Justice and the lost art of political debate
For twenty years, a political philosopher named Michael Sandel has taught a course at Harvard simply called “Justice.” It’s been so wildly popular that it became the first Harvard course to be aired on public television and available for free online. I just read the bestseller he wrote, Justice: What’s the Right Thing To Do?, which takes some of the key themes of the course and, presumably, puts the proverbial cookies on a shelf low enough for folks like me to reach them.
Drawing on philosophers both ancient and modern, he wrestles through real life dilemmas that happen all around us, and shows that there are three main ways of thinking about justice: justice as maximizing welfare, justice as respecting freedom, and justice as promoting virtue. We hold our views, in many cases, with unexamined and unarticulated assumptions, which goes a long way in explaining why political and social debates often turn so nasty, even among people who generally like each other.
Of today’s most divisive issues, Sandel says: “Lying just beneath the surface, with passions raging on all sides, are big questions of moral philosophy, big questions of justice. But we too rarely articulate and defend and argue about those big moral questions in our politics.”
Sandel says that most political discourse -- in mass media especially -- pits the welfare camp against the freedom camp. You probably know with which of the two camps you generally align. But he proposes a version of the third view of justice, that of promoting virtue. I won’t go into detail explaining what he means by that; you’ll need to read the book. Or better yet, take the course!
Here Sandel introduces some of the themes he covers in the book, using a fascinating golf quandary as his case study.
Beyond Charity: What is Christian community development? (part 2/5)
In the late 80s, John Perkins gathered a group of Christians who wanted to work together to serve the US urban poor, not from a distance, but by living among them and sharing their joys and sorrows. Out of this the Christian Community Development Association was born. Before a synopsis of what Christian community development (CCD) is all about, here are three things it’s not:
It’s not charity. Charity is rooted in good intentions, but as Perkins writes in the book, “acts of charity can be dangerous because givers can feel good about actions that actually accomplish very little, or even create dependency.” While charity has its place, it’s best seen as a starting point and never the finish line.
It’s not welfare. Too often, Perkins and others argue, government welfare programs are counterproductive by disincentivizing a healthy work ethic and family cohesiveness. While most would agree that there ought to be a safety net for those who truly come on hard times, it does seem clear that welfare-as-usual isn’t getting the job done.
It’s not a quick fix. There’s a big difference between organizing a clean-up day in a rough part of town and actually addressing the root causes that made it a rough part of town in need of cleaning up. Long term change requires trusting relationships to be established, which requires a lot of time.
So if CCD isn’t charity, welfare, or a quick fix scheme, what is it? Well, it has eight core components, which are articulated quite well here. But of those eight, the big three are these:
Relocation. This means “moving into a needy community so that its needs become our own needs.” It’s essentially saying that the city is not a lost cause and it means becoming actual neighbors to the urban poor. It’s rooted in the example of Jesus in the Incarnation, not loving us from a safe distance but becoming flesh and blood like us and moving into the neighborhood.
Reconciliation. There are all kinds of barriers in our world, but as Christians we are to be ambassadors of reconciliation. “The power of authentic reconciliation between us and God, and between people of every culture and race is an essential component of effective ministry in our hurting world.”
Redistribution. This is about far more than dollars. It’s about joyfully sharing all of who we are and all we have, recognizing that we are primarily stewards -- not owners -- of the gifts God has given us. When you think about it, this is the natural next step once we have relocated to a place of need and been reconciled with God and neighbor.
I hope you see the contrast between these two sets of three. Though all too often we act as if good intentions or massive top-down programs or quick fixes will work to bring people out of poverty, reality seldom supports such a view. Rather, it's going to take a lot of time, a lot of love, and in a lot of cases, relocation, reconciliation and redistribution. And if it is to be Christian, it requires not only a certain kind of person, but a certain kind of church. We’ll take a look at that next time.
Seek Social Justice (Part Four)
[Part 4 of 6 in my review of the Seek Social Justice study from the Heritage Foundation and WORLD Magazine]
The fourth section of the study is called Restoring Dignity and Purpose: The Importance of Work, and focuses, as the title suggests, on the importance of employment in any healthy and just society. The focus in the video is on the importance of work specifically for men getting out of prison, but the principles apply broadly.
They rightly point out that according to the Bible, all of us are made in the image of God, the Creator, and that doing something creative and productive with our lives is part of what we were created to do. Work is not a curse or a punishment; it’s a good thing. That's a pretty important reminder, and has profound implications if we really believe it. So the question of vocation arises: what has God designed us to do, for his glory and for the common good? This is a good question for all of us to consider from time to time - not just those who are working to get back on their feet after time in prison.
