Social Justice,

Or Injustice?

I’ve heard the term several times lately in contexts that didn’t make any sense. So, I’ve vowed to learn and show here all I can about it that makes sense to me. My original intention was to show examples of the research first and then show what I’ve learned and what I suggest. Now that I’m nearly finished I’ve decided to show my thoughts and suggestions here and leave the information I’ve collected to follow.

Thoughts and criticism:

What does the most vocal part of the current Social Justice movement want?

So far, I’ve only found one organization the mentions the equal distribution of disadvantages, hardships, burdens or work. All other sites I’ve visited talk extensively about the equal distribution of advantages, wealth, income, power, opportunity, rights, dignity, health care, resources and benefits; nothing about equal sharing of costs, misery, hardships or work.

“Social Justice is the fair distribution of advantages, assets, and benefits among all members of a society.”

Sharing the burdens of modern life is clearly not foremost on their minds, if at all.

I think any idea of Social Justice must include the just distribution of Burdens. The Catholics mention work and disadvantages, but most other places they only mention advantages, benefits and assets; never work, contribution, or the making or the earning of anything.

“Economic inequality must be replaced by an ideal of "social justice" -- a "classless" society created by the elimination of all differences in wealth and power."

In the Social Justice view, the world owes you a living, power, and influence equal to everyone else’s regardless of the value of your contribution.

Who are the truly poor, and who among them only chooses to act poorly?

Working, saving and investing in one’s current or future condition; not mentioned often.

Isn’t it unjust to continually help those who will not help themselves?

Is it justice to pay those equally, who will not work?

Is it justice or safe to welcome criminals, the corrupt and the diseased among us?

Is it justice to forgive a lawful individual debt?

All are equally vulnerable to environmental impact; the poor may sometimes suffer disproportional hardship because they are ignorant and weak, which incidentally is also why they are poor.

It appears to me that so called Social Justice is neither social, nor justice. It looks and feels like a blend of the well-meaning and organized religion, and the agitation/ dogma/ propaganda of communists; designed to take from those that make and give to those who only take, that which they do not deserved, are not owed, and have not earned.

If you have not put anything in, except breathing and breeding; then you should not be allowed to take anything out. Occupying space, sucking air, and ejecting children are not contributions; they are your burdens and do not obligate me to provide anything I make.

Not all humans achieve dignity!

Origins and concepts:

Wikipedia says, “The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by the Jesuit Luigi Taparelli in 1840 based on the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas and given further exposure in 1848 by Antonio Rosmini-Serbati.

Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being.

More recent history:

The idea was elaborated by the moral theologian John A. Ryan, who initiated the concept of a living wage. Father Coughlin also used the term in his publications in the 1930s and the 1940s. It is a part of Catholic social teaching, and Social Gospel from Episcopalians.

Social justice as a secular concept, distinct from religious teachings, emerged mainly in the late twentieth century influenced primarily by philosopher John Rawls.

Janusz Korwin-Mikke argues that "Either 'social justice' has the same meaning as 'justice' - or not. If so – why use the additional word 'social?'…. If not, if 'social justice' means something different from 'justice' - then something different from justice is by definition 'injustice.'

This is sound reasoning not seen often now days; those who take the earnings of others often think it is just.

Sociologist Carl L. Bankston has argued that a secular, leftist view of social justice entails viewing the redistribution of goods and resources as based on the rights of disadvantaged categories of people, rather than on compassion or national interest. Bankston maintains that this secular version of social justice became widely accepted due to the rise of demand-side economics and to the moral influence of the civil rights movement.

Social Justice (sometimes "Social Equality and Global Equality and Economic Justice") is one of the Four Pillars of the Green Party. The Canadian party defines the principle as the "equitable distribution of resources to ensure that all have full opportunities for personal and social development". As one of the values of the party in the United States, social justice is described as the right and opportunity of all people "to benefit equally from the resources afforded us by society and the environment."

Liberation theology is a movement in Christian theology which construes the teachings of Jesus Christ in terms of liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions. It has been described by proponents as "an interpretation of Christian faith through the suffering poor, their struggle and hope, and a critique of society through the eyes of the poor", and by detractors as Christianity perverted by Marxism and Communism. Although liberation theology has grown into an international and inter-denominational movement, it began as a movement within the Catholic Church as a poverty and social injustice reaction in Latin America in the 1950s - 1960s. It achieved some prominence in the 1970s and 1980s. The term was coined by the Peruvian priest, Gustavo Gutiérrez, who wrote one of the movement's most famous books, A Theology of Liberation (1971). Other noted exponents are Leonardo Boff of Brazil, Jon Sobrino of El Salvador, and Juan Luis Segundo of Uruguay.

Catholic Social Teaching

There is no official ‘canon’ of Catholic Social Teachings but below are some principles usually included.

Human dignity

The prime principle of Catholic social teaching is the human person is a "Being in the image of God, possesses the dignity of a person, capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. And he is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer a response of faith and love that no other creature can give."

