By Douglas Daugherty

“There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.” —C. S. Lewis

Does every person have value? Not just because they have a certain net worth, some accomplishment, a particular religious point of view or political philosophy, or a good family tree. Do they possess an inherent value that, if properly understood, is not dependent on what others do, have, or think?

I believe they do, and I’m committed to facing our community with that value.

There is no questioning the disparities of life. Some people are tall and talented. Some are beautiful and charming. A few are born into families with access to much wealth. Some acquire much power through business, politics, or their own leadership. At the same time, we have folks who are impoverished, mentally ill, or disabled; or they might have a traumatized childhood; or they are old and in declining health — maybe facing death. Do these disparities give more inherent value to one than the other?

No. They don’t. You are not of value because of what you do have or what you don’t have. You have value because every human being is made in the “Imago Dei,” or “Image of God.” This idea is part of a meta-narrative about all of existence. It transcends your willingness to reject it. Even if you don’t believe it, it’s still true. This is the basic foundation that the “dignity of man” rests upon.

That means even those who are not worthy in human terms of our respect should receive it. It also means that those who are somehow richer in life have no more inherent dignity than the poor panhandler.

This notion of dignity has deep roots in our world. We sometimes sense it when confronted with the neediness of others, seemingly beyond hope, and we treat them with kindness.

The notion of “human dignity” has ancient roots. It is buried in Genesis 1:26: “Let us make man in our image.” This is the taproot of human dignity.

A great example is that of Saint Telemachus, an ascetic monk who tried, according to the Church historian Theodoret, to stop a gladiatorial fight in a Roman amphitheater and was stoned to death by the crowd in 391 AD. The Christian emperor Honorius, however, was impressed by the monk’s martyrdom and it spurred him to issue a historic ban on gladiatorial fights. This was because the gladiators were not mere sporting bits of muscle but possessed this divine image. He succeeded, fully embracing this idea to his death. The last known gladiatorial fight in Rome was on January 1, 404 AD.

Think of these things.

We have tried, though it has been and is still a struggle, to say that everyone is “equal before the law.” I say “struggle” because while the concept is implicit, the history of the human race is full of examples of ignoring the concept. And the law does not give you value/dignity. You already have it, if you will embrace it.

Vladimir Putin obviously doesn’t believe in this, nor does Kim Jong-un, the supreme leader of North Korea.

Slavery, still alive today, is a good example. So is the practice of abortion as pushed by Margaret Sanger’s Planned Parenthood, a movement that started in the eugenics movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Or think of the rapid immigration/conquest of the Han ethnic group in China (app. 133 BC-91 AD) or lower caste humans in India, Nepal, or Sri Lanka. And think of the whole notion of colonization by European kings of “Divine Right” (1488–1914) that pushed first through northern Africa, then North and South America, and includes the United Kingdom, where “the sun never set” on the British Empire.

Or think of Catholics who immigrated to America and could not find their way into certain clubs or schools till my own lifetime. But so might the Irish say of their treatment. And certainly, the Jews of the last century were not considered valuable in Nazi Germany, along with the Gypsies, the Slavs, the Poles, the Serbs, and on and on.

In our own community, think of the history of the Cherokees who once traveled the Trail of Tears. Washington and Adams earlier tried a “Christianizing” policy with the Cherokees, but it ended abruptly with the ascent of Andrew Jackson and later the adoption of the “manifest destiny” (1845).

Has there ever been a time when one group did not believe that another group was inferior and possessed no inherent value? No. Never.

But this country, growing out of both the Enlightenment and the Reformation, had another principle that has been working its way through our 415 years. People were born with the inalienable right of “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness,” though even Jefferson could not see his way through entirely. Even our Constitution was a compromise between slaveholders and those opposed to chattel slavery and the Middle Passage.

It was 1948 before the nascent United Nations adopted The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That was just 74 years ago, fairly recently in historical terms.

Yes, others have defined groups for one reason or another as “less than human” and not deserving of “dignity” throughout history.

But that does not change the basic “value concept.” If one believes this way, it changes EVERYTHING, both how you treat others and how you think of yourself.

It is what is called a “moral imperative.”

The tough question is, “How are we doing as a community, an organization, a church, or a family?”

If one believes that he/she has inherent value, then despite trauma or prejudice or unjust systems, he/she will walk with a dignity that others cannot understand. Suffering is the stuff where dignity can triumph! Think of Christ before Herod. Or Nelson Mandela, who was in prison for 27 years. Or Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who spent eight years in prison.

If one believes this “Imago Dei” idea, it changes everything about how you interact with others — whether the panhandler, the person of wealth, or even your enemy.

On a more mundane level, think of one who is suffering but retains a positive, even cheerful, attitude. Think of someone who has endured poverty or disease or depression and still has dignity about them. It’s a “values transformational event” when you meet them and talk to them. To run from this inherent dignity, and to say your dignity is a matter of what others say about you, is to retreat from this very personal ethic of dignity.

I believe that every person has value, and I am trying to support those ideas that underscore that value with “right-fit” solutions.

Everyone has value. Period.

“By a lie a man throws away and, as it were, annihilates his dignity as a man.” —Immanuel Kant