Dignity IV

“Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” -Pro. 14:34

Gilbert Meilander has written a recent book on the subject of the dignity of man entitled Neither Beast Nor God.* I just naturally liked it already because of the title. We are not in the same category as any beast of the field which is a distinction no longer assumed in the public sphere. Our friends at P.E.T.A. regularly remind us of that and accuse us of “specie snobbery” or some such thing. Without the Bible, it is hard to explain why humans should have their way in this world just because they happen to be on the top of the food chain.

Meilander book-ends the topic with the reminder that we are not gods either no matter how much some of us might wistfully imagine in fractured moments of self-delusion.. It is Satan’s oldest trick to tease us into some grasp at equality with God as happened in the garden or at the tower of Babel. Our Mormon friends find this not so repulsive or unobtainable as one might think.

In the book, the author talks about human dignity as that common distinction afforded the human race as opposed to animal or vegetable life. He characterizes it, however, as a somewhat slippery term that invites comparisons among us as when certain people show themselves notoriously inhuman in their personal conduct or merely as not having as much worth as another. Meilander points to the necessity of grounding everything in the concept of personal dignity, an idea that finds its roots squarely in Scripture.

“A society can acknowledge and reward differences in accomplishment and achievement, it can recognize the sadness and tragedy of disability and fading capacities, and it can appreciate the worth of particular loves and special bonds of association—it can, that is, honor and affirm the dignity of the human condition, of this creature who is neither beast nor god. But it can safely do this only when its first and last commitment is to respect the equal dignity of persons, each of whom is made for community with God.”

I recently read the tawdry story of a young woman who had driven her husband to the hospital early one morning. She was drunk, and he was suffering a gunshot wound to the abdomen as a result their argument. They both sounded absolutely pathetic. Not the kind of folks I would choose as neighbors or sitting as a jury of my peers. Yet, both retain a sense of personal dignity that requires me to treat them as people for whom Christ died and still seeks to save. Our secular society finds our compassion in this regard as helplessly “religious” in nature and therefore irrelevant to the public sphere. They would even criticize us for interjecting religion into matters of state. Yet, Meilander finds that it is the unbelievers “who find themselves mute when asked to give an account of our shared public commitment [to equal respect for every human being].” Their silence in this regard is both enlightening and frightful.

It is instructive to witness the great outpouring of love and concern for the people of Haiti coming from a) Christians and b) countries sharing a traditional Christian heritage. They recognize the personal dignity that resides in each poor, helpless, and struggling Haitian man, woman, and child in spite of language, culture, tradition, or even religion. We go because Christ went. We weep because Christ wept. We have compassion because Christ had compassion. And in doing these things for the least of those, we do it unto Him. When enough of us continue this great commission and tradition, we can actually exalt a nation.

*2009, Encounter Books, New York, NY.