Oh don't worry about the down vote, I figured OP has just tagged everyone who actually tried to call him on his bluff.

One idea is not exactly a foregone conclusion of the other, but it is one of the conclusions that you can reach. One of the arguments goes: If all men are made in God's image, and God is infinitely more important than any worldly matter, then all men are essentially equal in the face of the glory of God.

"All men are created equal" is a sentiment that had been simmering up and down in theologians for centuries before America was even discovered. Pope Gregory I (p533, at the bottom) put it in one of his moral treatises. John Ball (wiki IK, but it'll do as a summary) preached it as he rabble roused a peasant revolt. There are more, even back then theology was as trend chasing and Zeitgeisty as politics, so it had ebbs and flows of popularity, but notably the idea was never widely persecuted against enough to ever disappear.

It's a simplification that I think was aimed upward and often used cynically or sincerely to imply that "these men are not fit to lead you, God is" without explicitly crossing into treason. But had the unintended effect of entrenching people against the very idea that some people are more beneficial/detrimental to your community than others when looking at their peers or downwards.

Oh don't worry about the down vote, I figured OP has just tagged everyone who actually tried to call him on his bluff. L One idea is not exactly a foregone conclusion of the other, but it is one of the conclusions that you can reach. One of the arguments goes: If all men are made in God's image, and God is infinitely more important than any worldly matter, then all men are essentially equal in the face of the glory of God. There are more, even back then theology was as trend chasing and Zeitgeisty as politics, so it had ebbs and flows of popularity, but notably the idea was never widely persecuted against enough to ever disappear.

"All men are created equal" is a sentiment that had been simmering up and down in theologians for centuries before America was even discovered. Pope Gregory I (p533, at the bottom) put it in one of his moral treatises. John Ball (wiki IK, but it'll do as a summary) preached it as he rabble roused a peasant revolt.

It's a simplification that I think was aimed upward and often used cynically or sincerely to imply that "these men are not fit to lead you, God is" without explicitly crossing into treason. But had the unintended effect of entrenching people against the very idea that some people are more beneficial/detrimental to your community than others when looking at their peers or downwards.

Oh don't worry about the down vote, I figured OP has just tagged everyone who actually tried to call him on his bluff.

One idea is not exactly a foregone conclusion of the other, but it is one of the conclusions that you can reach. One of the arguments goes: If all men are made in God's image, and God is infinitely more important than any worldly matter, then all men are essentially equal in the face of the glory of God. There are more, even back then theology was as trend chasing and Zeitgeisty as politics, so it had ebbs and flows of popularity, but notably the idea was never seriously persecuted against.

"All men are created equal" is a sentiment that had been simmering up and down in theologians for centuries before America was even discovered. Pope Gregory I (p533, at the bottom) put it in one of his moral treatises. John Ball (wiki IK, but it'll do as a summary) preached it as he rabble roused a peasant revolt.

It's a simplification that I think was aimed upward and often used cynically or sincerely to imply that "these men are not fit to lead you, God is" without explicitly crossing into treason. But had the unintended effect of entrenching people against the very idea that some people are more beneficial/detrimental to your community than others when looking at their peers or downwards.