Equality

I read the Pope's speech the LD posted last time. And I also read some press comments on it.

Now, it seems that in the background of the Pope's address to the bishops of England and Wales, inviting them to make their voice heard in the public square, there is the equality bill, in which it is stated the British legislation against discrimination.

Funny, why should the Catholic Church be in favor of discrimination?

Actually, this is one of those cases in which we find ourselves dealing with the neo-language of the Brave New World (if I remember correctly the quote, or was it 1984?): i.e. with a total twisting of the meaning of words.

Question: is discrimination wrong?

Answer: yes, if it is a wrong discrimination.

To discriminate means to be able to judge what is what. So, to be able to discriminate is a good thing: not to take one thing for another.

Why is it then that discrimination has become a bad word? Easy, because the neo-language rests on the assumption that there is nothing to discriminate: that all is equal, and mostly so human beings.

In the neo-language equality is presented absolute as the criterion of justice. And though, it can be so profoundly unjust.

Of course we hold this truth as self-evident, that "all men are created equal". But this means that they are equal in as far as they are all God's creatures, therefore equally endowed with the inalienable rights to "live, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Never to be forgotten. If we discriminate on this regard, we are profoundly unjust.

But human beings are also very different among themselves, starting from that strange reality that makes them "he" or "she", changing according to age. If justice requires to treat them for what they are, it is injustice to treat them equally where they are different.

It would be like the bed of Procustes: the character of Greek mythology known for wanting to make people fit the right measure, given by his bed; so, if they were too long he cut them to fit it, if too short he stretched them.

This is what happens when we don't believe in God anymore, but still hold to the principle of equality.

Consider what happens if we grant to the state unlimited power of legislating:

if by an act of legislation what is different may be declared equal, then what is equal may also be declared different.

It's like a riddle, and I invite you to give the solution, guessing what I am thinking about with the two cases.

HP