Tag: social justice

What Beck's Marching For: Making Social Justice Unjust

Posted on by

by Becky Garrison

Look for the words social justice or economic justice on your church website. If you find it, run as fast as you can. –Glenn Beck, March 2, 2010

Since Beck uttered this and related comments on his radio show, much ink has been spilled decrying his analysis of one of the basic tenets of Christian teaching. While The Catholic League came to Beck’s defense, “progressives” like Sojourners founder Jim Wallis suggested that viewers and advertisers instead leave Beck, though they later gave Beck some PR attention by placing him on the cover of Sojourners (September 2010.) Other progressive groups like Faithful America continue to mount campaigns against Beck’s rantings in the hopes such advocacy efforts will result in strategically placed media and will increase both the nonprofit’s political profile and donor base.

But the battle to defame “social justice” is as old as the New Testament itself, a point made by Fr. James Martin, author of The Jesuit’s Guide to Almost Everything, on the Colbert Report last March. Martin describes how throughout the gospels, ”Jesus choose to be poor not only to show us what it means to live simply but also to show God’s love for the poor.” Continue Reading →

Have Missions Forgotten their Purpose?

Posted on by

From Brent McCracken’s recent post at Relevant magazine about what he sees as a renewed need for old-school evangelism in mission work:

I’m all for social justice. I’m passionate about it. Christians have to be serving people and loving them not just in word but in deed. But man, if I hear another well-fed, Toms-wearing evangelical kid quote St. Francis (“preach the Gospel always, and if necessary, use words”) one more time as a justification for their unwillingness to utter a word to anyone about Christ as the one true hope, I don’t know what I’ll do.

It’s an ongoing debate in missiology: Should missionaries in foreign countries prioritize meeting physical needs (food, water, social justice, development) before they preach the gospel, or should evangelism always be given primacy?

To me, the debate is silly. Can’t we do both simultaneously? Can’t we serve others and meet their circumstantial needs while at the same time telling them about Jesus? Yes, we should be in Africa building water wells, or in Haiti building schools, but what’s the harm in mentioning along the way that we are Christians acting as the church, loving the world because God loved it?

Continue Reading →

Equivocating Poverty

Posted on by

From Peter Laarman’s post at Religion Dispatches, “Taking Back ‘Big Government Liberalism'”:

So here is my question for religious liberals and moderates [who] really do know what the Bible says: Do you care enough about the poor and vulnerable to declare yourself an unabashed Big Government supporter? Because equivocation on this one equals suffering and death.

Continue Reading →

Jim Wallis, Between a Wall and Glenn Beck

Posted on by

Despite calls from sponsors to disinvite Jim Wallis as keynote speaker at next week’s Lifest, an Evangelical music event in Wisconsin that attracts tens of thousands of young attendees, the organizers of the event have decided to keep him on.  One sponsor, radio station Q90 FM, chose to end their support of the event after 12 years of continuous annual sponsorship.  Said station general manager, Mike LeMay, about Wallis and his organization Sojourners: Continue Reading →

Common Good Death Camps

Posted on by

Yesterday Glenn Beck struck out at Simon Greer, President and CEO of Jewish Funds for Justice for his recent statement of support for government as a tool for protecting and facilitating the common good in society. Beck quoted a statement by Greer then added: “This leads to death camps. A Jew, of all people, should know that. This is exactly the kind of talk that led to the death camps in Germany. Put humankind and the common good first.” Continue Reading →