Children of Light, Children of Darkness

Anonymous We've read a great deal of literature in the past two weeks, and the idea of children of light vs. children of darkness has been a prevalent topic. Sects like the community at Qumran were convinced that they were the true Israel, and all other groups were in the wrong. In other words, they were the children of light who were blessed by God, while both other Israelites and Gentiles were children of darkness who were against God.
This kind of dualism is a theology that I have experienced frequently in my life. I was raised in the Lutheran tradition and attended Catholic high school. In both of these churches, the common belief is that your tradition is correct and any others are wrong. You alone believe in the "Truth;" you alone will be saved. Like with the Qumran sect, those of your group are the children of light, while everyone else is seen to be the children of darkness.
It's this idea that has caused me to struggle with accepting either the Lutheran or the Catholic faith, and which leaves me questioning. How can I say that I alone am a children of lightness, and that any other person of faith who follows the rules of their religion devoutly and lives a good life is a children of darkness? How can I insist that people in third world countries who were never introduced to the God of my religion did not receive the same blessing of God as I have? This idea, to me, completely defies any logical belief of a loving and just God.
So how can I tie this into Greece? I think, like I mentioned in my blog post for yesterday, we see the idea of children of light, children of darkness every day in Athens. We consider ourselves to be the children of light who are in the right and generally make good decisions. We then view the beggars and scam artists of the streets of Athens as children of darkness who are out to get us or who are trying to get the best of us. We never stop to consider what their story is: where did they come from? do they have a family? why are they on the street? We don't ask these questions because we just assume that they are children of darkness and somehow inferior to ourselves.