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faith and social justice

 

I think that we should take part in society by working for justice, righteousness and equality in every sector of society.

•     We should struggle for the dignity of people.

•     We should struggle for human rights and freedom.

•     Wherever there is injustice, we should work hard to bring about justice.

•     Wherever there is exploitation, we should bring about redemption.

•     Wherever there is hatred, we should bring about love... etc.

Pittiporn Promagorn, Thailand

 

Man must be valued. Christians believe that God has sent His son to die for men. Therefore, man has to be treated with respect and care. His welfare is to be safeguarded. Our faith is in a God who values men so much that He sacrificed His son for their sins and the consequences. This has a most revolutionary implication against the worldly paradise in which we see exploitation of men by men and the inhuman manner in which the majority of people in the world are living. The Christian faith centered on love stands in revolutionary opposition to these realities. The Christian therefore while witnessing these realities must voice his opposition against such dehumanized and anti-human practices. People have to be aware of their active but also passive participation in these dehumanizing practices. Only through an acceptance of Jesus in terms of what he thought and stood for is it possible for man to bring about a change that

 

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needs to happen if man desires to get out of the rot in which he finds himself in the world today.

K. Thia, Malaysia

 

In Indonesia today as in other countries, we are experiencing many social, economic, political, religious and cultural problems. Even after thirty-three years of independence, we have not been able to solve the problems of the poor people. We see injustice in many fields; we see poverty in the villages, and the problem of unemployment is increasing year after year. We live in the midst of such problems.

As a Christian, I want to work hard to change the conditions of present Indonesia, to make it better for the poor and the underprivileged. In doing this, I know I have to make sacrifices many times. I hope my Christian faith will give me the courage to act.

T. Kaunang, Indonesia

 

Faith is a life commitment to God who is the Creator of the universe; to Christ who became man and is the Lord of all; to the Holy Spirit who dwells and works among all mankind.

Faith is total obedience to God who sends His people of faith into the world to do what Jesus was sent to do. Jesus was sent into the world to serve, to suffer, to struggle and to reconcile for the kingdom of God. The people of faith are called by Jesus to follow Him and to practice His standards of justice, righteousness, honesty, human dignity and compassion in the world, which does not accept Him.

Social action is part of the mission the people of faith who are responsible to participate in their own contexts.

Lo Lung Kwong, Hong Kong

 

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There are many meanings ascribed to faith, but the most meaningful could be drawn out from the experiences of the so called heroes of faith. The experience of Abraham tells us that to have faith is to depart from the secured state of life towards a vast insecurity of existence, to be able to reach the unreachable and to believe the unbelievable. This means to have faith does not mean to enjoy the blessings of life alone but rather to get out from the contentment of the self and get involved in an activity and process that will make people whole, to make them see and understand life in its totality.

Also, the experience of Paul tells us that faith means to be able to speak boldly about the truth. Practically, both the experiences of Abraham and Paul mean that to have faith is not to be detached from the realities of this world, but rather to sink and swim amidst those social situations to affect the true meaning of life - love, freedom and justice. As a whole, to have faith means not to escape the process of getting involved in the act of loving others.

The task, therefore, before us is to articulate properly the faith in us and to express our passionate faithfulness and radical obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ.  Our faith must be expressed on the basis of the actual historical, political and cultural situations. For it is only through this means by which we can claim that we are faithful to Christ arid to his demands of following a course of action which would lead to effective and relevant witnessing.

Josue Florendo, Philippines

 

Like any other religions, Christianity speaks of man as the supreme subject. Buddhism has the same message. Islam speaks of brotherhood and looking after the well-being of others. The Old Testament through Amos speaks against those who "turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth. They hate them who reprove in the gate exactions of wheat, you have built houses as stone, but shall not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards but shall not drink wine" And he exhorts, "but let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an overflowing stream."

 

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In the New Testament, the same theme is found in Jesus' proclamation: "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."

Injustice indeed is an old issue and it is only through the works of faith that justice may prevail. Faith works by analyzing the social situation and having a critical reflection on what is going on. One author said, with whom I agree, that the response to faith demands righteousness to God and of justice towards our neighbor particularly to the poor, the oppressed, the orphans and the powerless. Faith stirs men to be steadfast in love and hope. Faith produces good works even to care for the prisoners and to take risks if they arise.

