EQUALITY & JUSTICE

Jesus begins His ministry by what? By quoting Isaiah. He walks into the temple and He said, "that the blind may see, set the captives free, the poor..." ー all of the sort of justice agenda. That's how Christ began. So, if we aren't following that, that's what was at the heart of ー apart from personal redemption, which is the key ー the second most important drive of the entire New Testament is against injustice and where we see it, in little or large ways. June 25, 2013 ー Interview with Jim Daly (Focus on the Family)
 
I think deep down, if we really believe in equality, we would go to the side of our brothers and sisters in Africa. What I would say is we don't really believe in equality. December 1, 2002 ー Interview with Larry King (CNN)

I will say this for the Judeo-Christian tradition: we have at least written into the DNA the idea that God created every man equal, and that love is at the heart of the Universe. I mean, the Greeks may have come up with democracy, but they had no intention of everyone having it. We have to conclude that the most access to equality in the world has come out of these ancient religious ideas. 2005 ー Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas

...think of these Jewish sheep-herders going to meet with the Pharaoh, mud on their shoes, and the Pharaoh goes, “Equal? Equal?" And they say, "Yeah, that's what, that's what it says here in the Book, here. We're all made in the image of God, Sir." Eventually the Pharaoh says, “Look, I can accept that. I mean, I can accept the Jews ー but not the blacks. I mean, not the women. Not the gays. Not the Irish. No way.” February 2, 2006 ー National Prayer Breakfast Speech (Washington DC, USA)​

Equality is an idea that was first really expressed by the Jews when God told them that everyone was equal in His eyes. A preposterous idea then and still hard to hang on to now....You see, in the Judeo-Christian tradition, we have to accept this: it says that everyone is equal. Now most people accept that women, blacks, Irish, and Jews are equal, but only within these borders. I’m not sure we accept that Africans are equal. 2005 ー Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas
 
I had to find that at the very bottom… lies the feeling of justice over charity. I mean, charity is OK, I’m interested in charity…. But I’m more interested in justice. 2005 ー Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas
 
Isn’t equality a son of a bitch to follow through on? Isn’t love thy neighbor in the global village so inconvenient? God writes us these lines, but we have to sing them.... Outside these gates, and even within them, the culture of idealism is under siege ー beset by materialism, and narcissism, and all the other isms of indifference and their defense mechanisms ー knowingness, the smirk, the joke. June 12, 2001 ー Harvard University Commencement Speech (Massachusetts, USA)

It’s annoying but justice and equality are mates, aren’t they? Justice always wants to hang out with equality. And equality is a real pain in the ass. Seriously. February 2, 2006 ー National Prayer Breakfast Speech (Washington DC, USA)​

Africa makes a mockery of what we say, at least what I say, about equality and questions our pieties and our commitments because there's no way to look at what's happening over there and it's effect on all of us and conclude that we actually consider Africans as our equals before God. May 17, 2004 ー PENN Commencement Address (Philadelphia, USA)

This is not about charity, it’s about justice. And that’s too bad. Because we’re good at charity. Americans, Irish people, are good at charity. We like to give, and we give a lot, even those who can’t afford it. February 2, 2006 ー National Prayer Breakfast Speech (Washington DC, USA)​

Africa makes a fool of our idea of justice; it makes a farce of our idea of equality. It mocks our pieties; it doubts our concern, and it questions our commitment. Six and a half thousand Africans are still dying every day of preventable, treatable disease, for lack of drugs we can buy at any drug store. This is not about charity. This is about Justice and Equality. February 2, 2006 ー National Prayer Breakfast Speech (Washington DC, USA)​
 
The idea that black people could vote here in the United States is relatively new… equality is like a pain in the ass if you think about it. It's like, you know, you think of these Jewish sheep herders walking in, in front of pharaohs, you know, with (shit) on their shoes, and the pharaoh is going, "You think you're equal to me?" And he looks in the book, and he goes, "Yes, that's what it says. All of us are created equal in God's image. That's what it says here." December 1, 2002 ー Interview with Larry King (CNN)
 
We accept [equality] now between our own borders. We accept that women and Jews and blacks and Irish are equal and have equal opportunity, but we don't really believe that for the rest of the world, because if we do, we would not be letting two-and-a-half million Africans die next year. December 1, 2002 ー Interview with Larry King (CNN)