Reflections on Equality
We hear much about equality these days. Equality for gays, marriage equality, income equality, education equality, gender equality, racial equality, etc. The challenge is that as soon as someone says they are for equality, the implication is that there are others who are opposed to equality, and that equality is a goal not yet achieved.
For example, take the issue of racial equality. When someone says they are for racial equality, the implication is that there are others who are opposed to the idea, and that racial equality is not yet a reality. But when you get down to specifics, it is difficult to find anyone today who is against racial equality, and there are certainly no laws in existence that are against racial equality. This is why the Black Lives Matter group is amusing if not annoying. Everyone agrees that black lives matter (perhaps with the exception of other black people and abortion rights activists). Black Lives Matter is a solution without a problem.
And when someone objects to a true inequality in our society, the implication is that a thing that is not legally equal is actually equal and therefore should be treated equally under the law. For example, when someone argues for marriage equality (the debate continues, even after Obergefell), the implication is that gay marriage is actually equal to traditional marriage, and therefore should be made equal under the law. But is it true that gay marriage is actually equal to traditional marriage? It is certainly a very new idea. And was it right for the Supreme Court to force that opinion on the entire country, rather than allowing people to decide democratically? Four of the nine justices didn't think so.
Missing from the conversation about equality is the definition of equality. We can't fight for equality until we know what it is. The Founders stated that "all men are created equal" in the Declaration of Independence. That is a Christian idea. All people are created in the image of God, are equally loved by God, and therefore have equal value and should be treated equally under the law. It is for this reason that slavery and racial segregation were justly opposed.
However, what the phrase "all men are created equal" does not mean is perhaps more important to today's discussion. Equality does not mean that all ideas are equally true. It does not not mean that all forms of government, or all economic systems are equally effective. Nor does it mean that all behaviors are equally virtuous. Equality does not mean that all relationships are equally good, or that all attractions or sexual orientations are equally moral. Equality does not mean that every answer is equally correct, or that every student deserves an equal grade. Equality does not mean that every athlete deserves equal recognition. Equality does not mean that every person should receive an equal income, or live in identical homes, or drive the same cars. And as much as Bernie and Hillary seem to love equality, even they know that it doesn't mean every politician should receive equal votes, or be given equal power.
And that's where there is a clash in our culture. One group wants to force another group to treat as equal two things that are not equal at all. And if you don't jump on the equality train, then you are labeled as an enemy of equal rights. Those fighting for "marriage equality" and "equality for gays" don't merely want the freedom to carry out their homosexual desires; they want to force everyone else to treat gay marriage as if it is equal to traditional marriage. But the two are not equal -- not morally, spiritually, sexually, or in any other way.
Equality, as the Declaration defines it, is something worth fighting for (equal rights for the preborn, for example), but all things aren't equal. And when the government tries to force on its citizens a definition of equality that does not conform to Nature or Nature's God, a definition of equality that is not self-evident, then it ceases to secure the rights of its citizens and becomes a force for injustice. This was the case when the government treated two things that were equal -- a white man and a black man -- as unequal. And it is true today as the government is treating two things that are unequal -- gay marriage and traditional marriage -- as equal. And that is why we are now seeing peaceful and virtuous citizens like the Kleins, Stutzman, and Cochran treated like villains by their own government.
Today there is a need for a new movement -- a movement that fights for inequality -- the right to continue to treat things that are unequal as unequal.
For example, take the issue of racial equality. When someone says they are for racial equality, the implication is that there are others who are opposed to the idea, and that racial equality is not yet a reality. But when you get down to specifics, it is difficult to find anyone today who is against racial equality, and there are certainly no laws in existence that are against racial equality. This is why the Black Lives Matter group is amusing if not annoying. Everyone agrees that black lives matter (perhaps with the exception of other black people and abortion rights activists). Black Lives Matter is a solution without a problem.
And when someone objects to a true inequality in our society, the implication is that a thing that is not legally equal is actually equal and therefore should be treated equally under the law. For example, when someone argues for marriage equality (the debate continues, even after Obergefell), the implication is that gay marriage is actually equal to traditional marriage, and therefore should be made equal under the law. But is it true that gay marriage is actually equal to traditional marriage? It is certainly a very new idea. And was it right for the Supreme Court to force that opinion on the entire country, rather than allowing people to decide democratically? Four of the nine justices didn't think so.
Missing from the conversation about equality is the definition of equality. We can't fight for equality until we know what it is. The Founders stated that "all men are created equal" in the Declaration of Independence. That is a Christian idea. All people are created in the image of God, are equally loved by God, and therefore have equal value and should be treated equally under the law. It is for this reason that slavery and racial segregation were justly opposed.
However, what the phrase "all men are created equal" does not mean is perhaps more important to today's discussion. Equality does not mean that all ideas are equally true. It does not not mean that all forms of government, or all economic systems are equally effective. Nor does it mean that all behaviors are equally virtuous. Equality does not mean that all relationships are equally good, or that all attractions or sexual orientations are equally moral. Equality does not mean that every answer is equally correct, or that every student deserves an equal grade. Equality does not mean that every athlete deserves equal recognition. Equality does not mean that every person should receive an equal income, or live in identical homes, or drive the same cars. And as much as Bernie and Hillary seem to love equality, even they know that it doesn't mean every politician should receive equal votes, or be given equal power.
And that's where there is a clash in our culture. One group wants to force another group to treat as equal two things that are not equal at all. And if you don't jump on the equality train, then you are labeled as an enemy of equal rights. Those fighting for "marriage equality" and "equality for gays" don't merely want the freedom to carry out their homosexual desires; they want to force everyone else to treat gay marriage as if it is equal to traditional marriage. But the two are not equal -- not morally, spiritually, sexually, or in any other way.
Equality, as the Declaration defines it, is something worth fighting for (equal rights for the preborn, for example), but all things aren't equal. And when the government tries to force on its citizens a definition of equality that does not conform to Nature or Nature's God, a definition of equality that is not self-evident, then it ceases to secure the rights of its citizens and becomes a force for injustice. This was the case when the government treated two things that were equal -- a white man and a black man -- as unequal. And it is true today as the government is treating two things that are unequal -- gay marriage and traditional marriage -- as equal. And that is why we are now seeing peaceful and virtuous citizens like the Kleins, Stutzman, and Cochran treated like villains by their own government.
Today there is a need for a new movement -- a movement that fights for inequality -- the right to continue to treat things that are unequal as unequal.
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