So where does human dignity comes from? There is no way to contrive it or to enforce it; human dignity must be essential. Here, the Christian teaching is unique. Professor Peter Kreeft of Boston College has lucidly pointed out this difference between Christianity and secular thought.
In the economy of God's creation, there was intended an egalitarianism among human beings; that is, each person was equal in essence and dignity. On the other hand, there was to be an elitism in ideas, meaning that not all ideas are equal - some ideas are clearly superior to others.
Antitheistic thinking has inverted that economy - indeed, it is compelled to - because its starting point leads to the opposite conclusion; people have been rendered elite, and ideas are egalitarian. As a result, we exalt some individuals or races while rejecting others and at the same time foolishly argue that all ideas are equal.
If the scourge of racism is ever to die, it will only do so on the biblical basis of who we are as human beings as we learn to respect each person in his or her distinctive and essential splendor - granted by virtue of creation. Ironically, in rejecting any part of humanity we essentially reject ourselves.
- Excerpt from "Can Man Live Without God" by Ravi Zacharias
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