The core message in this section is that whereas welfare programs (and the prison system, for that matter) dehumanize people, strip people of their God-given dignity, and instill an attitude of passivity, work does just the opposite. It gives people meaning, it benefits families and communities, and it allows people to give back to society rather than just taking, taking, taking.
It struck me while working through the study that it’s all too easy to go to one extreme or another. This study is clearly written from a certain political perspective, but no one’s immune from this tendency, I don’t think. 
It’s easy for progressives to judge anti-welfare conservatives as heartless and greedy, or for conservatives to blame progressives for pushing top-down programs that dehumanize, rob dignity, and further cement people in cycles of poverty. It gets pretty ugly, really. The Bible doesn’t do that. The Bible upholds the dignity of work, of everyone doing their part, but it doesn’t allow for the pursuit of wealth to go unchecked.
Consider this perspective from the book of Proverbs: “[G]ive me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the LORD?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.� Neither poverty nor riches are held up as the ideal; both can be tremendously dangerous and destructive for individuals, families, and societies. Rather, we ask God for enough: enough to provide for our families, enough to share with our neighbors, enough to care for those in need. I don’t sense that many of us live from this perspective of enough, honestly. It doesn't come naturally to me, though I believe it to be biblical. And it’s certainly not the principle our economy is built upon.
Okay, deep breath...
I realize I might be stepping on some toes here, but capitalism and free markets as we know them today are not held up in the Bible as examples to follow. They may be the best options we currently have and they may certainly embody important biblical principles, but they are not divinely inspired. Have I lost you yet? As Christians, the responsibility to be good stewards in all areas of life, to love our neighbor, to do justice - these must take precedence over every ideology and philosophy and system, including free markets, whenever they come into conflict. I wish the study would have gone so far as to say so explicitly.
While the authors do concede the importance of political and economic systems guarding against abuses that happen because we are fallen, greedy people (as the roots of our current economic debacle make quite clear, incidentally), it is mentioned almost as an aside and the emphasis is overwhelmingly placed on free markets remaining free. Free markets create jobs, which create wealth, which creates dignity, which allows people to help others. I agree that markets have a lot of potential and in some cases, they do actually produce these desirable results.
Free market capitalism has created wealth with remarkable success and efficiency. No doubt about that. But social justice has by no means been its strong point. It wasn't designed to be.
The maximization of profit, for instance, is one of capitalism’s foundational principles. But if you follow the principle to its logical conclusion, it undermines precisely the positive things that this study claims work creates. Do you see what I mean? Would it be too much for someone to challenge the dehumanization that government welfare programs cause AND challenge the dehumanizing and unjust ramifications on large segments of society by the principle of the maximization of profit?
It's rare to hear such a consistent argument, though, perhaps because neither side of the dominant political debate finds such consistency convenient. But even better than consistent denouncements, I'd love to see more positive alternatives to current dehumanizing status quos in both business and government. I've touched on that in earlier parts of the series, and I am hopeful that through this curriculum many more 'free-market' Christians will be part of such positive alternatives. If we're truly more concerned with justice than with a certain political or economic ideology, it seems like a no-brainer, though admittedly much easier said than done.
Now, I’m not picking on work or on capitalism. I repeat: I AM NOT PICKING ON WORK OR ON CAPITALISM. Work is good and capitalism has great potential to address poverty. Faithful, discerning followers of Christ and compassionate people from all walks of life are experimenting with market-driven solutions to poverty and injustice. These efforts should be applauded and supported. But these innovative, entrepreneurial ones on the front lines will be the first to tell you, I think, that social justice won’t happen with business-as-usual. And while this study rightly emphasizes the need for people to be able to find work that promotes dignity and provides the means for providing for family and sharing with neighbor, I’m not sure the vision presented here goes far enough to tackle the weak spots and potentially quite destructive downfalls of capitalism as we know it.
The American Dream is compelling, but it is not the gospel. Jesus didn’t come preaching a slightly modified, baptized version of any economic system, be it capitalism or socialism or anarchism or mercantilism or any others. He came preaching the Kingdom, and no man-made economic system can handle the profound implications of that. May God grant us the grace to be faithful stewards, right where we are, with what we have, with who we are. May God grant us the grace to be gracious.
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