Good, rich debates can be had on just about all the particular points being touched on; libraries can be buried with the debates. I'm just taking stock of an argument that I still find creditable, in which the Christian idea of each of us being accountable to God, with each soul being a key battleground between Good and Evil, may be our most solid foundation for a thoroughgoing notion of equality.

True the leaders on the earth, even Christian, have not held to the standard, even sanctioning slavery, but this is true for the Greek philosophers as well, and probably Hammurabi too.