Are We Entitled to Equality?

Rick Santorum: Equality Comes From 'God Of Abraham, Isaac And Jacob,' Not Islam
Luke Johnson
The Huffington Post

Rick Santorum said during a campaign stop on Friday that the concept of equality comes from the "God of Abraham," not from other religions.

"I get a kick out of folks who call for equality now, the people on the left, 'Well, equality, we want equality.' Where do you think this concept of equality comes from?" said Santorum, according to ABC News. "It doesn't come from Islam. It doesn't come from the East and Eastern religions, where does it come from? It comes from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that's where it comes from."

Santorum went on to suggest that people who don't live according to what he termed "God's law" can't claim "equality."

"Don't claim his rights, don't claim equality as that gift from God and then go around and say, 'Well, we don't have to pay attention to what God wants us to do,'" Santorum continued to the enthusiastic crowd. "'We don't have to pay attention to God's moral laws.' If your rights come from God, then you have an obligation to live responsibly in conforming with God's laws, and our founders said so, right?"

The Huffington Post's Howard Fineman reported that South Carolinians generally despise "political correctness" and judge their politicians for their willingness to shun it. By that measure, Santorum succeeded.

However, the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned his remarks. "The Quran, Islam's revealed text, is the best refutation of Mr. Santorum's inaccurate and offensive remarks, which are unbecoming of anyone who hopes to hold our nation's highest office. Christians, Jews and Muslims all worship the same God and share religious traditions that promote justice and equality," said Director Ibrahim Hooper in a statement, reaffirming Islam's place as one of the Abrahamic religions.

Santorum faces an uphill battle in South Carolina, where Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney are vying to win the state.

In the quotes in the above article Santorum attempts to articulate an argument that the idea of equality extends exclusively from the judo-christian religious tradition and is only applicable to those who abide by the rules there of. Do you think that the idea of equality was derived from judo-christian theology? If so, are those who do not follow the teachings of the Bible entitled to equality?

Good question. I look at other religion's ideas and equality is nowhere to be found. Islam doesnt believe in equality coming from God (Allah). Hinduism, Buddism, Sikhism, most any other mainstream faith has no place for equality.

Our nation's Founding Fathers were primarily Judeo-Christian. And while Christianity has done some terrible things in the name of Jesus and God in the past...the writers of the Declaration of Independance did believe that humanity's rights were not given us by govt, not by King George,...but by God. Govt can supress our rights, but then we have the right to rise up and stand for our own rights and freedoms because they are God-given.

As to Santorum's speech, I think this may be what he is referring to.

Dennis324 wrote:Good question. I look at other religion's ideas and equality is nowhere to be found. Islam doesnt believe in equality coming from God (Allah). Hinduism, Buddism, Sikhism, most any other mainstream faith has no place for equality.

Our nation's Founding Fathers were primarily Judeo-Christian. And while Christianity has done some terrible things in the name of Jesus and God in the past...the writers of the Declaration of Independance did believe that humanity's rights were not given us by govt, not by King George,...but by God. Govt can supress our rights, but then we have the right to rise up and stand for our own rights and freedoms because they are God-given.

As to Santorum's speech, I think this may be what he is referring to.

How does that work with Leviticus 25:44-46 or 1 Peter 2:18?

Bryant wrote:However, the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned his remarks. "The Quran, Islam's revealed text, is the best refutation of Mr. Santorum's inaccurate and offensive remarks, which are unbecoming of anyone who hopes to hold our nation's highest office. Christians, Jews and Muslims all worship the same God and share religious traditions that promote justice and equality," said Director Ibrahim Hooper in a statement, reaffirming Islam's place as one of the Abrahamic religions.

Santorum faces an uphill battle in South Carolina, where Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney are vying to win the state.

Islam is a faith that is practiced by the decendants of Isaac (brother of Jacob the father of Israel). See, there was a split between the 2. Anyway, Hooper is misleading the public when he says Christians, Jews and Muslims all worship the same God. We don't.

Muslims worship a being known as Allah. They call him God and pretend that he is the same as our God for their own reasons. but here are the facts:

Allah comes from an Arabic word that has to do with the worship of a Moon god in pre-Islamic Arabia. Allah [al-ilah] himself was ancient - a thousand years before Mohammed the Persians wrote 'Allah is exalted' - but he was only one of many deities. Before Islam, the high god of the Kaaba was Hubal, the supreme lunar deity.

At any rate, Allah cannot be found in the Hebrew old Testament or the Greek New Testament. Allah is cannot be the same as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. According to the bible (which predates Islam) God is knowable. (John 17:3)

But Allah is not. He is so exalted that no man can ever personally know Allah. The Quran tells us that the god of Islam works with Satan and demons to lead people astray in order to populate the hell he created. (Surah 6:39, 126, 32:13, 43:36-37). The Quran says Allah told Muhammed to kill and maim anyone who did not believe in Allah or in Muhammed the prophet. Jesus Christ never told us to kill anyone.

So there is no way that Hooper is accurate when he says Christians, Jews and Muslims all worship the same God and share religious traditions.

Bryant wrote:
How does that work with Leviticus 25:44-46 or 1 Peter 2:18?

1 Peter 2:18Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.


Leviticus 25:44-46
44 “‘Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45 You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. 46 You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.

Ok, so you are wondering 'why does the bible permit slavery'?

Here's my answer:

Slaves were most often prisoners of war. Though the scriptures never actually encourage of demand that people enslave other people, it was a fact of life at the time. I suspect that Leviticus is referring to people that were subdued and/or captured in battle. POWs. And I believe that the Israelites were divinely successful because we must remember that the people they defeated had been practicing depraved horrible things like infanticide. They sacrificed their live children to pagan deities! So God handed them over to the invading Israelites and they became (in many cases) slaves.

The law of Moses actually served to regulate the care of slaves by their Hebrews masters, i.e. Exodus 21:20 and 26, Leviticus 25:40. Consequently, Israel never captured and sold humans as did the the Phoenicians and Philistines.

Slavery in Bible times differed in many ways from slavery in modern times. It almost never based on race. And in many cases it was actually more of an indentured servant type arrangement.

Colossians 4:1, Galatians 3:28, and the Book of Philemon, make the case for the inherent spiritual worth of slaves, which laid a base for deep down change in the practice.

The Bible primarily details the account of how God has chosen to deal with the tragic results of a sin-fallen world down through the ages. While recognizing the reality of slavery as it existed in various forms, the Bible never actually condones it. It rather gives slaves, both then and more recently, a spiritual basis for worth, dignity, equality, and hope to face difficult circumstances. In the end, at a deeper level, its position is clear.

With the case of our Founding Fathers, yes...some were slaveholders. But what most dont realize is that in order to satisfy the Southern demands that slavery be allowed (they werent going to ratify the Constitution unless slavery was allowed to exist), slavery was not condemned or forbidden in our early Constitution.

The same could be said for the bible.

In the quotes in the above article Santorum attempts to articulate an argument that the idea of equality extends exclusively from the judo-christian religious tradition and is only applicable to those who abide by the rules there of. Do you think that the idea of equality was derived from judo-christian theology? If so, are those who do not follow the teachings of the Bible entitled to equality?

No I don't. The first written human rights laws were written long before the founding of the Jewish faith. Of course I really don't believe in equality. It doesn't exist. It never will exist. It pretty much goes against human/animal nature. All species look to exploit an advantage. Chasing equality is chasing smoke.