Before I get into the hairy world of connotations and slight variations in definition, let's get an unbiased definition of "equality" and "justice." "Justice" has many definitions. Here are the relevant ones :
1. the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness: to uphold the justice of a cause.
2. rightfulness or lawfulness, as of a claim or title; justness of ground or reason: to complain with justice.
3. the moral principle determining just conduct.
4. conformity to this principle, as manifested in conduct; just conduct, dealing, or treatment.
5. the administering of deserved punishment or reward.
6. the maintenance or administration of what is just by law, as by judicial or other proceedings: a court of justice.
7. judgment of persons or causes by judicial process: to administer justice in a community.
8. a judicial officer; a judge or magistrate.
9. ( initial capital letter ) Also called Justice Department. the Department of Justice. Interestingly enough, the legal system is involved in 4 of these definitions. Justice and the legal system are completely intertwined. Now, the definitions of "equality" are as follows:
1. the state or quality of being equal; correspondence in quantity, degree, value, rank, or ability.
2. uniform character, as of motion or surface.
These definitions come from dictionary.com, but now let's look at how the article about critical legal studies uses these terms. Essentially, CLS believes that the legal system is unjust, biased towards certain groups and demeaning and unfair to others. For example, CLS subscribes to the belief that the law is favored toward men, and that rape convictions (or lack thereof, or lack of punishment) demonstrate a misogynistic society. CLS's aim, therefore, is to demolish this prejudice within the legal system and achevie complete equality. So, how do they define equality? CLS believes that every human being should be considered exactly the same as any other human being, regardless of race, economic and social background, gender, religion, political affiliation, etcetera. However, the CLS groups believe that all these groups should be treated the same because they are the same, which is where they err. Yes, all people should be treated equally, a black man should not be convicted on less evidence than a white man, and yes, there are instances in which certain people and groups may not get fair trials and treatment by the justice system. It is irrefutable that inconsistencies exist, and that we should try to reconcile them. However, it is foolish to consider all people the same, because, put quite simply, we are not. One man may have a proponency toward violence because of his social background or his religion (or any other factor, really), and that influence should be taken into account while in court. So, CLS views equality as sameness in the person rather than just sameness in the treatment of the person. On a side note, the CLS ideal for the justice system, in which personal bias and prejudice play no part is completely impossible, unrealistic, and idealistic. Like communism, the idea sounds nice on paper, but when put into action, the implausibility of said idea quickly becomes clear. Human beings carry prejudices and opinions, and we are all genuinely different, and both of those facts cannot be separated from the legal system simply because the legal system in made up of humans, and those qualities are intrinsic. This article then views justice as complete impartiality on the part of the legal system and the human race in general, and involves treating every person the exact same way. However, this would require that trials are not evaluated on a case-to-case basis. One murder trial would be the same as another, because the crime must be evaluated objectively. However, it would be naive to expect that each murderer deserves equal punishment and poses an equal threat to society. The major tenet of CLS is the destruction of class divisions, and the creation of a community of sameness, with the claim that they will "liberate and empower every individual," when in actuality this system would strip individuality and celebration of cultural and life distinctions.
WE are not the same, but according to the Bible, we are to love and defend and care for all people, whether foreigners, children, widows, etcetera (see Deuteronomy 10:12-19). The Bible calls us to "do what is just and right," (Jeremiah 22:3), which essentially boils down to loving your neighbor as yourself, not doing wrong to others (this would be according to the Biblical definition of wrong). So, the Bible agrees with CLS that we should all be treated equally and we should all be kind and caring towards our fellow man. If we all followed the Bible in every aspect of our lives, we would live in a perfect world. However, where the Bible and CLS majorly differ is in the idea of sameness. The Bible has no pretensions that humans are all the same. Deuteronomy 10:12-19 says that "the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations--as it is today." Furhtermore, both this Deuteronomy passage and the aforementioned Jeremiah verse refer to "foreigners" "widows" "children" and "orphans." We have distinctions and dissimilarities, otherwise these denotative names would be unnecessary. There are natives and foreigners, there are God's chosed people and Gentiles, there are women and men. However, these distinctions by no means mean that we should be treated differently. After all, we will all be judged by the Lord on Judgment Day, and we will all be judged based on the same criteria. God simply doesn't buy into the idea that we are all uniform. He made us unique and individual intentionally, and each person is of equal worth to Him.
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