So Mr. Glenn Beck stirred the theological waters recently,
weighing in on Churches that openly support or promote "social justice" or "economic justice" as part of their mission. His take?
"I'm begging you, your right to religion and freedom to exercise religion and read all of the passages of the Bible as you want to read them and as your church wants to preach them . . . are going to come under the ropes in the next year. If it lasts that long it will be the next year. I beg you, look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!"
Later, Beck held up cards, one with a hammer and sickle and other with a swastika. "Communists are on the left, and the Nazis are on the right. That's what people say. But they both subscribe to one philosophy, and they flew one banner. . . . But on each banner, read the words, here in America: 'social justice.' They talked about economic justice, rights of the workers, redistribution of wealth, and surprisingly, democracy."
Now this is going to sound odd coming from me -- in one respect, Mr. Beck is correct. There is a history in modern times of
Liberation Theology which has a decidedly Marxist bent to it -- and it has strong critics within the Christian community, especially for its focus upon institutional change and criticisms of Church hierarchy. The current Pope, when he was Cardinal Ratzinger, issued direct condemnations of various elements within Liberation Theology.
But the matter also interests me as a Jew because within Judaism there is a concept of
Tikkun Olam which literally means "World Repair". Originally, it applied to creating social policies to protect the vulnerable and for individuals to act to repair sin in the world through the enactment of
mitzvot. Modern interpretations of the concept still emphasize the "good deeds" aspect of mitzvot, but in a more temporal sense -- it is the responsibility of observant Jews to "repair" the world, spiritually AND temporally.
And it certainly seems like a valuable role for spiritual leadership -- whether a Church or a Synagogue or Mosque or Temple...providing comfort to the needy both spiritually AND physically seems well aligned with the teachings of most of the world's faiths.
So -- set aside his normal, bloviating style and fondness for scaring people...is Mr. Beck right? Are churches that include language about social and economic "justice" moving towards a dangerous form of collective authoritarianism? Are they running counter to the Church's professed purpose in the world? Or are they advocating a natural extension of religion's concern with the human condition?
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