America at 250: All Are Created Equal

Genesis 1:26-28, Romans 8:18-21

What does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God? - Micah 6:8b

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. (Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776)

It was about a year ago that I set out the list of founding principles upon which to preach during the 250th anniversary of our country. At the time, these topics seemed rather straightforward and simple to preach, and I typed up some notes. Late Monday, I pulled them out and realized that today’s topic far outstrips what I could possibly address in a single sermon. In fact, I think it contains something of the glory of humankind and the tragic narrative that carries through all of history.

The foundation of our equality is given to us from the account of creation in Genesis. We are God’s creation. Because we are made by a holy and perfect God, we are endowed with worth. In fact, all of God’s creation has intrinsic value since God declares all of it “very good.”

But on its own this fact does not necessarily make all of God’s creation equal. It is also in Genesis that we learn something unique about humans; we were created in the image of God. Humans not only have the divine imprint as does all creation, but we have the divine within us, a holy spark, a spirit.

This realization was a great leap forward for humankind. Up to this point it was simply assumed that God liked some people more than others; that there were superior and inferior people.

Listen to a few of these quotes:

“From the hour of their birth, some are marked out for subjection, others for rule.” Aristotle — Politics, Book I

“The drunkard in the gutter is just where he ought to be.” — What Social Classes Owe to Each Other (1883) William Sumner

“If they are not sufficiently complete to live, they die, and it is best they should die.” Herbert Spencer— Social Statics (1851)

But Genesis tells us that every single human being to ever have lived has that holy spark. Furthermore, God has made each person not as from an assembly line. In Psalm 139 we hear, “you formed my inward parts… I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

This suggests that God crafts human beings with tender care. And the apostle Paul tells us each one of us is given a gift of the Spirit for the common good. We all have something important to contribute that is uniquely our own, and we all share a holy nature, and finally and most importantly, God thought each and every one of us was of sufficient worth to die for. “For God so loved the world!” John 3:16, and in Romans Paul declares, “one act of righteousness leads to justification for all.”

Indeed, all of us are created equal, but then the world works hard to change that. Even people of profound insight have failed to live into these truths. Jefferson himself called slavery a hideous blot and moral depravity but failed to free those 600 men and women he enslaved.

This is the internal struggle that we all have to a greater or lesser degree. As the Apostle Paul lamented: “For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:18-19)

“All are created equal.” While Jefferson claimed that this truth is self-evident, and I believe it is, what we mean by equal is much more complicated. Certainly, we are not all equal in ability, because if we were, I would be playing for the New York Knicks as their starting point guard or acting in the latest Mission: Impossible movie. We are not all equal in intellect, nor are we all equal in the station of life into which we enter.

The concept of equality is not simple or self-evident from the world in any empirical sense. In fact, it is the nebulous nature of it that enables the rational human mind to be taken over by its animal and sinful nature. And so we see, all throughout history, societies claiming their God-given rights in heroic determination. But all too often they become corrupted by power and consumed by revenge. The French Revolution became the Reign of Terror. The Russian worker emancipation became Stalinist totalitarianism. The Khmer Rouge of Cambodia sought agrarian equality and turned it into mass genocide.

What is needed, then, is a system of thought and a foundational undergirding that completely eliminates any patriarchal notion that people are better off being controlled by somebody else. And this not only applies to the heinous sin of slavery, but to virtually every interaction that we have on a daily basis with people.

The challenge is to take this notion of equality and embed practicality into our system of government. This was the intention of pastors like John Witherspoon in teaching James Madison moral and political philosophy.

It was the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, contemporary with the American Revolution, who I believe gives the strongest argument.

It is founded upon our uniqueness as a species. Animals can only act according to instinct and are governed by their natural impulses. But humans are endowed with reason; we can act contrary to our inclinations. Kant argues that our rational capacity gives us inherent dignity and intrinsic worth. And because of this (and this is the critical point), we can never have any moral justification for treating another person as a means to an end. People are ends in and of themselves.

This means not even lying to somebody, even if we think we’re trying to manipulate them into doing something that’s good for themselves, because it is robbing them of their own autonomy and stripping them of their dignity.

Since all are endowed with this unique capacity of rationality, we must have complete and utter freedom to exercise it.

This is the most powerful and dangerous gift God has given the human species: free will. With that free will we can do great evil. But without free will we cannot do good; we would only be animals acting on instinct. But free will gives us the chance to trust and to love.

This freedom is embedded in our constitution as Presbyterians: “God alone is Lord of the conscience and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men.” Each person must be free to choose faith or not.

This freedom and equality of persons has been embedded in our country through the First Amendment.

Since God has given us free will and rational capacity, we must have the right to exercise that through freedom to choose our religion, through freedom to vote, and through freedom to speak what is on our mind.

These are the foundational laws in our land that recognize the equality of persons. Thus, when we denied the vote to women, to the enslaved, and those without property,we failed to fully recognize their humanity and therefore their equality. These freedoms respect each person’s sacred spark and offer dignity through self-determination.

We know that God created all people equally and granted them the right to life,liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. As we look back on the history, we see that virtually every people that knew this not only moved us forward as a species but also held us back.

And it makes me wonder about our time. For surely, we’re not wiser than Thomas Jefferson, we don’t have keener insight than the apostle Paul, and most of us will never know the faithfulness of Abraham and Sarah.

We conclude this week the same place as last week. In light of the inherent worth of every single person, God calls us to action, and so we look to Jesus.

We look at His example that shows us how to treat others with dignity and respect.

You remember that tax collector, Zacchaeus; nobody liked tax collectors in those days. But Jesus gave him dignity by sitting at a table with him while acknowledging him as a fellow son of Abraham.

You remember that woman that the crowd wanted to stone for breaking the law; Jesus stepped in the middle, risking His own life to preserve hers.

You remember the Syrophoenician woman, a foreigner; she needed help for her daughter, and Jesus gave it.

All are created equal, all are cherished by God, and God gave each person freedom so that they would be free to love. Jesus showed us how to make these concepts reality. With God’s help, may we go out and do the same.

Amen.