Complementarianism

The Catholic Church advocates that "God gives man and woman an equal personal dignity" but also that the harmony of society "depends in part on the way in which the complementarity needs and mutual support between the sexes are lived out."

Solidarity

Solidarity is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good, not merely vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of others. Solidarity, which flows from faith, is fundamental to the Christian view of social and political organization. Each person is connected to and dependent on all humanity, collectively and individually.

Charity

In Caritas in Veritate, the Catholic Church declared that "Charity is at the heart of the Church". Every responsibility and every commitment spelled out by that doctrine is derived from charity according to Jesus (Matthew 22:36-40). It gives real substance to the personal relationship with God and with neighbors, friends, or family members.

The Church has chosen the concept of "charity in truth". Truth frees charity from the constraints of an emotionalism that deprives it of relational and social content. In the truth, charity reflects the personal yet public dimension of faith in God and the Bible.

Subsidiarity

Pope Pius XI said, "It is a fundamental principle of social philosophy, fixed and unchangeable, that one should not withdraw from individuals and commit to the community what they can accomplish by their own enterprise….."

Distributism

Distributism holds that social and economic structures should promote wide ownership of enterprises and is the basis for anti-trust laws and economic cooperatives. Rerum Novarum, Quadragesimo Anno and Centesimus Annus are Catholic Social Teaching that advocate economic distributism.

Key Themes

As with the principles above, there is no official list of key themes. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has identified these seven key themes of Catholic Social Teaching. Other sources identify more or fewer key themes based on the key documents of social magisterium.

Sanctity of human life and dignity of the person

The foundational principle of all Catholic social teachings is the sanctity of human life. Catholics believe in an inherent dignity of the human person starting from conception through to natural death. They believe that human life must be valued infinitely above material possessions. Pope John Paul II wrote and spoke extensively on the topic of the inviolability of human life and dignity in his watershed encyclical, Evangelium Vitae, (The Gospel of Life).

Catholics oppose acts considered attacks and affronts to human life, including abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, genocide, torture, the direct and intentional targeting of noncombatants in war, and every deliberate taking of innocent human life. In the Second Vatican Council's Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope), it is written that “from the moment of its conception life must be guarded with the greatest care."

In recent years, some Catholics have discouraged application of the death penalty, though the traditional teaching does not exclude it, if it is the only practicable way to defend the lives of human beings effectively against the aggressor. The Roman Catechism says that lawful slaying belongs to the civil authorities, to them is entrusted power of life and death, by which they punish the guilty and protect the innocent. The punishments inflicted by the civil authority naturally tend to give security to life by repressing outrage and violence. Hence these words of David: In the morning I put to death all the wicked of the land, that I might cut off all the workers of iniquity from the city of the Lord.

Catholic doctrine teaches to respect all humans based on an inherent dignity. According to John Paul II, every human person "is called to a fullness of life which far exceeds the dimensions of his earthly existence, because it consists in sharing the very life of God." In 2007, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote:

“Catholic teaching about the dignity of life calls us... to prevent genocide and attacks against noncombatants; to oppose racism; and to overcome poverty and suffering. Nations are called to protect the right to life by seeking effective ways to combat evil and terror without resorting to armed conflicts except as a last resort, always seeking first to resolve disputes by peaceful means. We revere the lives of children in the womb, the lives of persons dying in war and from starvation, and indeed the lives of all human beings as children of God.”

Call to family, community, and participation

According to the Book of Genesis, the Lord God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone". The Catholic Church teaches that man is now not only a sacred but also a social animal and that families are the first and most basic units of a society. It advocates a complementarian view of marriage, and family life, religious leadership. The family is the first and fundamental unit of society and is a sanctuary for the creation and nurturing of children. Together families form communities, communities a state, and together all across the world each human is part of the human family. How these communities organize themselves politically, economically and socially is thus of the highest importance. Each institution must be judged by how much it enhances, or is a detriment to, the life and dignity of human persons.

Catholic Social Teaching opposes collectivist approaches such as Communism, and also rejects unrestricted laissez-faire policies and the notion that a free market automatically produces social justice. The state has a positive moral role to play as no society will achieve a just and equitable distribution of resources with a totally free market. All people have a right to participate in the economic, political, and cultural life of society and, under the principle of subsidiarity, state functions should be carried out at the lowest practical level.

Rights and responsibilities

Every person has a fundamental right to life and to the necessities of life. In addition, every human has the right to what is required to live a full and decent life, things such as employment, health care, and education; the right to exercise religious freedom publicly and privately by individuals and institutions and freedom from the conscience need to be constantly defended. In a fundamental way, the right to free expression of religious beliefs protects all other rights. Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities—to one another, to our families, and to the larger society.

The Church supports private property and teaches that “every man has by nature the right to possess property as his own." The right to private property is not absolute, however, and is limited by the concept of the social mortgage. It is theoretically moral and just for its members to destroy property used in an evil way by others, or for the state to redistribute wealth from those who have unjustly hoarded it. I notice that it says possess property, not own it, cleaver!

