Part 17. The Pursuit of Social Justice (3)

Campaigning for change.

Christians have been accused of interfering in politics. When Faith in the City was published some politicians rushed to advise the Church of England to 'stick to saving souls and leave the politics to us'.  In the UK this attitude is deeply ingrained and with it the assertion that faith is a private matter and should be kept there.

Christians are only too well aware of political failure as they seek to mitigate the effects of policies causing poverty, poor health services  poor education and the rest resulting in misery, oppression and deprivation. Being on the front line is it any wonder Christians challenge politicians to deal with the causes of deprivation and oppression. Campaigning, lobbying, call it what you will requires,  to be successful, specific skill sets with which some churches are uncomfortable.

In the Old Testament there is recognition of social and economic inequality and the need take action to tackle the issues and not merely mitigate the effects.

Leviticus 19: 9-15 contains the following:

"When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest.  Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and alien. Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight. Do not put a stumbling-block in front of the blind. Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favouritism to the great, but judge your neighbour fairly.

in Leviticus 1918 we read: love your neighbour as yourself.  This we have noted before is the second Great Commandment. The two Great Commandments fulfill all the Law and Prophets.

In Isaiah we read the following:

Seek justice, encourage the oppressed.  Defend the cause of the fatherless,  plead the case of the widow. (1:17)

Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees  to deprive the poor of their rights and withold justice from the oppressed of my people. (10:1-2)

With righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. (11:4)

I believe it is correct to state that the approach adopted in the Old Testament is not articulated so explicitly in the New Testament, but as noted before it is not entirely absent. One suggested reason for this is that as Rome was an occupying power little could be done to effect social and economic change.

I remind you that I am not a theologian and am putting forward my own personal opinions. I put forward the following idea for your consideration.

Jesus inaugurated the Kingdom of God and in so doing challenged the religious leaders of his day. He had no desire to challenge the Roman authorities on economic and social issues as this might be perceived as the coming of the warrior-king Messiah, which clearly Jesus was not. Nevertheless  the call to action to free the oppressed and downtrodden is there to be acted upon by Christians as we seek to love our neighbour.

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