America and Equality

Over the 9/11 week, I heard many people talk about America from many different perspectives. At Mass, my priest said that America, while imperfect, is based on Judeo-Christian virtues and is the greatest country in the world, primarily for our freedom and our Judeo-Christian virtues. I have three problems with this.

For one, America is good, but it is still just a secular nation - it is not the Kingdom of Heaven, not the Church, and it has never been specifically based on Judeo-Christian values. Almost every politician in American history, from Thomas Jefferson to John F. Kennedy, have either been irreligious, or have made a strict effort to distinguish their religion and their political views. Like all other nations throughout history, our nation was founded and built on brutality - genocide of the Native Americans, slavery of Africans, a near-constant war against another nation, and one of the worst Civil Wars in history.

For two, I cannot see how our nation is built on Judeo-Christian values. If we even take just the Ten Commandments, which many American Christians feel should be in government buildings. Which of their prohibitions are actually followed by US law? Is it illegal to blaspheme against God, to lie, to commit adultery, to have other gods besides the God? No - none of these are illegal. If American law was compared to ancient Roman law, it would be little different. We follow a type of common good based on two things: group consensus (the basis of democracy), and the idea that whatever you would not want done to you should be made illegal for everyone. These combine to form US law. Our law is no more based on this than any other European or Europe-derived nation, the vast majority of which do not use any Christian teaching as a legal basis and often go against Christian teaching, such as with the legalization of abortion, pornography, gay marriage, euthanasia, etc., particularly those Christian churches that still follow biblical and traditional morals. Furthermore, American capitalism is far from the promotion of charity which Christ taught; instead, it fosters cutthroat competition, ruthless ambition, and "capitalizing" on every chance to make more money. This is not Christian.

For three, I cannot see how freedom is the greatest part of America, but this is because I believe freedom is just an expression of the true greatest virtue of America, what truly distinguishes it from other nations, particularly in its early history. This is a virtue we have had to fight for over time, but it was apart of our original national documents and has been a guiding principle throughout our history.

This virtue is equality.

"All men are created equal." Now, as I said, we've had to enforce this in different ways over time, such as by legalizing women voting, banning slavery, giving equal rights for all races and sexual orientations, etc. But the "freedom" of America, such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of business, etc., all derive from the idea that all people are equal. These freedoms did not exist in previous nations because those nations believed certain people, whether royalty, nobility, aristocracy, etc. were superior to others and thus had more privileges, including the privilege to restrict the rights of others. Equality is the greatest American virtue, and I believe in modern times, precisely in the attempt to increase equality, Americans are running to risk of violating it by restricting people's religion by forcing people to perform abortion, gay marriages, etc. Religion is now coming to be viewed as a violation of equality and freedom, when upholding religion is integral to upholding these virtues. Furthermore, by legalizing abortion and other evils, the government is treating the lives of unborn babies, who are just as human as anyone else, as inferior and unequal to those of adults, just as euthanasia devalues the lives of medical patients, assisted suicide devalues the lives of those in sufficient emotional turmoil to desire suicide, etc. Peace is a noble aim of government, but it cannot be preferred over justice, truth, equality or freedom, without letting in evil ideologies such as fascism.

I pray that America may be safe and stay true not only to its own values, but to a deeper appreciation of the rights and values of all human beings. God bless.