The Book of Genesis makes four major, interpenetrating affirmations that provide the ultimate basis for social justice: It affirms that God made all people equal in dignity and rights; that the earth and everything in it belongs equally to everyone; that all human beings, equally, are co-responsible with God in helping to protect the dignity of everybody and everything; and that the physical earth itself has rights and needs to be respected in and of itself, and not just as a stage for human activity.
