This Isn’t About Wallis vs. Beck -- It’s About Biblical Social Justice from SOJO 15APR10

Glenn Beck continues his attacks on Jim Wallis and Sojourners / SOJO and the concept of religious social justice. Here is the latest article from SOJO, click the header to see the video clip of the Washington Post interview with Jim Wallis. Last is the SOJO article 'Glen Beck as Theologian' addressing his manipulation of 2 Thessalonias 3 "For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.” By the by, Beck still refuses the to meet with Jim Wallis and have an open, public discussion on social justice.

This post was written in response to the Washington Post On Faith question of the week, which they titled, "Wallis vs. Beck: The politics of social justice." It asked, "How does the pursuit of justice fit into your faith? Is 'social justice' an ideology or a theology?"

I’m glad for the discussion, but “Wallis vs. Beck” really isn’t the point. Over several weeks, Glenn Beck has attacked the term and concept of “social justice”; likened it to Marxism, Communism, and Nazism; told people to leave their churches if the words even appeared on congregational Web sites; and instructed Christians to “turn in” their pastors and priests to church authorities if they preached or taught “social justice.” That’s what he said, and is still saying. I felt it necessary to respond when I heard that a Fox News personality had attacked the heart of the mission statement of Sojourners: “to articulate the biblical call to social justice.” He only attacked me when I challenged his misrepresentations and distortions of a central Christian teaching that is integral to biblical faith.

If Beck had merely attacked “big government” again, as he does each night, or just expressed his strong libertarian philosophy that government bears no responsibility for issues like poverty, or re-stated his preference of personal responsibility over social responsibility for solving societal problems, nobody would have even responded -- it wouldn’t have been news. But what he did say, and continues to say, is that “social justice” is both a dangerous and destructive teaching. The term continues to be derided on his famous blackboard, along with whoever challenges his ideas.

While I have agreed that cause of social justice has sometimes been politicized for ideological purposes by both Left and Right, I continue to defend the term itself as biblical and at the center of church teachings across the centuries and our many traditions (including Beck’s own Mormon Church, as many of its leaders have pointed out). And I have been heartened to see Christians of diverse political views and voting patterns rise to defend the integrity of social justice as core to the gospel.

While Beck has yet to respond to a standing invitation to a public dialogue about what social justice really means, his comments have already sparked a broad national conversation -- as is well represented here in the On Faith discussion. Ironically, because of Beck’s nightly assaults, I haven’t seen such a national conversation in years about the meaning of biblical social justice. Several heads of church denominations have called to tell me that their pastors are actually preaching more about social justice because Glenn Beck has told them not to, and that thousands of pastors have turned themselves in to them (as church authorities) as “social justice pastors.” In addition, more than 50,000 have turned themselves in to Beck (literally overflowing his inbox).

God indeed has a sense of humor and I guess we should now thank the polarizing pundit for sparking such a rich and robust public debate. So “What is biblical social justice?” Let the conversation continue, with or without Glenn Beck.


Glenn Beck as Theologian
by Chuck Gutenson 04-15-2010

http://blog.sojo.net/2010/04/15/glenn-beck-as-theologian/

Did you know that scripture says, “there is no God?” Yep, it sure does, right there in Psalm 14:1, right after the words “The fool has said in his heart…” Interesting, isn’t it? How easy it is to pick and choose verses or parts of verses and make the Bible say just about anything we want. If one takes the last half of this verse, you get precisely the opposite meaning than the text intends to convey.

It is very easy to do this, and one does not need to cut apart single verses. One can even make scripture say something very different than a broader textual intent would convey by taking whole verses, even whole passages, out of context. Consider, for example, the recent pronouncement by Glenn Beck that the solution to social justice concerns is that Jesus says “get a job.” To buttress his case, he cites 2 Thessalonians 3, which reads:

For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”

Now, this is an interesting passage, snatched from its immediate context and deployed as a clever proof text by our ersatz theologian. Well, what if one actually takes the context into consideration? Does that give us any enlightenment as to what Paul (the speaker in this passage, not Jesus, by the way) might have meant? As one might expect, there is — and as one might also expect, the passage means rather a different thing.

The immediate problem Paul is addressing here is the heightened expectations around the Parousia — the Second Coming of Christ. Specifically, some had decided to “sit around” waiting for the Lord to return, rather than staying engaged with life. They had become slothful. Now, is the normal expectation that those who can, work? Well, of course. But, to suggest that this passage can be ripped from its context and deployed as a policy position on social justice is nonsensical. This passage in no way undermines the biblical call to care about just social structures, in no way does it undermine the arguments for social safety nets. In short, it simply has nothing to do with the issue for which it was deployed.

Chuck Gutenson is the chief operating officer for Sojourners.