Yes, that's true, McGrath. However, haven't you noticed that even among dark-skinned peoples, the lighter toned ones often seem to assume that their are "higher class"? This could well be because higher class people in the older agrarian societies did not have to labour all day in the hot sun...therefore a lighter skin was indicative of being above the working class.

It's all about who has the power, and who doesn't. Teenagers and bored younger men in our affluent society will sometimes attack vagrants and street people and beat them up or terrorize them. Why? They perceive that their targets are "powerless" in society's terms. No money and no home = no power. Little money = little power.

People who resent their own perceived lack of power will often project that on to some target they see as less powerful than themselves. Matter of fact, that is what leads to almost all teenage bullying, in my opinion.

The basic human problems are things like greed, fear, jealousy, hatred, envy, and such negative emotions. Those put their stamp UPON religion, society, and politics.

Religion isn't the source of human emotional dysfunction. Human emotional dysfunction itself is the source of the frequent misuse and perversion of religion, politics, business, and everything else we choose to do with our time.