Interesting. But I wasn't talking primarily about religion (and what I did have to say was about specific religions, not "Religion" as a whole) you were talking about how long its been that life has sucked for the majority. You said it was "Ever since man began to write and erect cities."

I countered that it's been since the creation of social stratification (or structural violence). It's not necessarily extreme hierarchies (depending on your definition), but it is sharply defined hierarchies, and very big hierarchies when you get to a national scale, even a small nation.

And for whatever reason, with hierarchies on that scale, life tends to suck the lower down the ladder you go. Interestingly enough, it isn't necessarily that great for those towards the top, either. This describes pretty much every society currently on Earth.