We live our lives by a subconscious philosophy of freedom and work. The encyclical Laborem Exercens (1981) by Pope John Paul II describes work as the essential key to the whole social question. Work includes every form of action by which the world is transformed and shaped or even simply maintained by human beings. It is through work that we achieve fulfillment. So in order to fulfill ourselves we must cooperate and work together to create something good for all of us, a common good. What we call justice is that state of social harmony in which the actions of each person best serve the common good.

Freedom according to Natural Law is the empowerment of good. Being free we have responsibilities. With human relationships we have responsibilities towards each other. This is the basis of human rights. The Roman Catholic Bishops of England and Wales, in their document "The Common Good" (1996) stated that, "The study of the evolution of human rights shows that they all flow from the one fundamental right: the right to life. From this derives the right to a society which makes life more truly human: religious liberty, decent work, housing, health care, freedom of speech, education, and the right to raise and provide for a family". Having the right to life must mean that everyone else has a responsibility towards me to help sustain and develop my life. This gives me the right to whatever I need to accomplish without compromising the mission of others, and it lays on others the corresponding responsibility to help me.

The Ten Commandments reflect the basic structure of the Natural Law as it applies to humanity. The first four, are the foundation: The Love of God, the Worship of God, the sanctity of God and the building of people around God.

The other six Commandments are to do with the love of humanity and the different ways in which we must serve the common good: Honor your father and mother, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, you shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor (Exodus 20:3-17). Our Lord Jesus Christ Summarized the Commandments with the New Commandment: "Love one another, as I have loved you" (John 13:34, 15:9-17). Our relationship with God is not one of fear, of slavery or oppression; it is a relationship of serene trust born of a free choice motivated by love. Pope John Paul II stated that love is the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being. By his law God does not intend to coerce our will, but to set it free from everything that could compromise its authentic dignity and its full realization. (Pope John Paul II, 5 November 2000.)

Preferential Option for the poor and vulnerable

Jesus taught that on the Day of Judgment God will ask what each of us did to help the poor and needy: "Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me." This is reflected in the Church's canon law, which states, "The Christian faithful are also obliged to promote social justice and, mindful of the precept of the Lord, to assist the poor from their own resources."

When instituting public policy we must always keep the "preferential option for the poor" at the forefront of our minds. The moral test of any society is how it treats its most vulnerable members. The poor have the most urgent moral claim on the conscience of the nation. Pope Benedict XVI has taught that “love for widows and orphans, prisoners, and the sick and needy of every kind, is as essential as the ministry of the sacraments and preaching of the Gospel”. This preferential option for the poor and vulnerable includes all who are marginalized—unborn children, persons with disabilities, the elderly and terminally ill, and victims of injustice and oppression.

Dignity of work

Society must pursue economic justice and the economy must serve people. Employers must not "look upon their work people as their bondsmen, but ... respect in every man his dignity as a person ennobled by Christian character." Employers contribute to the common good through the services or products they provide and by creating jobs that uphold the dignity and rights of workers.

Workers have a right to work, to earn a living wage, and to form trade unions to protect their interests. All workers have a right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, and to safe working conditions. Workers also have responsibilities—to provide a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay, to treat employers and co-workers with respect, and to carry out their work in ways that contribute to the common good. Workers must "fully and faithfully" perform the work they have agreed to do.

In 1933, the Catholic Worker Movement was founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. Today over 185 Catholic Worker communities continue to protest injustice, war, racism, and violence of all forms.

Solidarity

"Solidarity seeks to go beyond itself to total gratuity, forgiveness, and reconciliation. It leads to a new vision of the unity of humankind, a reflection of God's triune intimate life...." All the peoples of the world belong to one human family. We must be our brother's keeper. Jesus teaches that we must each love our neighbors as ourselves and in the parable of the Good Samaritan we see that our compassion should extend to all people. Solidarity includes the Scriptural call to welcome the stranger among us—including immigrants seeking work, a safe home, education for their children, and a decent life for their families.

Solidarity at the international level primarily concerns the Global South. For example, the Church has habitually insisted that loans be forgiven on many occasions, particularly during Jubilee years. Charity to individuals or groups must be accompanied by transforming unjust structures. Wonder if they would forgive debts to the Church?

Care for God's creation

A Biblical vision of justice; encompasses right relationships between all members of God’s creation. Stewardship of creation; the world's goods are available for humanity to use only under a "social mortgage" which carries with it the responsibility to protect the environment. The "goods of the earth" are gifts from God, and they are intended by God for the benefit of everyone. Man was given dominion over all creation as sustainer rather than as exploiter, and is commanded to be a good steward of Gods gifts. Catholic Social Teaching recognizes that the poor are the most vulnerable to environmental impact and endure disproportional hardship when nature is exploited or damaged. US Bishops established an environmental justice program to conduct education, outreach and advocacy about these issues. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops Environmental Justice Program (EJP) calls Catholics to a deeper respect for God’s creation and with environmental problems, particularly as they affect the poor.

There will be more, if I discover in there own words, anything that changes my mind about their confiscation motives.