In an Aeon essay, political theorist Teresa M Bejan argues that 'equality' has become divisive because it carries so many meanings, and that this ambiguity once gave it force. Left and right both claim to be the true egalitarians. Historically, she shows, being 'equal' meant balance rather than sameness, and equality before God or the law did not make people social peers. The Leveller John Lilburne blurred that line in 1646 by refusing to kneel before the House of Lords.

Her conclusion is that equality was practised, on juries for instance, before it became a doctrine, and survives only in shared institutions where people act as equals. For freethinkers who defend equal rights without divine backing, it is a sharp look at what the word actually asks of us.

Source: Teresa M Bejan, Aeon (2026-11-09)
https://aeon.co/essays/historical-ideas-of-equality-help-us-imagine-an-equal-world

Summarised by the FTI newsdesk.