The Slightly Less Than God Club

When we think about the value of human life in political
debates, we have two options. Either we
will adopt a hierarchical view of life, concluding that some human lives are
more valuable than others, or we will adopt what I call the radical religious
view of life which finds that all human life, simply by virtue of its humanity,
is of immense value.

The hierarchical understanding of human life is by far the
most common. Almost reflexively, we
divide up the human family in terms of the value of each of its members. Poor people, our enemies, people who are very
different from us, and those who commit crimes, usually end up with much lower
value placed on their lives than rich and powerful people, our friends, and
those who think we are wonderful. The
hierarchical view provides the foundation for the worst in human behavior and
politics, including abuse, slavery, and war.
We reflect the hierarchical view in our public policy. We pay taxes to fund education for our children,
but not for the children five miles from us.
We build exclusive housing developments so only the right people can
move in. We do not worry about what
happens in prisons and detention centers, because those who find themselves
committed to these facilities are not quite worth our care.

Standing in opposition to the hierarchical view of human
life is the radical religious view.
Here, something about human nature that is independent of what
individual human beings do creates great worth in these individual lives. Judaism and Christianity speak of the image
of God. Islam refers to our fitra, or
the dignity of our human nature before God.
Buddhism speaks of Buddha-nature, more precious than a wish fulfilling
jewel.

My favorite way of thinking about the radical religious
position is in terms of what I call the Slightly Less Than God Club. This idea is inspired by Psalm 8 where we
find the psalmist struck by the apparent insignificance of human life. “When I look at your heavens, the work of
your fingers, the moon and the stars you have established; what are human
beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?” (Psalm
8:3-4). The answer given by the Psalmist
is stunning. “Yet you have made them a
little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor” (5).

From the idea of being created “little lower than God,” I
conclude that we are all members of the Slightly Less Than God Club. We become members simply by being human, and
we remain members whether we succeed in the ways of the world, or fail
miserably. Our membership has nothing to
do with the neighborhood we live in, the job we do or do not hold, or the size
of our stock portfolio. Each one of us
has already, as they say, “arrived.” We
cannot do any better than a little lower than God without becoming idolatrous. Our worth is not in our hands, but it is
tremendous nonetheless.

Most of us are not ready to live by this understanding of
the value of human life, but I will try to convince my fellow Democrats and
anyone else who will listen that we ought to.
I think this radical religious notion is the proper one for a nation
that is of, by, and for “we the people,” that is, a nation that is of, by, and
for all of the people, not just some of them.

To anticipate an objection or two, even if there is a fundamental
equality in the worth of human life, we can still judge the value of
actions. Thus, while I may not think
that the value of my life is any greater than that of the worst criminal, I
have no problem judging criminal acts as wrong, and deserving of punishment and
imprisonment. Above all, we can judge
the value of our own actions, wondering every day if we are living in a way
that reflects our standing in the Slightly Less Than God Club.