The Heart in the Matter

I note this week on several far right Christian websites a common recently minted definition of 'social justice,' as a synonym for socialism. One site claimed that environmentalism and social justice are 'antithectical to Biblical teaching.' This apparently coordinated attack reflects a split in evangelical ranks. One party claims any dilution of focus on anti-choice and opposition to gay marriage positions is outside acceptable bounds. Others claim, while not abandoning those positions, space for broader concerns. Perhaps, as it is found in so many human endeavors, the underlying causes in play are power and money.

I note another controversy this week when a Church of England clergyman said in an interview for Easter that while he agreed Jesus died on the Cross for our sins, rather than adhere to a teaching that God sent His Son to die such a horrific death, he preferred to think that God, Himself, died on the Cross in solidarity with a sufferring humanity. This clergyman was vociferously attacked by evangelicals, some of whom, it turned out later, admitted they'd never heard the interview.

Regardless, the battle itself emphasizes a central personal struggle that serves to drive most of what I read and write. As I've written before, the central identity I've held for most of my life is, indeed, as a man of social justice. Yet, decades of ministry amongst the poor, cumulating in the three years I managed a shelter, made me less sure I knew what I was doing was 'meet, right and so to do.' At Easter, especially, I can liken it to the times when God as man among us, doubted His mission, asking that the bitter cup be taken away, or why He was forsaken. I just don't know anymore if the services we provided to the poor helped or hurt them.

This is why the Libertarian materials I'm reading are attractive and seem to offer a way out. This worldview rejects coercion as the key to liberty. The most radical amongst them reject taxes. Others define coercion as only those laws that are directed specifically against one person or group so that as long as taxes are aimed at everyone more or less equally than they are not strictly coercive. This movement rejects war and a draft, and therefore split with conservatives during the Cold War, where militant anti-communism requires a State to include much centralized planning and a limited non-competitive free market to accomplish its goals. Though the demarcation lines between Libertarians and conservatives shift, I'd venture to say that Libertarians reject as coercive a Big Religion underlying a Big Government in ways such as legislating a Constitutional amendment to define a coercive constitution of marriage and family.

As a man who lives on three acres in the middle of the woods off a dirt road with no trash service, and wish to a great degree to be left alone, a Libertarian worldview has much appeal. I tread warily, though, when I seek to apply it towards that old central core identity, that of the social justice advocate. For some of the guests, there appeared to be no mental or physical reason they could not live a more positive life of less self-harm to themselves and others though they had court established freedoms to remain as is including no more than a 72 hour non-voluntary confinement to any psych ward (even if they desparately need more time). If a shelter was not there, would they become responsible contributing citizens? There were some, though, already too far gone, in alcohol/drug addictions, or mental and physical states, to care for themselves, let alone work or manage the challanges of life as do most other people.

The problem is how to distinguish between those groups of people. It's an ancient problem. In the 16th century, in England, in the time of the Reformation, welfare for the poor shifted from parish to Government. The State immediately tackled the problem by drafting poor laws and identifying those who qualified for assistance and those who did not. Nothing's changed. When it was felt that the poor had become to dependent in 20th century America, 'welfare to work,' laws were passed to quantify poverty and establish qualification limitations. I do not know the most current statisical results, whether more people propelled by the law, left welfare for work and are now independent, or whether more people dropped off the rolls into even more adject poverty.

When I find any theology or philosophy appealing on first glance, I start to search for the heart of the matter, the extent of its compassion. For example, I found Buddhism, in its abandonment of desire as the key to happiness, less compassionate than Christianity (a desire for more justice should make one unhappy). I find Libertarian materials intellectually attractive, yet I'm concerned there may be no provision for the poor without prospects, who for in many ways, shelters serve as hospices, providing palliative care until they die. When I examine the alternative discernments of that English clergyman, and his detractors, I find instinctively that I'm in the camp that holds grace, mercy, and solidarity in suffering, closer to the heart of the matter, than judgment, sin and what's theolologically described as penal punishment, for the absolution of our sins. It's the image of a lamb on the Cross rather than a Mel Gibsonian decimated personage that I find grasps and holds my heart, and provides impetus to show compassion and love in sacrfice for others.

I note this week, an article confirming that lawyers no longer frequently consult law reviews for an extensive analysis of cases rather than relying on faster web-based search engines. I reckon they're pressed for time but they sure are taking the fun out of it. Old fashioned searches of the mind and the heart, like Jacob wrestling with angels, that are prompted by unanswerable questions is an end in itself. I don't anticipate finding answers to questions I pose for myself, but I sure do love to do the research, and experience the rush and joy of holding a book that promises further knowledge along the road. The road must be free and compassionate; those two companions, at least I know for sure, must come along for the journey.