In my last post, I referred to the political perspective of a conference on justice and the church as "narrow, biased and antiquated". I realized later that I probably should clarify what I mean.
There are more than two streams of justice thought alive in the church. The stereotypic ones are those focused on peace-making and those focused on a strong national security. One is pacifist, the other more militaristic. Both are inadequate views of justice. More so as the world becomes increasingly flat; see Tom Friedman's The World is Flat for a fuller explanation.
From my perspective, I don't accept these simplistic abstractions. They are products of a political culture that wants to divide people in order to accord power to the most radical of the proponents of the ideology. And the church has played into this trap, and as a result it has become the handmaiden of political ideologues for whom the church is simply a source of money and influence. It is in large part why I am an political independent.
So, what should justice in the church be in the 21st century?
It is distracting and futile to wring our hands about the disparity between the global rich and poor. It is a reality. Penalizing the rich doesn't help the poor. It is about the transferring of wealth from one wealthy elite to another. The only solution is development. By development I mean creating the social, education, health and governmental infrastructures that enable small to medium size businesses to develop.
However, for this type of development to take place, ending the violence and conflict inherent in tribal societies will require military intervention. If you read Atlantic Monthly writer Robert Kaplan, you'll know that about half of the US military's work is in humanitarian aid.
Lastly, if we are to be a just society and a just church, it will begin with our own lives being models of justice. In reality, this is not something that we can do out of our own strength. It is a product of God's leading us to be the people we are call to be. It starts with our own humility that typically is hard won and rich in the kind of suffering that brings wisdom.
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