Abstract

All adult humans commit actual sin. Humans also have a proneness to sin, original sinfulness, inherited from a first sinner whom we may call Adam. Adam's responsibility for our sinfulness is confined to his beginning the social transmission of a morality that conflicts with our desires, and a sinful example that encouraged us to act against that morality. We are not guilty for Adam's original sin, but we owe it to Adam and all our fellow humans to help them to make atonement for their sins.