The Pursuit of Equality

NO ONE likes to feel inferior. “I am as good as the next man” is a common saying. Do we not find an air of superiority distasteful? Basically, it is reassuring to feel equal to others. However, it is easier to think and talk about equality than to attain it, as many have experienced. Consider this example.

In 1776 the English colonies in North America asserted their claim to self-government. Their famed Declaration of Independence proclaimed among “truths to be self-evident” that “all men are created equal.” They further declared that it was the right of all citizens to enjoy “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

At the time that the 13 colonies broke from Britain, their population was about three million. Of these, more than half a million were slaves. It took almost a hundred years to abolish slavery in the United States of America. Thomas Jefferson, a prime mover behind the Declaration, remained a slave owner throughout his life. The aims of that Declaration were noble, yet time was needed for even part of such fundamental equality to be realized.

Around the earth many still lack much freedom, or they suffer discrimination. Realizing this, various individuals devote their lives to trying to remove all sorts of injustices and inequalities. One recent United Nations publication on the subject of freedom refers more than a dozen times to being equal and to the need of equality. Evidently it is still an elusive goal. Why?

The problem is that equality has many facets and is not an easy thing to define. People look for equality in different ways, depending on their circumstances. To what extent, then, can it be said that men are equal? What may we reasonably expect, both now and in the future, as to equality with our fellowman?

Equality​—How Real Today?

A prince and a pauper may be born in the same city on the same day, but the silver spoon of wealth and privilege will likely favor the one just as poverty will affect the other. This is just one aspect that shows why it cannot be said that all people today are born equal.

Much depends upon the community in which we live and the degrees of equality it has developed over the years. The Encyclopædia Britannica sums it up nicely:

“All societies necessarily make arrangements for the sharing of wealth, power, and other values. Among individuals and groups these arrangements exhibit all degrees of equality and inequality.”

In any community, every individual has something to give that is unique to him. Some have thus sought to draw on the individual talents and abilities of all and equitably to distribute wealth and the means of production. Hence the communistic dictum: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” Also: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his work.” Despite the seeming appeal of such philosophies, though, inequalities persist under all human governmental systems.

The fact is that, rather than advancing the cause of equality, some political systems have sought to capitalize on supposed racial inequalities. Recall the Nazi emphasis on a “master race.” Yet the existence of any master race has long since been discredited. Aside from evident differences in physical characteristics, “the possible existence of true racial differences in behaviour and intelligence becomes difficult to establish,” to quote again from the Encyclopædia Britannica. Such racial equality is basic.

Education and Ability

Education can be a great equalizer when its facilities are readily available, but it does not always work out that way. In many countries, hard-earned money still must be paid for even the most rudimentary aspects of learning.

For example, in one country of the southern hemisphere, only 20 percent of the people are literate. It is not uncommon there to find a family in which the two oldest children are reasonably well educated but the rest receive no education at all, simply because the family budget will not allow for it. Other developing countries face similar problems.

This situation tends to sustain inequality because, in our modern society, possible advancement is economically weighted in favor of the educated. Still, degrees from some universities are more sought after than those from others because the former carry greater prestige. So education is by no means the final answer to today’s problem of inequality.

Fundamental Rights

Genetic factors may determine that humans can never be identical in every respect, yet do you not agree that in certain fundamentals equality should exist? Would not mankind be much better off if progress could be made in these areas:

RACIAL EQUALITY: How can we ever overcome the stigma so often attached by one race or class to another? Resentments go deep and cause many problems. What can be done to ensure the treatment of individuals as equals, according them the dignity they deserve?

FOOD: When you see pictures of starving children and read of the millions who die each year of malnutrition or its related illnesses, how do you react? It is well established that there could be enough food for the world’s population. Why, then, should there not be a more equitable distribution of it to alleviate such suffering?

WORK: Unemployment can bring heartache and frustration​—even suicide. Is it not possible for all to be gainfully employed? Can there not be equal opportunity of work for all?

EDUCATION: Should not all individuals have access at least to basic education, so that illiteracy could be eliminated? Rather than tending to increase the differences between classes (‘the rich getting richer and the poor, poorer’), could not education help to improve the condition of all? That would especially prove to be so if education covered more than technical matters, if it included morality and principles for quality human relations.

Certainly, you will agree that the pursuit of equality has a long way to go!

All Men Are Equal​—How?

IS IT possible for men and women of all nations to view one another as equals​—and act accordingly? Not if the present world order is anything to go by. Yet we can take heart that it is possible. Why? Because there are millions of Christians who have proved it to be so.

It is well known that true Christianity has been linked with equality. For example, the apostle Paul wrote: “We are no longer Jews or Greeks or slaves or free men or even merely men or women, but we are all the same​—we are Christians.” (Galatians 3:28, The Living Bible) But was this just idealistic talk? How did it work out in practice for the early Christians living in a world rife with inequalities?

Much has been written of the tremendous impact that the early Christians made upon the world of their time as they developed the brotherhood taught by Jesus Christ. Eberhard Arnold says in his book The Early Christians After the Death of the Apostles:

“The equal esteem in which the Christians held all their fellow-men as brothers, sharing the same judgment and the same call as themselves, resulted in equality and fellowship in all things. This equal esteem resulted in the equal title of all, the equal obligation to work, and equal opportunity in life for all. . . . The mutual esteem in which the Christians of that time held each other resulted in a social solidarity, which was founded on love, on a basis of complete equality of birth.”

What a splendid testimony to a God-given unity!

