iii.The basis of equality

On what basis can people be held to be equal? Consider part of the United States Declaration of Independence (1776):

“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all [people] are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

We’ll return to the matter of theology – the mention of ‘their Creator’- shortly, but first what is the status of something that is ‘self-evident’? Does it not suggest, in fact, the presence of something quite hard to defend? Something that reason struggles to fully justify?

While equality can be asserted, the one measurable and observable – that is empirical – truth is the differences between people. Physically, mentally, spiritually, people differ. Thus the statement of equality is, strictly speaking, a metaphysical one that lies beyond empirical demonstration. More, within a secular viewpoint, in remains entirely unclear where such a non-empirical principle could be grounded beyond pure assertion, or perhaps, as the parasitic echo of a formerly theological perspective.

One could attempt to ground equality in something held in common by all persons, some shared quality of possession. What might this be? That we share but one earth and are part of the same evolutionary process? But so do all other species on earth, living and extinct. That we possess certain distinctive abilities such as reason and speech? But then what of individuals sadly deprived of these abilities?

Equality is, perhaps, best thought of as a gift to be accepted rather than a possession to be demonstrated. That is, as something that transcends every human person. And here this perspective opens onto theological territory. For Christians (and all theists), the gift of equality can be grounded (as does the Declaration of Independence) in the gift of existence received from God, as those who bear the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26) – though this does need careful framing if it is not to do ecological harm (for example that we image a God who, in Christ, is prepared to sacrifice himself for the sake of the other). Further, the gift of equality might be grounded in the way in which Jesus Christ lived, died, rose, ascended and now lives to intercede for all. That is, in a key phrase from Vatican II, that all people have a ‘vocation to salvation’ (Vatican II).