"I am certain that nothing has done so much to destroy the [legal] safeguards of individual freedom as the striving after this mirage of social justice." Fredrich August von Hayek [1]

"In this book [Rules for Radicals] we are concerned with how to create mass organizations to seize power and give it to the people; to realize the democratic dream of equality, justice, peace.... This means revolution.'"[2]  Saul Alinsky

“'To be a leader means to be able to move the masses.' Hitler’s aim was first to move the masses and then, having pried them loose from their traditional loyalties and moralities, to impose upon them (with the hypnotized consent of the majority) a new authoritarian order of his own devising."[3] Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited

"...do not be conformed to this world...." Romans 12:2

---

 

During the turbulent sixties, I finished nursing school, married Andy, and trekked around the world with him -- an eight month-long honeymoon that cost about $7 a day. After we returned home and started our family, I offered to help at a "well-baby clinic" in a nearby black community. With our infant in a baby basket, I took my place at the examining table.

 

During my three months long nursing assignment, I attended a community meeting important enough to merit the protective presence of the revolutionary Black Panthers. In awe, I watched its well armed warriors for "social justice" line up on each side of the hall. We, the white volunteers, listened to the organizer's angry words about capitalism, racism, social injustice and radical change. They didn't want our presence any more, so we were told to stay home and raise support for them in our white communities.

 

I didn't question their values that day. But a few years later I began to wonder. By then, I had been thoroughly exposed to the spiritual bleakness of liberal theology, its transformational agenda, and its hostility toward Biblical Christianity.

 

I had learned that the vision of "social justice" is infused with deceptive dreams. Promising economic equality, its well-trained "organizers" would destroy personal incentive, undermine family values, twist God's Word, and breed dependence and poverty for all but its elite leaders! There  wouldn't be much wealth left to spread. Yet the lie survives -- even in today's churches.

 

A major advocate for this agenda is Jim Wallis, a member of the President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. He founded the left-leaning magazine, Sojourners, which promotes an idealistic view of "social justice." Its February 2007 issue gave us a glimpse of its position:

"The goal of social charity and social justice is furthering the common good. Social charity addresses the effects of social sin, while social justice addresses the causes of such sins [inequality, capitalism, free enterprise, etc.]. Brazilian Catholic Archbishop Hélder Câmara famously said, 'When I feed the poor, they call me a saint; when I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist.'”

"Social charity... doesn’t fundamentally change or challenge the unjust structure. The principle of social justice...requires the individual Christian to act in an organized manner with others to hold social institutions accountable... to the common good."[4]

Do you wonder what they mean by "common good"? What can we learn from Venezuela? Or Greece?

The Roots and Results of Social Justice

 

Neither Karl Marx nor Friedrich Engels, the leading change agents behind communism and contemporary socialism, showed compassion for the poor masses that supposedly justified their agenda. Their form of "social justice" was simply their excuse for tyranny. In letters to Marx, Engels referred to peasants as "bumpkins," "a barbaric race," "frightfully stupid," etc. Marx described them as "degenerate rabble."[5] Both despised Christianity and its moral values.

 

How, then, did socialism survive? Why is it spreading?

 

Dr. Thomas Sowell gives us a glimpse of its roots. In his article "Race and Resentment," he wisely connects this phenomena to a universal condition: our corruptible human nature:

"Recent stories out of both Philadelphia and San Francisco tell of black students beating up Asian American students. This is especially painful for those who expected that the election of Barack Obama would mark the beginning of a post-racial America....

 

"Many of our educators, our intelligentsia and our media -- not to mention our politicians-- promote an attitude that other people's achievements are grievances, rather than examples. When black school children who are working hard in school and succeeding academically are attacked and beaten up by black classmates for 'acting white,' why is it surprising that similar hostility is turned against Asian Americans, who are often achieving academically more so than whites?...

 

"The same phenomenon is found among lower-class whites in Britain, where academically achieving white students have been beaten up badly enough by their white classmates to require hospital treatment.

 

"These are poisonous and self-destructive consequences of a steady drumbeat of ideological hype about differences that are translated into 'disparities' and 'inequities,' provoking envy and resentments under their more prettied-up name of 'social justice.'"[6]

Perhaps you remember Kurt Vonnegut's short story, "Harrison Bergeron." It magnifies the destructive leveling needed to create a collective society of equals whose achievements offend no one:

"The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal.... Nobody was smarter... [or] better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General [H-G].

"... the H-G men took George and Hazel Bergeron's fourteen-year-old son, Harrison, away. It was tragic, all right, but George and Hazel couldn't think about it very hard. Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn't think about anything except in short bursts. And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times.... Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains."[7]

Hate and envy serve as driving forces behind socialism. By idolizing the leader (Hitler forced churches to hang his picture over their altars), popularizing solidarity, and inciting rage toward dissenters, socialist dictators have gained unthinkable power. Learning from Soviet triumphs, Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf,

"The first task of propaganda is to win people for subsequent organization.... The second task of propaganda is the disruption of the existing state of affairs and the permeation of this state of affairs with the new doctrine..."[8, see note]

That new doctrine would free the masses from all Biblical morality. Depravity would replace modesty, honesty and integrity. As an angry young revolutionary, Marx admitted that his aim was not to improve the world but to enjoy its corruption:

"With disdain I will throw my gauntlet full in the face of the world,
And see the collapse of this pygmy giant whose fall will not stifle my ardor.
Then will I wander godlike and victorious through the ruins of the world
And, giving my words an active force, I will feel equal to the Creator." [9]

The Marxist Meaning of Social Justice

Having endured the terrors of the Soviet gulag (prison) system, author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn tried to warn the West. In his Foreword for a Russian book by Igor Shafarevich titled, The Socialist Phenomenon, he explained that,

"...socialism (at least at first sight) turns out to be a glaring contradiction. Proceeding from a critique of a given society, accusing it of injustice, inequality and lack of freedom, socialism proclaims [and produces]... a far greater injustice, inequality and slavery!...

