EQUALITY AND DIFFERENCE
The
Catholic Church’s teaching on the equal dignity of all human beings has strong
biblical foundations, beginning with the two creation accounts in the Bible’s first
chapters. In the first account the
sacred author writes, “God created man in his image; in the divine image he
created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). Both are created in his image. In the second account Adam at first is alone,
but God sees that this is not good and causes Adam to fall asleep. He takes a rib from Adam’s side and forms Eve
from it. This indicates that they share
the same Creator and the same human nature.
They are suited to one another as equals. Adam joyfully professes: “This one, at last,
is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh” and they join together to form “one
flesh” (Gen 2:23 & 24).
The
original unity was undone by the introduction of sin into the world. Soon, brother kills brother (Cain vs. Abel)
and eventually the human race is divided by language as the consequence of challenging
God by building the Tower of Babel. But God
intervenes to bring them back into fellowship with him by choosing to make a
covenant with Abraham and his offspring.
An oath is made that Abraham and Sarah’s descendants, through the line
of Isaac and Jacob, whose name God changed to “Israel,” would become God’s
special people, his very own. The purpose
of this election is to eventually bring all of humanity back into fellowship
with God, with Israel as God’s instrument for achieving this end. God covenants with Abraham and swears that “in
your descendants all the nations of the earth will find blessing.” The promise is reaffirmed throughout
Abraham’s life (see Gen 12:3, 18:18, 22:18 & 26:4) and the Jewish people
never forget it, despite Israel’s rocky history of fidelity and infidelity to
the covenant.
God’s
promise to bless all the nations through Israel was fulfilled “in the fullness
of time” when God became man in the Blessed Virgin Mary (Galatians 4:4). With the coming of Christ, it is now clear
that all people share an equal dignity and have equal value on two accounts:
they have the same Creator who made each of them in his image and
likeness; and they have a common Redeemer who died so that all people might
be saved (John 3:16). The early Church
rejected any kind of discrimination based on ancestral heritage or national
origin. For example, when false apostles
were trying to introduce divisions between Jews and Gentiles in the Christian
community in Galatia, St. Paul vehemently opposed them in his letter to the
Galatians: “For through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ
have clothed yourselves with Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person,
there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, you are
Abraham’s descendant, heirs according to the promises” (Galatians 3:26-29). The promise to Abraham is perfectly fulfilled;
he is now the father of all who have faith in Christ, both Jew and Gentile (cf.
Romans 4:16).
Once
we understand the essential equality of all human beings, we can appreciate our
differences and benefit from them. The
Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “talents are not distributed
equally” (#1936) and that “These differences belong to God’s plan, who wills
that each receive what he needs from others, and that those endowed with
particular ‘talents’ share the benefits with those who need them. These differences encourage and often oblige
persons to practice hospitality, kindness, and sharing of goods; they foster
the mutual enrichment of culture” (#1937).
Since all people of every race, nation and language are endowed with a
rational soul and have the same nature and origin, and since all are redeemed
by the sacrifice of the one and only Savior, Jesus Christ, and since all are
willed by God to share the same eternal glory with Him, there is surely no place
for prejudice in the Church, or in the world, against a person due to his or
her race, sex or national origin. Any
such prejudice is an offense against God.
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