24 Jul 08 — Some thoughts about shifting definitions

Freedom means freedom and equality means equality — right? No. At least not historically. Truth is, the definition of what freedom and equality mean shifts constantly. I’ve been reading a rather fascinating book by Eric Foner titled, The Story of American Freedom (W. W. Norton & Co., New York, NY 1998). When we talk about freedom and equality today, we are speaking of something very different from the generations of 1945, 1865, or even 1776. Truth is, the meanings we take for granted for these terms today were not the meanings in those earlier years and will not be the meanings they will have in generations to come. And if you think this is just a civic argument, it’s not. The meaning of equality, freedom, and salvation are not the same today as they were in 1518 (when Luther declared freedom from the Catholic Church and Protestantism began) in 30 (when Jesus was resurrected as the Christ) nor 538bce when the Israelites were released from Babylonian captivity, and on and on back to the very beginning.

Freedom in the 1776 understanding was strictly for white property-holding men, a very small sub-group of the American people of that time. And yet, all men were created equal our Constitution says, and so does our faith. Our ancestors never saw a contradiction between someone who was equal not also being free. Likewise, any number of “conservatives” see no contradiction between us being free to exercise our sexual orientations or gender identities and not being equal before the law and/or faith for the purposes of being married. It is the same schizophrenia of earlier generations — as “minorities” we are excluded from marriage today for many of the same reasons that slaves and women and property-less white men were at the founding of this country. Doesn’t make our exclusion right, but perhaps it sheds a little light on the subject and tells us this has been going on for a lot longer than with just our particular issue.

History has proven that this country has changed the definition of who is equal and who is free, even while it proclaims that all are equal. It has been a slow process, filled with many heartaches, false starts, and all too many poisoned words from those defending the status quo. And yet, if we are ever to fulfill the promises of our Constitution and/or our Faith, we have no choice but to continue seeking the full inclusion that both promise, regardless of what common opinion may think about us.

Today many groups of Americans do not have full equality and do not share in the bounty of freedom that heterosexual white men do solely because of the sexual orientation, racial and gender circumstances of their birth. Our argument is not against those who happened to be born as heterosexual white men. God bless them, we need them as much as we need everyone else. It is only that the rest of us deserve the same enfranchisement, the same privileges, the same responsibilities, the same prospects as they have and take for granted. And until we do, the American definitions of freedom and equality will remain incomplete. The key to filling out those definitions to the extent that the Constitution and our Faith demands is not just to proclaim “freedom” and “equality,” but to determine the real reasons why freedom and equality are excluded from some groups and heal those wounds of exclusion. Otherwise we will continue to have groups of people who are technically free and equal under the Constitution and our Faith who are forced to live un-free and unequal lives in this and so many other countries.