ABSTRACT

Iniquities and injustices in the world are legion. For thousands of years, since the first appearance of complex societies, rich and poor, powerful and powerless, exploiters and exploited have lived side by side. Biology further contributes to human inequality: some are born with genes that make them strong and beautiful, others weak and plain, or worse, susceptible to crippling diseases. Awareness of these differences in the human condition makes the more conscientious among us despair, for whereas we can, through great effort, make adjustments, shocking inequalities remain. Religion may console us by saying that although all too often bad people prosper and good people suffer, nevertheless, on God’s ledger, the good do or will inherit the earth.