People Are Not Morally Equal

If there is such a thing as a standard of right and wrong, then people can act in either a morally right or wrong way.  I hope that this is a fairly uncontroversial statement, since it is so deductively obvious.  What ultimately follows, though, has proven quite controversial when discussed in the past.  If people act in a morally wrong way without concern for their errors, then they choose to pursue a path that is morally inferior to the alternative pathway towards moral correctness.  This too, I hope, is obvious to my readers.

But if some courses of action and motivations are better than others, then it follows that those who actively seek the morally lesser ones are inferior to those who seek the opposite, since they intentionally choose the actions that are inferior.  Their actions reveal and define who they are morally; they are inferior to those who either do not commit wrong actions or are genuinely contrite over their faults.  And if they are morally inferior, it is unjust to treat them as equals because they are not equals.

There are some, I'm sure, who would panic upon reading this, thinking the conclusion contrary to the entirety of Christian ethics.  But the conclusion follows from the premises by necessity.  There is nothing false about what I have written.  I have offended some in the past by bringing this matter up in conversation, yet a truth remains true despite its inconvenience or lack of popularity.  It is quite possible that the morally inferior despise and reject this truth simply because for it to be true they must be inferior to genuine pursuers of justice and goodness.

Nothing in the Bible denies or contradicts the logical necessity of thoroughly, intentionally, unrepentantly evil people being inferior to others.  For instance, this does not contradict the fact that all people are made in God's image at all, since some people being inferior to others does not mean that only some people have intrinsic metaphysical value.  It also does not contradict the obligation to love all people, since one can care about the ultimate wellbeing of another person while justly recognizing him or her as a moral inferior.

This is what follows from some people being gratuitously, unrepentantly evil and some people having a genuine commitment to good--such people are inferior to those who are their moral opposites.  There is nothing sinful about acknowledging this, emphasizing it to others, or embracing the strength that can come from knowing that moral opponents are lesser beings.  And, of course, as I said above, it is unjust to treat the morally inferior as equals.