<p>Opponents of multiculturalism regularly claim that it is based on a belief that “all cultures are equal.” This depiction of multiculturalism has been offered by academics, authors of screeds on the state of the modern world, and even by a Norwegian mass murderer. This paper examines the role of Charles Taylor’s influential “Politics of Recognition” essay in sustaining that understanding of multiculturalism. Against the widespread view that the essay is an essential, even “canonical,” statement of multicultural theory, this paper argues that the central focus of Taylor’s essay is not multiculturalism, but a broader and loosely defined “politics of recognition.” Moreover, it argues that the evidence Taylor provides associating multiculturalism with the equality of cultures assertion is weak: he names no advocates of the assertion, and his argument that the assertion underpins the 1990s “canon debate,” the only aspect of multiculturalism he addresses, does not withstand scrutiny. Subsequent misunderstandings and misrepresentations of Taylor’s essay suggest that it has been wrongfully pressed into ideological service in the long campaign against multiculturalism.</p>