"In the most popular work of Marxism, the Communist Manifesto, one of the first measures of the new socialist system to be proposed is the introduction of compulsory labor."[10]

Igor Shafarevich's book includes a section titled "Socialism is the expression of the quest for social justice." It highlights the conflict between the alluring myth and the harsh reality of social justice:

"Since it is unquestionably true that appeals to justice and the condemnation of the defects of contemporary life occupy a central place in socialist ideology, this question must be formulated more precisely: Is the aspiration for social justice the goal and the driving force of socialism or is the appeal to this aspiration only a means to achieve some other goals?

"...in the socialist doctrines themselves, at least, we should uncover compassion for the sufferings of the victims of injustice and the impulse to lighten their burden. Yet this is precisely what is lacking!... 

 

"At a time when 'bourgeois philanthropists' such as Dickens and Carlyle were fighting against child labor, the... [Communist] First International adopted a resolution composed by Marx: '...In a rationally organized society, each child from the age of nine ought to be a productive worker.'"[11]

What kind of social justice is that?

 

Shafarevich lists four basic socialist principles that show the stark contrast between American freedom and socialist tyranny:

1. The Abolition of Private Property.

2. The Abolition of the Family.

3. The Abolition of Religion.

4. Communality or Equality.[12]

Freedom: The Opposite of Social Justice

 

In contrast to socialism, the authors of America's Constitution sought genuine freedom for all. It was incomplete, but by 1865, countless thousands had given their lives to free the slaves. By law, all would share the benefits of the First Amendment in our Bill of Rights:[13]

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Yet, unless God intervenes, we may soon lose those legal rights. The hollow hope of a more perfect world -- in this case, a tyrannical collective -- has captured the hearts of idealistic Americans as well as revolutionary change agents.

 

Our children and youth are especially vulnerable. Public schools are training them to think collectively through the mandatory use of the dialectic process. Subjective opinions and feelings replace objective facts and certainties, and compromise becomes a habit. Few children are prepared to stand firm on God's "offensive" moral values.

 

In other words, America is trading her moral foundation for a changeable set of amoral values that can be twisted in any which way by today's trained facilitators and capricious leaders. Please remember this warning:

"... if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God....[He] will cause you to be defeated before your enemies.... He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him..... Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies." Deuteronomy 28:15, 44, 47-48 (more)

"Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition...." 1 Corinthians 10:11

God tells us to live by His standard for justice. He has given us clear guidelines to follow them: help the needy, share our resources, and comfort those who hurt with His wonderful promises. The Old Testament prophet Micah summarized it well:

"He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"  Micah 6:8

That's a far cry from trusting a socialist government to rule our families, assign our activities, monitor our choices, prescribe our beliefs, and redistribute our possessions.

 

We live in an imperfect world, and a spiritual war is raging all around us. America may never be the same, but those who know God have a place of refuge. And in the midst of it all, we will -- by His grace -- continue to share His joy, comfort, mercy and resources.

"Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another...patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. Bless those who persecute you.... Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep." Romans 12:9-15

---

The next article in this series will deal with rising global education system and its anti-Christian standards.

See also  Global War on Christian Values - Part 1: Unity in an Anti-Christian World?

Creating Community  | Smiling at Socialism & Scorning the Bible 

Washington's Farewell Address, 1796  | What it means to be a Christian

---

Notes:

1. Fredrich August von Hayek, Economic Freedom and Representative Government (1973),  http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Friedrich_Hayek

2. Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals, p.3. www.crossroad.to/Quotes/communism/alinsky.htm

3. Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited (New York: Harper & Row, 1958), p.41. 

4. Rose Marie Berger, "What the Heck is ‘Social Justice’?" Sojourners, February 2007. Also available on this page: http://blog.sojo.net/2010/03/24/what-the-heck-is-social-justice/

5. Igor Shafarevich, The Socialist Phenomenon, p. 224. http://robertlstephens.com/essays/shafarevich/001SocialistPhenomenon.html

6. Thomas Sowell, "Race and Resentment," May 04, 2010.

7.  Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., "Harrison Bergeron" at www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html

8. Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (Cambridge: Houghton-Mifflin Company, 1943), 582.  Note: "Nazis declared support for a form of socialism that is to provide for the nation: economic security, social welfare programs for workers, a just wage, honour for workers' importance to the nation, and protection from capitalist exploitation. Nazism, however, rejected class conflict-based socialism ...." (Wikipedia,  footnote 18:  Joseph W. Bendersky,  A history of Nazi Germany: 1919-1945., p. 40.) See also Hitler was a Socialist

9.Richard Wurmbrand,  Was Marx a Satanist? (Diane Books, 1976), p. 24.

10. Igor Shafarevich, The Socialist Phenomenon, p.xii (Foreword by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn) at http://robertlstephens.com/essays/shafarevich/001SocialistPhenomenon.html

11. Ibid., pps. 220-221, 223.

12. Ibid., p. 195-196.

13. Human nature, apart from God, is vulnerable to every kind of evil. The "Emancipation Proclamation" didn't end racism and persecution, for absolute perfection is impossible among imperfect human beings. As God's Word tells us, "The heart is deceitful above all things..." (Jeremiah 17:9) But with His Word and Spirit as our life's foundation, peace and love can become a reality.

---

Home