Dear Editor,
Tom Underhill makes helpful points in the May issue of en about the complexity of a human life and the blunt tools being used to measure equity and equality.
Equity though is not a new concept. Progressive taxation is considered appropriate in most modern societies. In healthcare, the ‘inverse care law’ is that those who need care most receive it least. When new initiatives to promote health arise, such as cardiovascular disease checks, GP practices are flooded with patients who are well educated, non-smokers who exercise regularly rendering the checks useless.
We may have concerns about intersectionality, but the idea of Jubilee in the Bible is about a grand redistribution which puts everything right equitably, whatever the complexities of background. Christ is putting all things right, but He chooses to do so through us as His image bearers. Our abilities are to be used in Christ’s service by loving others as ourselves – surely the foundation of equity.
Yours sincerely
James May
London
