Interfaith Group

butI suggest that "justice" here may have a closer relationship to the meaning of the Latin justitia and Sanskrit dharma than it does to the modern English concept of reward and punishment conveyed by current usage of the word.

Justitia, dharma, Greek dike and Native American terms such as mitake ouyasin all refer to a state of right relationship not only wiithin society but between the natural and human worlds. (Native American thought does not distinguish between the two.) I think it's fsirly clear that such a state would be "nearer to. righteousness," especially for a people living in a delicately balanced dedert or semi-desert environment.