Evident?

I think it was repeated previews of Milk showing Sean Penn at a rally shouting something about all men being created equal that led me to think about it more than I normally have.

Then there was the Ledbetter bill that increases the equality of pay, and Colbert's subsequent take on it that because it helps women more than men it only perpetuates inequality.

I don't know if the Declaration of Independence was the first utterance or publishment of the concept, but I don't think I believe that all men were created equal. Nor do I find it to be a truth that is self-evident. This doesn't mean that I don't believe there should be equal opportunity, or that we aren't all equal under the law. But I believe some are created to take better advantage of their equal opportunity.

Part of my tongue-in-cheek/grain-of-truth explanation to my coworkers is that Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin may have written that all men are created equal, but owning and sleeping with slaves, and paying French women for sex doesn't jibe as much. Then there's the recent book by Henry Louis Suchandsuch called Lincoln on Race and Slavery that talks about Lincoln's early views against interracial marriage.

The concept of equality is fundamental to democracy, but wasn't it just freemen (franklin is another word for a freeman by the way) and land owners that got the vote in Athens' earliest democracy in occidental civilization?

The Bible says in Christ there is neither Greek nor Jew, but that is only "in Christ." Last I checked there are a lot of people that aren't in Christ, and a Jew in Christ isn't really a Jew, are they? And also I want to mention the opinion of many that there is plenty of stratification of the ol' Body of Christ.

So are men created equal? And if they aren't, is that bad?

I also finally have my HD and DVR receiver, so I'm very happy with that and looking forward to my first weekend to catchup on all I have waiting for me.