Human Dignity and the Image of God

The Enlightenment was a really interesting time in human history. That period produced some fantastic thinkers that shaped history and politics, and whose thinking still have influence today: John Locke, David Hume, Thomas Paine, even Benjamin Franklin. One such thinker that we spend a fair amount of time talking about in my classes is Immanuel Kant.

Kant is probably most well known for his ethical theory which centered around the concept of universal moral principles, otherwise known as the Categorical Imperative. Kant was a firm believer in concrete moral facts and taught that each human had a duty to live according to those moral facts. His was a rigid theory that placed no value in the outcome of one’s actions but located moral value fully in the intention that preceded an act. For the black-and-white, “check the box” type thinker, his was a theory that was actually pretty convenient, as the “dos” and “do-nots” were fairly obvious.

Unfortunately, Kant’s theory left no wiggle-room for situations where doing the “right” thing might cause more harm than not doing it, or for situations where the black and white blurred into a fuzzy shade of gray. Moral facts are moral facts, whether you like them or not, and regardless of the outcome that results in following them.

That’s a pretty tough moral stance to get behind.

But before we throw out the entire theory, there’s one more piece that is worth noting. The second part of Kant’s Categorical Imperative says to treat human beings always as an end and never merely as a means. In other words, remember that people are people, not tools.

Remember that people are meant to be regarded with dignity and respect.

Remember that people are not meant to be used only for your own benefit, but should always been seen for their own worth and value as humans.

In the church we say it this way: remember that every person has been created in the image of God.

Every person.

No matter what color, what nationality, socioeconomic status, gender, orientation, age, size, political affiliation…

Every. Person.

Friends, our world needs to be reminded of this principle. Our culture has forgotten what it means to look at another human and see a person. We look at one another and see disagreement. We see difference. We see opportunity. We see something worth despising. Or manipulating for our own benefit. Or maybe just something that is in the way, an inconvenience.

We have forgotten to see faces. We have forgotten that inside every chest, a heart beats. Inside every skull, a mind turns. Inside every person’s veins, the same red blood runs through. We all love, we all want to be loved. We all celebrate, and we all grieve. We all hope, and we all worry. We are all human.

I encourage my students to remember that behind every frustrating interaction with another human is a real person who is trying to live life just like we are. I encourage them to respond in difficult situations with kindness, treating others with dignity and respect even in their worst moments.

As a Christ-follower, I work daily to remind myself that every human I see, every person I interact with was formed in the image of our Creator, that they—like David—were formed with wonder and care in their mother’s womb (Ps. 139:13-14). It’s so easy to forget and to treat people like they’re worth less simply because they make me uncomfortable, or because I disagree with them, or because something else makes me think they don’t deserve to be treated with dignity. Shame on me.

If I want to always be treated with dignity and respect, I must also treat others always with dignity and respect. So in everything, do to others as you would have them do to you… (Matt. 7:12). In philosophy this is called the “reciprocity principle.” Kant called it a universal maxim, which, ironically, brings us back to the first formulation of his Categorical Imperative.

Kant was not a Christian. In fact, he worked purposefully to develop a moral theory that didn’t rely on religion as its basis. (He was, after all, a good Enlightenment thinker.) His parents were Christian, though, and like it or not, the principles of his parents’ faith made it into his moral thinking. There is certainly much to value in Kant’s perspective, especially when his principles are laid back on the foundation of the real Truth founded in scripture.

We must always treat people as an end and never merely as a means, for every person was created in the image of God. For that reason alone, they deserve our respect and our kindness.

Shalom.