My first reaction to James Reston's remarks is to marvel at their naiveté Here is an exceedingly sophisticated working journalist, the author of that extraordinary series on Mao's China who conducted a brilliant interview with Chou, indulging himself in a banal sadness. So I would respond initially by saying "of course."

Of course history is and has been immoral. It has always been the scene of self-interested conflicts between classes and nations. Of course people of religious faith kill one another, usually reserving the greatest enthusiasm for a slaughter conducted in the name of different interpretations of the same God, as in Ulster, but also avenging one deity against another, as in West Pakistan's genocidal attack on the Hindu minority of Bangladesh. I would add only that these theologically inspired enormities are usually based upon a substratum of class or national interest too.