Christian youth must exercise faith through works and must share the teaching of Christ. We should make ourselves instruments of justice. Justice shall prevail if we speak and proclaim what we believe is truth and if we involve ourselves in the struggles of the day.

Emma Cantor, Philippines

 

Politics is controlled by the governing class.

If governed well, problems do not arise. But when politics is not well controlled, social problems arise.  Humans themselves make the problems. Yet the governing class does not solve these problems. Because they manage politics, they cannot perceive the problems well. Instead they fall into conservatism.

But human beings must solve the problems. I believe that those who can solve such problems are Christians. True Christians are not ambitious for power or wealth, but offer mind and action given by God. This is the mission of Christians: to take charge of solving wrong politics. Such mission means action for the oppressed. The mission for action is expressed in justice, equality and liberty, which are the same actions of Jesus, as seen in the Bible. So we as Christians try to unify the world through such a mission. Thus, I think, Christian organizations such as the SCM are quite naturally involved in action.

Yoo Jung Sook, Korea

 

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I think it would be dangerous to separate action, which is social and thought that is existential. As can be seen from the Camus-Sartre dispute, regardless of whether one is theistic or atheistic, will not the existential reality by itself be buried within the individual? This also relates to the meditation and unwordly attitude toward existence that the ancient Indian Buddhists had, apparent in their "Vessel of God" attitude. I think that religion should remain within the actual world. The contemplation of how one should live must be done in solitude, and individuality should be respected. On the other hand, it should not make one lose his unity or activeness in society. That is also a matter that relates to how one concerns subjectively with history.

If one were to say it in Christian terms, since this world is conceived with the realization of the "Kingdom of God" on earth, the possibility of the "Kingdom of God" must be entrusted to the conscience of every individual. Thus, inevitably, my own response to the present condition of suppressed human rights, and the mechanism, which produces such a state, is born. While religion on the one side, impresses its image on every possible area of society, it also tends to gradually lose the continuous progressiveness that it had at birth, as it involves itself with worldly society. From there a situation is produced in which the man who is religiously faithful is not necessary the man who is interested and involved with society and the world. I think that the present situation requires that one confronts to the limit every absolute to a degree that will allow for no self preservation. Through the intense struggle between oneself and the absolute, it will become apparent which process is to be used to achieve social justice.

Shiro Yoshimura, Japan

 

I think that the Christian response to social 'justice and needs comes on two levels.

First, in response to human suffering, Jesus responded with more than mere kindness and good works. He did so with firm, meaningful actions. He cured the blind, the crippled, the leper; he gave comfort to the needy and the poor; he dealt with the virtuous and the wicked. In doing this, Jesus established a strong principle of justice – the spirit of

 

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love and charity, of righteousness and equality, of physical and social services. This same direction is the basis of my relating my faith to the present social setting and responding to the needs therein.

Secondly, the scripture points to several kinds of responses to human suffering. There is, for example, personal charity and social response. The political and social life of modern man calls for different kinds of response seen from the Christian point of view. Social injustices cannot be overcome by simply multiplying individual acts of personal charity. Christians today see that they cannot merely be responsible to others individually.

Christian responsibility also lies on the levels of social and political institutions, social customs, law and order, welfare organizations, etc. Such structures must be made truly humane to help set up human growth and justice.

Martin Yakoppa, Papua New Guinea

 

Within the nation, society is suffering from many social evils. This is aided by the political instability in the nation. The people finding an unstable federal government are reaching out for the comfort of provincialism. Traffic of goods from the producers to the market is reduced to create an apparent shortage, which increases the prices of commodities and encourage black – marketing.

To help solve the problems there should be a movement for educating the Christian community. A general uplift of the social position of Christians and others is required. The separation and discrimination of rural and urban sectors should be removed. Leaders of the church should be just and should care for the members even in their financial distress.

The Pakistan SCM is one of the very few organizations, which attempt to struggle amidst this chaos. It is trying to spread its branches over the country. It is involved in a number of activities addressed to understanding the situation in the country.

