Equal ? Civil ? Rights ?

Equal Civil Rights is a phrase that sounds so right on the surface that one would think that everyone would be in favor of it. Experience indicates that this is not always the case.

In practice that lofty ideal gets really messy because it brings about change in our society. Public Radio has been reviewing the “Freedom Riders” of fifty years ago. Then Equal Civil Rights for black people was a big issue that a lot of white people were against.

Around the turn of the 1900’s Equal Civil Rights for women was a big issue that a lot of men were against. You can name almost any group and at some point there was a quest for Equal Civil Rights. Go back to the 1600’s and people were leaving Europe so that they could have their Equal Civil Rights for their religion.

Today people who prefer their own gender are agitating for their Equal Civil Rights to be married. There are a lot of people who are against that idea on religious grounds.

Equal Civil Rights at all levels of society is an issue that we really need to consider carefully and thoughtfully as an ideal apart from a particular form of the issue. How can we insure our own Equal Civil Rights if we strive to deny any other group their Equal Civil Rights?

What do you think?