What's It All About Alfie?
As Mae Cannon puts it in her great book 'Social Justice Handbook--Small Steps for a Better World' (2009) social justice is complicated. There are an amazing variety of opinions about it often with very strong opposite views. From those who think you're a saint like Mother Teresa to those who think you are out to undermine the societal status quo or the Bible as a left-wing activist! After all, how many folks have even heard of Dorothy Day or William Stringfellow? It doesn't help that in following the influence of such modern saints you either consign yourself or are consigned to the margins of society. But has it ever been different for those who take the Gospel seriously throughout history? So it is important to maybe look at the basics of a Christian perspective on social justice, rooted in Scripture and in our spiritual tradition of Christian faith.
For some of us maybe it starts with the question of how people should be or are treated and what basic respect we as human beings and as a social aggregate called society are challenged to provide or call as the norm for 'being human'. Thus, our view of what it means to be human comes into view. Dostoevsky the Russian writer and philosopher once said, "There is no morality without immortality". He saw a further link between human respect and spirituality. Of course this has profound implications in the means we employ to alleviate injustice and its root causes. And conversely, as Barbara Skinner put it, "There is no such thing as a personal piety that does not affect society", if it is genuine I might add.
As Mae Cannon puts it in her great book 'Social Justice Handbook--Small Steps for a Better World' (2009) social justice is complicated. There are an amazing variety of opinions about it often with very strong opposite views. From those who think you're a saint like Mother Teresa to those who think you are out to undermine the societal status quo or the Bible as a left-wing activist! After all, how many folks have even heard of Dorothy Day or William Stringfellow? It doesn't help that in following the influence of such modern saints you either consign yourself or are consigned to the margins of society. But has it ever been different for those who take the Gospel seriously throughout history? So it is important to maybe look at the basics of a Christian perspective on social justice, rooted in Scripture and in our spiritual tradition of Christian faith.
For some of us maybe it starts with the question of how people should be or are treated and what basic respect we as human beings and as a social aggregate called society are challenged to provide or call as the norm for 'being human'. Thus, our view of what it means to be human comes into view. Dostoevsky the Russian writer and philosopher once said, "There is no morality without immortality". He saw a further link between human respect and spirituality. Of course this has profound implications in the means we employ to alleviate injustice and its root causes. And conversely, as Barbara Skinner put it, "There is no such thing as a personal piety that does not affect society", if it is genuine I might add.