Equality ≠ Sameness

Ben Shapiro, Bin Laden, women in ministry, and our rational atrophy

Nov 29, 2023

As our culture descends into moral anarchy, our ability to think is rapidly evaporating. A prime suspect is the conflation of two words: equality and sameness. Once you notice it, you begin to see it everywhere. Like a frequency illusion minus the illusion. From discussions about men and women in the family, church or workplace, to contentious geopolitical events like the Israel Hamas war. The first casualty of losing our ability to think, is our ability to make categorical distinctions in general. This was made clear recently when Piers Morgan asked British leftist Jeremy Corbyn “are Hamas terrorists?” 17 times, only to get zero answers. This left many wondering, if Hamas is not a terrorist group, then who is? It seems we are losing our grip.

This problem was on full display during a recent interview with Ben Shapiro at Oxford. During a contentious back and forth, the interviewer challenged Shapiro on his feelings about the death of innocent Palestinian children, she said “I tried to find videos of you condemning the deaths of innocent Palestinian civilians at the hands of the IDF or Israel, but I couldn’t find any. So, I want to ask you directly will you condemn the deaths of innocent Palestinian civilians in the same way that you do innocent Israeli ones?” (emphasis mine). Notice the clear semantic fusion of equality and sameness. To the interviewer, if the lives of both Israeli and Palestinian children are truly equal then Shapiro must be upset about them “…in the same way”. Shapiro rightfully replied, “Absolutely not.” and after a few shrieks from the audience, he was able to continue “The reason I will not is because the killing is not done in the same way or with the same purpose.” Of course, this is correct. For the vast majority of people, all children involved in this conflict are seen as equals, as all humans are equal in value and dignity. And their deaths are unthinkably devastating in the most tragic sense. However, to expect Shapiro or anyone to be upset about the death of Israeli and Palestinian children “in the same way” is preposterous. The death of a baby who is cooked in an oven by a terrorist is categorically different than the death of a baby who is killed from an air strike on an apartment building that is illegally being used as a Hamas terrorist base. The babies’ lives are equal in value, but we should not be outraged by their deaths “in the same way.” This is a weak and intellectually dangerous way to think, and in this case, it only serves as fuel for pro-terrorist sentiment around the world.

The recent resurfacing and infatuation with Osama bin Laden’s 2002 “Letter to America” was also revealing. The resurfacing was then followed by thousands of tik toks and hundreds of thousands of trending tweets from the woke elect, expressing a sympathetic posture towards Bin Laden. After reading the letter, these newly enlightened ones proclaimed that we “have to hand it to him” and that they would “never look at the world or this country the same ever again”. Aristotle once wrote, "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." The opposite is equally true and terrifying to witness in real time. One could say “It is the mark of an uneducated mind, to be unable to entertain a thought without accepting it.” But here we are. One should not have to be told to consider as they read Bin Laden’s letter, that he was a terrorist and a completely manipulative and unreliable source of information. One should not have to explain how a terrorist is categorically different from a legitimate soldier in a military. Soldiers typically wear uniforms, attack other military sites, engage other armed soldiers, and avoid civilians. But when you don’t know how to think, all of these distinctions vaporize into a mush of sameness. And then, all of a sudden, anyone can be a terrorist.

It’s also worth pointing out that this group of newly enlightened Bin Laden sympathizers are of the same group that have declared Christian nationalism to be a grave domestic threat. So, it goes like this: Christian nationalism? Definitely a threat to democracy. Sympathizing with radical Islamic terrorist groups who want Sharia law for the entire globe? Probably ok, right?

The conflation of equality and sameness is also clearly displayed in the emerging conversation about men and women in the church. For example, my denomination (CMA, Christian Missionary Alliance) recently voted to ordain women and allow women on staff to be called “pastors”. I don’t have the time or space here to parse out the complexities of this move by the CMA, however as I read, it became clear that this confusing of equality and sameness was an identifiable presence at the conference. Here is a quote from a Christianity Today article about the CMA conference where this vote took place. The writer speaking from the perspective of women who are “consecrated” (female version of ordained) said “Explaining the distinctive Alliance terminology gets in the way of doing ministry, a number of CMA women said. Worse, it seems to diminish their calling.” (emphasis mine). There it is. Distinction=Diminishment. If the calling, position, or language for women in ministry is distinct from men, then it denotes a sense of diminishment in value. In other words, if we are equal, then we must be the same.

This blurring of equality and sameness appears to have fully metastasized in the western mind; our rational faculties have atrophied. We are witnessing the great flattening of all thought, and in turn, the world.

We must relearn how to think. And a good first step is to relearn that equality does not equal sameness. Here is an illustration. Let’s say you are looking to purchase a house and are considering two different properties; one is a large beautiful cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains. It has several bedrooms and bathrooms, a gorgeous view of the mountain range and a small stream that runs through the property. The other property is a 600 square foot, newly renovated studio apartment in a trendy neighborhood near the upper east side of Manhattan. Just one small but beautiful room in one of the most sought-after locations in the world. Both properties could be valued at the exact same dollar amount, but of course they are very different in almost every other way: location, size, purpose, function. They are equal in value, but not remotely the same.

We seem to live in a world of growing contradiction. We buy more books than we ever have but we read less. There are more cooking shows on TV than ever before, but we cook less. We are more “connected” to each other through social media, but lonelier than ever. We have a world of information right inside of our pockets, but we are losing our rational faculties.

What is the answer? I saw a meme the other day that read “Greatest act of rebellion in 2023: start a family and go to church”. The deeper truth of this meme struck me a few years ago, and I have spoken with many Christian parents who feel the same. One answer can be found in an unlikely place, fake money. Reformed Christian blogger Tim Challies wrote a post years ago called “Counterfeit Detection”, I want to steal a quote from his article about how the federal government trains their agents to identify counterfeit bills, “Federal agents don’t learn to spot counterfeit money by studying the counterfeits. They study genuine bills until they master the look of the real thing. Then when they see the bogus money, they recognize it.” It is becoming more difficult to live faithfully in a culture that fundamentally rejects the natural, moral order of the universe. The sea change in language and behavior is happening at warp speed. But we don’t have to be experts in the counterfeits. What we can do is go to church, pray, read and study our bibles and become experts in what is true. What we can do is relearn how to think. We can then teach our children the Word and catechize them. We can teach them over and over again what is real and true, so when the time comes, they can spot a fake. We can teach them how to think.

G.K. Lewiston

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