How Can we be progressive in a negitive world?

It seems like no matter what news agency you listen to there is a negative slant to every story. I wonder if this is just something that people who do not belive in God are seeking to find and answer to or has this affected or maybe I should say infected the people of faith. Your thoughts on this is much needed because I know I hit a lot of deadend thoughts when trying to come up with answers for myself.