The deceptive policy called "social justice" exposed.

Whenever a church loosens it’s grip on scripture, worldly principles creep in, and unless they are quickly uprooted and removed, they will thrive and take it over like weeds in a neglected vegetable garden.  No good thing can come from cooperative relationships between the Church and the world in which the world dictates the terms.  It’s been said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and such is the case with the misguided ecumenical delusion called “social justice.” 

Nearly every liberal mainline church denomination today, has adopted social justice policies.  Liberals often confuse and mislead others by calling things what they are not, and social justice is another horrible example.  The reason for the use of this linguistic device is to deceive and confuse, and that lets the discerning man and woman know from whom the Left’s ungodly and unrighteous ideas originate. 

Social justice has been defined in a myriad of ways, among them are: “justice as fairness,” “equality of welfare and well-being without regard to gender, sexuality, religion, age, disability, location, class, or background,” and “equal access to community resources.”  It’s not a new philosophy, but merely a new label for an old dreadful scheme.  Social justice dates back to 1850 having been defined by the Catholic church as a virtue.  At first glance, social justice may indeed, seem like a virtue, but it’s application today is actually a cleverly disguised road to misery and national disaster.   

Ensuring that all people are treated equally under the law is a fundamental American principle that was first introduced to the world by the early Church and is certainly something that each of us should embrace on a personal level.  But where justice can be objectively codified, fairness is subjective and cannot be universally defined.  Social justice goes afoul when it empowers governments to impose equality of outcomes or wealth redistribution.  At this point, social justice is nothing more benevolent than institutionalized theft. 

The most common and visible contemporary application of the social justice effort is the on-going campaign to raise the minimum wage at the federal level to what is often described as a living wage.  The national living wage is a frequently promoted goal of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.  Artificially imposing mandatory minimum wage rates for unskilled employees always results in fewer numbers of those jobs, a net loss. 

Demands for equality of wages without regard to the amount of training, skill or education required by a particular occupation are doomed to fail.  Wealth redistribution is incompatible with the free market capitalism that has fueled American excellence, but it’s gaining support among the young and the thoughtless despite its present and visibly destructive effect on the U.S. economy.

It’s worth stating that anytime the word justice is modified by descriptors such as: social, environmental, racial or economic, injustice is the certain result.  The fact that these corrupt and deceptive policies are thriving in churches is prima facie evidence that mainline denominations lack sound leadership and have abandoned the authority of scripture.  Social justice is no more noble than socialism at best; communism at worst.  It is unworkable and a dangerous and destructive focus for any Christian organization. 

One primary reason that no Christian organization should give consideration to social justice is that the task of imposing wealth redistribution is always given to state or federal governments.  We have all seen countless examples of how incompetent state and federal governments are at dispensing aid to individuals.  Governments cannot make effective charities nor should they attempt to.  It’s the responsibility of individual Christians and other people of faith to provide personal help and assistance to those in need, and that’s a task that no government can adequately perform.  It’s precisely the personal involvement that makes it possible for both parties to be blessed--the one in need and the one who meets the need.

Many people favor social justice efforts as long as someone wealthier than them is the object of seizure.  It takes no special intuition to recognize that if social justice were to be imposed at a global level, nearly everyone in the western world would have to become much poorer and less productive in order to achieve economic equity worldwide.  Such a practice not only kills the spirit of generosity in the giver, but promotes a sense of entitlement among the recipients. 

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill described socialism as “the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance and the gospel of envy.”  He said, “The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.” 

It’s ironic that at a time when the western world has just witnessed the great socialist powers of the east collapse and fall, we in the west are beginning to see our own people embrace the very philosophical illusions that destroyed them.  But then, we live in a culture that stubbornly refuses to accept the wisdom of any prior generation.

Scripture warns us that “friendship with the world is hatred toward God.”  The adoption of worldly liberal doctrines by the Church is responsible for all kinds of apostasy today.  By whatever new name it may be called, “social justice” is by its very nature, injustice, and can never be transformed into a righteous act or noble effort.