Ultimately, injustice isn’t a social problem. It is a moral problem. Injustice exists because we are all fallen, sinful, selfish people. The only solution is a personal, heart-level transformation, not just for a particular group of so-called “oppressors,” but for everyone.
Followers of Jesus Christ must never be complicit in an ideology that encourages the dehumanization of our neighbors, particularly when the dehumanization is based on an immutable characteristic such as skin color.
Even as social justice ideology elevates “micro” injustices beyond all sense of proportion, it ignores or downplays major injustices. Abortion, the most serious injustice of our generation, has legally eliminated more than 60 million unborn human beings since 1973. Yet it is widely held to be a positive moral good.
In an appalling irony, this moral reasoning has made abortion the leading cause of death for black lives in America. Every year, well in excess of a quarter of a million unborn black children are lost through abortion. In New York City, more black babies are aborted than are born alive. This is justice?
In reaction, the temptation for opponents is to write-off Christian efforts to “engage the culture” or “transform the culture” as an unbiblical distraction from our spiritual purpose and mission – to save souls for heaven. This world is going to hell, so why bother trying to reform or change it for the better? Again, this attitude is antisocial justice. It is not probiblical worldview.
Ideological social justice actually values uniformity, paradoxically, in the name of diversity. There is no unity-diversity balance in this worldview. The affirmation and value of “diversity” is actually strictly limited to only a few select categories. Beyond these, there is stifling pressure to conform. The diversity that is affirmed is group difference, not individual difference, and even among groups, not all group differences are equally celebrated – or even tolerated.
Darrow Miller is fond of saying, “If the church fails to disciple the nation, the nation will disciple the church.” Someone is always actively impacting culture. If it isn’t the followers of Jesus, it will be, by default, those who adhere to another worldview.