Social Justice is the view that there should be an equal distribution of opportunity, privilege, resources, and wealth within society regardless of one’s gender, orientation, age, religion, or race. Secularism is the view that religion and government should be separate. When they are combined, there can be problems, especially when social justice is also based on secular philosophy.
Unfortunately, social justice and secularism are gaining influence and are becoming the standards by which our society determines morality, social acceptability, proper behavior, and governmental obligation. There is developing a kind of status-quo that everyone must conform to, and if you don’t, you can face ridicule, shaming, boycotting, or even lose your job.
This has resulted in the rise of the cancel culture where a person, product, movies, tv shows, etc., are boycotted, ostracized, socially ignored, and penalized for not conforming to the politically correct agenda.
Secularism vs. Christianity
When people deny the truth of God’s existence, they must fill the intellectual and spiritual vacuum with something else. That something is subjective, secular, moral relativism. Since our culture is becoming more secular, it means that proper social behavior, social structures, etc., are increasingly based on secular, anti-Christian thought. The result is an ungodly invasion into all areas of life with the ultimate end of denouncing Christianity and penalizing its followers.
We cannot serve two masters. Secularism and Christianity are not compatible.
- Christian doctor of 30 years loses job for refusing to use transgender patient’s preferred pronoun.
- Supreme Court rejects case of Christian teen forced to write Islamic conversion prayer.
- City removed Virgin Mary statue from Veterans Memorial Park due to an anonymous complaint.
- Drag queens sponsor Planned Parenthood fundraiser with performances attacking local pastors, Christian activists.
- Second graders wave flags to celebrate books about ‘nonbinary and transgender youth.
- Army says faith-based group can no longer put Bible verses on dog tags after a complaint.
We are in a battle for our country’s moral and spiritual fabric, and the secular social justice warriors are gaining ground – everywhere!
Social Justice and biblical justice
By definition, Biblical justice means that proper and godly behavior should occur in all areas of life-based upon Scripture. Therefore, biblical justice means to take care of orphans (Isa. 1:17), widows (Deut. 10:18), help the poor (Lev. 19:15), uplift the downtrodden (Prov. 31:9), and provide equal opportunity for all people without prejudice (James 2:2-4).
But, secular social justice, as it creeps into Christian churches, is becoming a new threat to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Social justice (pro-abortion, pro-LGBTQ, etc.) is influencing some Christians, and, unfortunately, it is ungodly. They are reinterpreting the gospel of Jesus to mean that equality and diversity are part of what Jesus came to ensure. But that’s not the gospel. The true gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:1-4), who bore our sins in his body on the cross (1 Pet. 2:24) so that through faith in him, we would be justified (Rom. 3:28; 4:5; 5:1).
Of course, we Christians believe in equality and diversity. But, these are to be biblically based. We are obligated to have a right relationship with God by loving Him properly (Matt. 22:37) and with people by loving them properly (Matt. 22:39). But, we cannot do what is right in our own eyes, nor adopt a secular social justice system and then adapt our churches to it. To do so is to trample the truth of God’s word underfoot and reinterpret his revelation in light of secular thought.
May it never be.
