s religious diversity and the public schools." In a letter faxed to the Department of Education yesterday Lynn, urged Paige to repudiate the remarks or step down. Paige’s press secretary said the quotation in the article was accurate and that Paige has no intention of resigning.
Faith in the existence of moral absolutes is a "house built without hands" - it's very hard to figure out how to increase it in a diverse community. It's all too easy to build it on false foundations, which,over the centuries, cause the whole edifice to topple and have to be rebuilt. But, still, it's progressively getting bigger, and maybe the growth will accelerate.
For group politics, you could call the second group the anti-transcendents. At their exstreme, they would be the fascists who want to create the Kingdom of God on earth, who actually believe that the State is Most High. This would include the Western-trained Muslim fundamentalists in my mind, who make Islam into a territorial religion with the Sharia law.
12:13:32 AM 
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