While researching social justice in the Bible as it concerns Amos, I came across numerous Christian blogs, news articles, and devotionals attacking social justice advocacy as a brand of “wokeism.” It does not surprise me in the least. Evangelicals see that people who think and believe differently pursue justice. “But it isn’t biblical!” they whine. So then, Christians should not find common ground with those who think differently than they do? If my unsaved neighbor says the American political system oppresses minorities and wants that to change, I should barrage them with theologies of justice? What?
See the following quote from Scott David Allen in his comical book Why Social Justice is not Biblical Justice:
“Justice is one of the most important words in the Bible. It is one of the most important concepts in any culture. If the Bible-believing church abandons genuine justice in favor of a destructive cultural counterfeit, who will be left to uphold and defend the truth? The stakes are very high.”1
Genuine justice? Are you serious? Biblical justice is genuine, so a non-Christian’s concept of justice is fake? Can Allen not understand that just because someone does not attend a church does not mean they have no sense of right from wrong (imago dei, anyone?)? What he is saying is that secular cultures have no concept of “genuine” justice. So racism is only wrong if my belief that it is comes directly from the Bible?
Evangelicals clearly see the social justice movement as a threat to the church. People of different faiths, walks of life, experiences, etc., are uniting to battle the oppression so blatantly obvious in the modern world. And that is a problem? Instead of trying to find common ground, the church has to be different. ‘Instead of uniting, let’s shove dogma down everyone’s throats!’ ‘Our view is better because it comes from the God of our understanding’ (by the way, the same God who proactively kills and destroys entire nations)!
Are there radicals who advocate for social justice? Of course. Just like there are radical Christian terrorists. Radicalism exists on both ends of the spectrum. But the church chooses to view any concept of justice that is not grounded in the Bible as destructive. They have decided that social justice and “biblical justice” share no common ground: they are like night and day. This ties in closely with the point I raised in my previous post. The church is set apart and chosen; thus, they are always right and everyone else is always wrong.
What do we find in this “biblical justice” Christians embrace (because it is so much different from social justice)? Let’s see what Amos has to say.
In his condemnation of Israel, Yahweh indicts the nation of the following crime:
“grinding the heads of the poor in the dust
And pushing the lowly out of the way” (Amos 2:7a-b)
The concern here is oppression of the marginalized. Consider what Shalom M. Paul says of this verse in his commentary, “They step upon the heads of the poor as though they were stepping upon the ground beneath them, that is, they treat the underprivileged with contempt and abuse.”2 If you are living in the United States, does this sound familiar? The underprivileged of society, Christian or not Christian, are trampled upon. And instead of joining the voices calling for change, evangelicals advocate for their form of “justice,” as if it is the only true form.
The “liberals” and “progressives” see that Black people are marginalized in American society, and declare Black lives matter. What is the “biblical” alternative? All lives matter! Why support a cause aimed at helping the oppressed, when we can pervert the cause and make it inclusive of those who are not victims of deadly racism? All lives matter… well, DUH. Saying Black lives matter does not mean only Black lives matter.
Who did Jesus center his ministry around? The religious zealots? The Jerry Falwells, Joel O’Steens, or Scott David Allens of his day? Did he show the same compassion to the Pharisees and Sadducees that he did to the woman at well? Of course, he still loved the crooked religious nuts he interacted with. But he didn’t spend his time performing miracles for them. His mission was not to heal those who have everything figured out. He cared for the weak, the oppressed, those who suffer unjustly in their society. Jesus literally led a “destructive cultural counterfeit.”
Somehow, the modern church overlooks this. They see social justice in a purely political sense. Amos decried the wealthy leaders and government officials of his society who took advantage of the lower class and used them to turn a profit. In contemporary America, we see the wealthy and the powerful trampling on minorities. But what does evangelicalism proclaim? That instead of focusing our attention on the needs of the lowly (because that is progressive and thus dangerous), we need to equally focus on compassion towards the powerful figures inflicting all the suffering. Because God is the only one who should judge them.
So, in that sense, we should just sit by while the chaos ensues. We shouldn’t focus on fighting racism; we need to focus on growing church attendance. It’s no wonder the American church is in such a radical state of decline! Again, reiterating a theme from my last post, the church should be leading the fight against social injustice. But what are they doing? Politicizing it. “Social justice” is a thing of the secular left, so we should push “biblical” justice on everyone (I think “church justice” fits better; what they advocate is not biblical). Why love others like Jesus did, when we can be (politically) selective about how we resolve the madness in this world? Why be like Jesus when we can force dogma down everyone’s throats (like the Pharisees!!)?
Disclaimer
As with my previous post, I feel the need to put a disclaimer here. I hate politics. I do not see social justice as something purely political (it shouldn’t be, at all), but in this day and time it is. I do not align with or endorse either major political parties in the United States. The church wants so desperately for church and state to be united. There is a separation of powers for a reason, as I have alluded to in this post. My primary criticism is of how the church makes everything about politics in the United States.
1. Scott David Allen, Why Social Justice is not Biblical Justice: An Urgent Appeal to Fellow Christians in a Time of Social Crisis, 9. Credo House Publishers, 2020.
2. Paul, Shalom M. “Oracles against the Nations.” In Amos: A Commentary on the Book of Amos, edited by Frank Moore Cross, 81. 1517 Media, 1991. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvb936pp.9.