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I have to disagree with those who have said that, outside of environmental influences, we have equal or even unlimited potential. It should be obviously false that we have unlimited potential. As another poster pointed out, I cannot flap my arms and fly. There are people who, no matter what the contributions of their environment, will never be great mathematicians. I doubt that we have equal potentials either. I've known people who are good at just about everything, and I've known people who have very little in the way of native talent. And I'm not just including things like intelligence either. But this claim is difficult, if not impossible, to prove, since it is difficult, if not impossible, to sort out the influence of one's environment from the influence of one's nature.
I dispute as well the claim "equal in the eyes of God." Except for the claim that we are equally loved by God or the claim that God treats everyone equally, this statement has the same difficulties as the bare statement of human equality. And, given a belief in the reliability of the scripture, the claims that we are equally loved by God or treated equally by God are also false. We are treated fairly by God, and we are all loved by God, but neither of these entail that we are all treated or loved equally. Think about it this way -- you love all your friends, right? But do you love them all equally, or are you closer to some than to others? And is there anything at all wrong with being closer to some people than others?
Will's post suggests the dichotomy between equality of opportunity and equality of outcome. It seems to me that equality of opportunity is the closest thing to the statement "All people are equal"; that is, that all people, in virtue of their inherent dignity as human beings, ought to be equally able to develop their talents and attempt to acheive success in that arena they consider worthy of achieving success in.
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"Die Deutschen meinen, daß die Kraft sich in Härte und Grausamkeit offenbaren müsse, sie unterwerfen sich dann gerne und mit Bewunderung:[...]. Daß es Kraft giebt in der Milde und Stille, das glauben sie nicht leicht."
"The Germans believe that power must reveal itself in hardness and cruelty and then submit themselves gladly and with admiration[...]. They do not believe readily that there is power in meekness and calm."
-- Friedrich Nietzsche
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