Meaningless Morass, Part I

The Inanity of "Social Justice"

Jonah Goldberg in his book The Tyranny of Cliches: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas has written an excellent chapter on Social Justice.  We observe that some Christian leaders are foolishly starting to employ the term.  One key problem (there are many) is that when Christians and churches start using the term, they fall into a great big quagmire.  It's full of stinky, rotting things as Frodo and Sam found out as they crossed the Dead Marshes on their way to Mordor.

What does "social justice" mean?  Are Christians obligated to work hard to establish social justice in our communities and nations?  Let's find out.  We will end up with some mighty offensive bedfellows.
  For example, if we are going to be gung-ho for social justice, it means linking arms with the labour union movement and (presumably) Christians getting involved in it.  Here is the mission statement of the AFL-CIO:

The mission of the AFL-CIO is to improve the lives of working families--to bring economic justice to the workplace and social justice to our nation.  To accomplish this mission we will build and change the American labor movement. [Quoted by Jonah Goldberg, The Tyranny of Cliches: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas (New York: Sentinel/Penguin, 2012), p.133.]

It also means supporting the work of the Muslim American Society, which is the front through which the Muslim Brotherhood operates in the US.  Its website declares that "it hopes to contribute to the promotion of peace and social justice."  OK, good one.  Let's stand with these folk as well, joining arms together to promote social justice.

Through our programs and activities, we hope to contribute to the promotion of peace and social justice.  Ultimately, we seek to build an American Muslim community that is politically empowered, civically engaged, fully protected in the areas of civil and human rights, and able to contribute to the advancement of society, both in the United States and the world. In this effort, we are guided by our Islamic beliefs and American values.

So, we Christians can join hands with  Muslims in working hard to establish "social justice".  But, the cause of social justice is more broad and catholic still.  We also need to identify with and respect the work of the American Nazi Party.  One of its main tenets, we are told, is to establish "social justice for White Working Class people throughout our land". (Goldberg, op cit., p. 133)  Got it.  We need to stand with the Nazi Party and the Muslim American Society and the labour unions.  We Christians have common cause with all three and if we are really committed to social justice we need to work collaboratively and together.  If we do not we risk acting unjustly. 

But wait.  There's more.  How about a little bit of homosexual promotion?  This appears to be at near the top of the list when the topic of social justice is raised.

What are the main action items of  social justice?  Securing gay rights, gay marriage in particular, has to be near the top of that list.  After the New York State Legislature passed a bill legalizing civil marriages for same-sex couples in June 2011, Governor Andrew Cuomo took the podium to alert the masses that the Empire State had "reached a new level of social justice" and that "this state, when at its finest, is a beacon for social justice." (Ibid, p. 134)

Since Christians are supposed to be mobilised into an army bringing forth social justice in the land--otherwise known as "doing good to the city" we had better get involved in promoting homosexual "marriage".  After all, its part of social justice.  To oppose homosexual "marriage" is both to act unjustly, and promote injustice, or so the story goes, we're told.

And then there is the small matter of abortion.  Not a biggie really.  But it's pretty clear that free access to abortion is a matter of social justice.  Any who would argue against such provision is not committed to social justice at all.  This from the Planned Parenthood folks:

A social system that denies reproductive justice violates the central Biblical imperative to love and render justice to one’s neighbor. Further, the effort to achieve reproductive justice cannot be divorced from the struggle for economic and social justice.  

Reproductive justice is essentially a question of access – access to knowledge about the great gift of human sexuality and access to reproductive health services. Specifically, reproductive justice requires sex education that provides our youngsters with the information they need to form healthy relationships, prevent them from having children before they are ready to become parents, and keep them safe from infections and abuse. It also requires birth control that is affordable,with legal abortion readily available.(Emphasis, ours)

What is social justice?  Well, nobody has a comprehensive definition because it covers just about any "cause" imaginable.  But everyone advocates for it and believes in it--so it would seem.  It's a conceptual morass, with lots of dead, rotting foulness.  It's intellectually sloppy.  Christians need to be much smarter and more biblically rigorous.

Here's a radical challenge to those Christians foolish enough to have gotten stuck in the quagmire: start by defining what social justice is not.  And, then, when you have got some things down on paper that are outside the pale of social justice, justify your stipulations.  Why are such things not within the ambit of social justice?  Why would it be unjust to promote or advocate for these things?  By what standard are you going to make such determinations? 

Then, maybe we can start to have a meaningful conversation.