John Shaffaq, Pakistan

 

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Faith in Jesus Christ compels us by its very nature with a vital imperative for action. Jesus Christ the Man is also God. He lives. As we look to him for strength, guidance and direction, our faith is vindicated daily.  Faith in God does not mean mere pietism, but neither does it mean only radical activism, socio-political action attacking the roots of entrenched social evils. Rather we are called to grasp both poles simultaneously relinquishing neither. We should view the former as the root of the Christian life and the latter as its fruits.

A dynamic faith depends upon our belief and obedience to the whole Gospel for the whole man. Because human life has a personal and social component, conversion understood as a personal advantage does not exist. Our faith calls us to form part of the movement of God's ministry of love to the world. We should reject the narrow abstract and often nebulous concept of life to the more difficult and demanding meaningful action towards the exposure and destruction of the roots of social injustice. Thus, faith in Christ demands that we attack out of love and compassion those evils and structures, which through their oppression and subjugation make humans – persons, people – less than whole as God in creating them purposed them to be.

Navi Naisoro, Fiji

 

We mostly relate our faith to the questions pertaining to the conditions after death and forget to relate our faith to the questions and issues relating to a person's life after Birth. We have made the kingdom of God a thing of the other-world, of the future-world and forget to implement "Thy kingdom come on earth" and to start it right now by transforming our world into a new human society, a new creation.

In order to live out our faith in the changed world, we have to discover new styles of spirituality and piety, new frontiers of missions and new attitudes of life.  We have to enlarge our concepts and meaning of our doctrines and dogmas and to redefine the meaning of sin, salvation and incarnation in the context and relevance of the new human situation. "The faith of our fathers" can become a "living faith of our generation" only if we allow it to become an effective instrument for the transformation of our church and society.

Anand Spencer, India

 

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Faith must not be abstract but must be concrete. This means that we must give expression to our faith in daily life. Faith must be active and dynamic. This dynamism and activity, will naturally be realized through participation in people's struggles against exploitation and oppression. This is where faith is related to social justice.

In the Christian experience, we are confronted with the idea of sin. Sin is not an abstract term, but one, which covers those acts of people against other people, which endanger their basic freedoms and lives. Sin is not confined to the individual, but is extended to the community and to society.

As I see it, the achievement of social justice is an ongoing struggle in society. This struggle cannot be reduced to the level of politics and economics. It is deeply personal as well.

With regard to justice in society, the first question asked is: Can there be social justice in a society, which is based on the capitalist system – a system in which social injustice is inherent, as it is founded on and thrives on the exploitation and inequality of people?

The exploitation of one individual by another, the exploitation of one class by another, whereby the rich minority thrives on the impoverished majority is the system on which capitalistic society is based. This is injustice, this is sin.

Only, too often our faith has become far removed from earthly labor, toil and sweat. Just as much as the worker is alienated from the final product of his labor in the capitalist system is our faith removed from earthly labor. With the rise of capitalism, we have ceased to realize that earth with all its vast resources, belonging not to man but to God, and in the frenzied rush to exploit earth’s potential resources, man has forgotten that what is God's belongs to all mankind and not only to a few privileged few.

The three main categories of people who suffer social injustice in this exploitative and repressive society are the students, the workers and the peasants.

Nelun Gunasekera, Sri Lanka

 

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If we have faith in the sovereign God, then we can be free to learn about his world and his people from anyone. And given the mutuality as the basis of our relationship, then we will be humble enough to consider and be affected by the ideas of anyone who speaks about our world as God's world. So when someone like Marx suggests that though religion is a real suppression of real suffering, it does nevertheless turn people's attention away from the causes of their suffering and thereby prevents a real and just solution to their problems. I would suggest that Christians consider that Marx may just be saying something. If we then look at the Bible, we may then discover that it has something to say on these matters, too.

If we are expected to work for justice, we cannot be satisfied with our understanding. We must ask as to exactly what injustices are present, what the operable structures are in this oppression, and who are the actors involved.  Again, we learn from anyone who speaks on these matters, except that now we have a bias against such ideas, which help support the interests of those who oppress.

Still we have not gone far enough. Does the Bible compel us to work for justice? Understanding that this is the case and doing our analysis of the present injustices does not amount to practice. Knowledge is never enough; naming a demon in social matters is never sufficient for exorcism.