Equals in a United Body

Individuals in the early Christian congregation had various natural abilities and capacities. Some may have excelled in music, while others had better memories or stronger muscles. Aside from such variety, the holy spirit imparted differing gifts and abilities, though these complemented one another. Paul could thus write: “For just as the body is one but has many members, and all the members of that body, although being many, are one body, so also is the Christ. For truly by one spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free.” (1 Corinthians 12:11-13) All were preachers, even though there was rich variety in the “gifts in men,” as those who shepherded the congregation were prophetically described.​—Ephesians 4:8; Psalm 68:18.

The overseers were spiritually mature and called e·piʹsko·poi in Greek. Writing of the related verb e·pi·sko·peʹo (to take oversight), W. E. Vine states: “The word does not imply the entrance upon such responsibility, but the fulfilment of it. It is not a matter of assuming a position, but of the discharge of the duties.” Working along with these appointed overseers were di·aʹko·noi, a Greek word translated “ministers,” “ministerial servants,” or “deacons.” W. E. Vine says that this word “primarily denotes a servant, whether as doing servile work, or as an attendant rendering free service, without particular reference to its character.” For either office, the privileges of service were the main thing. The position was not emphasized, for as worshipers of God they had equality and were all his servants.

Although Jesus chose 12 men to be his apostles, women also enjoyed association with him. They were very active, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna being specifically spoken of as ministering to Jesus. Women, too, received the gifts of the holy spirit at Pentecost 33 C. E. They were thus able publicly to talk in foreign tongues and witness about the truths of their Christian faith. Christian sisters, however, did not take the lead in teaching in the congregations, but they shared along with the brothers in publicly preaching God’s Word.​—Luke 8:1-3; Acts 1:14; 2:17, 18; 18:26.

On a more personal level, too, the Christians set a precedent in helping one another. For example, when visitors to Jerusalem came in contact with the miraculous work of the apostles at the time of Pentecost 33 C.E., they stayed longer than they had intended and ran short of both food and money. Yet the Scripture record states: “There was not one in need among them; for all those who were possessors of fields or houses would sell them and bring the values of the things sold” for free distribution under the apostles’ direction. What a fine spirit, revealing the love and equality of those first Christians to be a practical reality! It could be said that “they had all things in common.”​—Acts 4:32, 34, 35.

Practical Equality Today

Amid the divisions and social structures of the world today, attempting to imitate those early Christians is not easy. But to do so has always been a goal of Jehovah’s Witnesses. That they have had considerable success is apparent. The Encyclopedia Canadiana observes:

“The work of Jehovah’s Witnesses is the revival and re-establishment of the primitive Christianity practised by Jesus and his disciples during the first and second centuries of our era. . . . All are brothers.”

Just as it did 1,900 years ago, this Christian brotherhood today gives practical aid in times of trouble. When, in November 1980, parts of Italy were rocked by a severe earthquake, the first truckload of supplies prepared by the Witnesses arrived in the stricken area the same evening. An official report reads:

“The brothers were amazed at how quickly the necessary help arrived. We immediately set up our own kitchen from which food cooked by sisters was distributed to the brothers every day. The other inhabitants of the town had yet to receive assistance and were doing the best they could for themselves. Of course, the brothers were not selfish, and food was shared with many non-Witnesses.”

Following the death of Swaziland’s King Sobhuza II in August 1982, Jehovah’s Witnesses, because they would not share in traditional religious mourning customs, were subjected to persecutions. In Britain two Witnesses, one white and the other black, made joint representation to the local Swaziland High Commission in seeking to alleviate the situation. After listening for a while, the Swazi official turned to the black Witness, a well-educated executive, and asked: “But why are you here?” Came the reply: “Because I am concerned about the well-being of my Christian brothers in your country.” The official found it difficult to understand how such an affluent man could equate himself with Africans living in a country he had never even visited.

Why not attend a meeting at your local Kingdom Hall or a larger convention and see for yourself? You will find a society in which you are welcome whether young or old, rich or poor, whether you have had a college education or you have had no schooling at all. Each one is called brother or sister, and the individual is not measured by race, background, or secular position. Each is appreciated for his Christian personality and qualities.

With appointed elders and ministerial servants, the pattern of teaching is based on the structure of the first Christian congregation. And the meetings reflect equality, or harmony, earth wide. Commented one Church of England clergyman:

“Every meeting, whether formal or informal, is a meeting for intensive instruction. Members are expected to prepare for their Sunday meetings by reading through the Watchtower article, checking Bible references and working out answers to the questions of which they have advance knowledge. At the meetings themselves, there is good congregational participation. They are supported by the knowledge that the same teaching is being promulgated everywhere in the world at the same time.”

If you take this issue of The Watchtower with you to the local congregation on the dates listed on page 2, you will be able to follow such a discussion.

These discussions often embrace the hope of those in the congregation: life on a paradise earth where wars will cease and people will put their talents to constructive activity, truly enjoying “the work of their own hands.” All obedient humans will live under the rule of the Kingdom of God. Starvation will be gone as food in abundance is provided for all from a bountiful earth. The scourges of disease will also be things of the past, all of earth’s inhabitants enjoying equally the vitality of perfect health.​—Isaiah 2:4; 33:24; 65:22, 23; Zechariah 8:11, 12.

Yes, this Christian hope is real, as is the knowledge that the present structure of the Christian congregation will be carried through into the earthly Paradise. The solid foundation already laid for the complete removal of all class and national barriers will be enlarged. How can we be sure? Because the Bible foretells that Christians “out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues” will then continue their true worship of Jehovah God. They will have an equal standing before him. You and your family can be among them.​—Revelation 7:9, 10.

[Picture on page 7]

At meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses, you will observe equality