And God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
genesis 1:27
while this blog devoted itself to the ten commandments, the book of genesis is credited with transforming the world to be the one in which we currently reside. in the introduction to adam, eve, and the serpent, scholar elaine pagels wrote “in 1776 the authors of the declaration of independence invoked the biblical account of creation to declare that “we hold these truths self evident, that all men are created equal…”-an idea so familiar that we may have difficulty seeing that it is empirically unprovable; aristotle, among others, would have considered it absurd.”
ms. pagels’ observation extrapolated leads us to ask: “do we appreciate the fact that we live in a society that accepts genesis’ notion that all people are created equal?”
equality runs afoul with that of equity. it is contended that the creator of the universe in genesis did not create humans in equity. rather, the only part of human equity within genesis was mortality.
in genesis, the equity was quickly addressed in the tragic tale of cain and abel. the brothers’ conflict stemmed from choice of vocation combined with intellect. abel, unlike cain, produced product and delivered the best of it to his most important customer- god. abel’s effort and his wisdom gave rise to his favorability. cain, who lacked such effort, did not find favor.
societally, we struggle with whether “we should act in a manner in which we consider that all people are created equal?” likewise, we ask the orwellian question whether “some people more equal than others?” the consequence of this animal farm inspired question can be seen in india’s manipur province. tribalism’s consequences has led to violence. as noted in reuters, “the clashes in the state bordering myanmar began when the kuki tribal group clashed with a non-tribal group, the ethnic majority meitei, over sharing economic benefits and quotas given to the tribes.”
beyond skewing equality, equity is another societal driver. “should all people be entitled to the same results in their lives?” or “should people’s actions and decisions factor in their successes and failures?” “should there be a meritocracy?”
in the end, segments of humanity are battling out whether equality or equity should rule the day. arguably, the account in genesis does not find favor in an equitable society.
be well!!
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