Clifford Holdom, Australia

 

To have faith is to hope. This means of course that Christians are by no means the only people whose social action can be said to be based on faith. Indeed many Marxists are now affirming that the basis of Marxism is, in Ernst Block's words, "the principle of hope". If this is so, and my experience tends to suggest that it is, then Christians must be challenged to identify that which distinguishes their faith from that of non-Christians. In the face of this challenge, however, the Christian response must always be that our faith is grounded upon a concrete historical reality – the reality of the person of Jesus Christ and his resurrection.

The three features of faith mentioned above find fulfillment in our faith in Christ: our faith

 

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in him gives us the supreme basis for our social and revolutionary action.

That the world can be transformed is a conviction we derive from our understanding of Jesus' life, for in him we see the power of God's love, and from his actions, we witness the power of that life transforming individuals and groups of individuals about him. In particular, he pointed to the poor, the meek, the downtrodden and the dispossessed as the vehicles of God's love – the bearers of God's kingdom. The downtrodden, the exploited and the oppressed have been chosen as the bearers of God's liberating and transforming presence in history.

Vernon Hughes, Australia

 

The Incarnation, which is central to Christianity, proclaims a God who is working in the world, in collaboration with his people, to fashion history. Christians are called to work, wherever they are, for the betterment of society.

The Church is challenged to work for the liberation of all people – of the poor, of the oppressed, and, as well, as of the oppressor. It is challenged to be active in society, to shape the future according to the model of the Kingdom of God.

But at the same time, Christianity, as we understand it, proclaims that mankind's future is greater than its accomplishments. Mankind is more than simply the sum of all its members. Salvation (or liberation, to give it its more relevant description) is not dependent entirely on our efficiency and success. Our accomplishment is not the final gauge of success. There is another element involved, the element of grace, or God's gracious activity on behalf of his people.

The message of the Church, of all committed Christians, is a witness to this activity, to God's activity with, and for, his people. It seems that this can best be accomplished in small communities. Groups of committed Christians need to reflect on their own experience and witness. They need to continually subject themselves to critical evaluation and reassess what they are doing. They need to work with, and for, others who are oppressed in any way.

John & Maryanne L’strange, New Zealand

 

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When we talk of social justice, then, each person must think on what he can get out of society and what he can contribute to society. If everybody would take a part in helping his fellowmen, then there will be social justice. But social justice also means that we must protest against any kind of injustice. For in every society, there are people who do things only for themselves, who would lead the whole society for their selfish ends. If people shall protest against this practice and destroy powers of a few selfish people and build good relationship among the rest of the people, that is social justice.

The problem of social injustice is old as we when we study the Old Testament. We read of powerful men sucking the blood of weak people in different ways. They take over the lands and do not give them exact wages for their labor. The same is happening in our present age.

What is the connection between faith and social justice? Faith without work is dead. We may have much faith but if we do not work accordingly, then, it is of not much use. If I want to stay in society, I must have faith that will help me attain good relationship with the people.  I must also work with the people so that there shall be social justice. With my faith then I work to fight the selfishness and injustices in society.

Louis Murmu, Bangladesh

 

While faith determines self-understanding first, it also covers our understanding of society, because it is what sets the values in our world. And this is what sets us in action towards social questions. Such action comes from our understanding of social phenomena as not determined a priori nor mechanically by many social and natural conditions, but as something changeable and requiring us to try to struggle for a resolution.

Such understanding reflects a positive view of the world and of self-understanding and this in turn is related to an understanding of world history. From this point of view, history is not circulating, aimless or meaningless. It is something created and led by a personal Being, which means we are parti-

 

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cipating in the midst of history through serving that Being's will. This world, created and blessed by God is now drowned into confusion because of sin, and must be renewed to become the Kingdom of God, his sovereignty.

Two questions come up at this point. First, we have to increase our sensitivity to be able to recognize the social questions that are disturbing or interfering with the realization of the Kingdom, God's justice. The other, lying in our self-understanding, i.e. we must be aware of our human limitations and the qualitative difference between this world and the Kingdom, so that we do not become ego-centered and arrogant in our acts whereby our social relationships are destroyed again while we are trying to do our best.

So, we face our two problems, but the root of both is one- to build the right relationship between ourselves and society. On one hand, we must continue to be involved in social actions. Our ability to recognize realities, injustices, can be strengthened by acting on and being acted upon from outside realities.

Masumi Nakahara, Japan