His target may have been socially active theological liberals, but the words of Glenn Beck, the host of a nationally syndicated radio show and a FOX News Channel TV show, were an attack on all Bible-believing Christians, including Southern Baptists. And his words were wrong.
On March 2, Beck said to listeners of his radio show, “I beg you; look for the words ‘social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice — they are code words. Am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!”
He went on to equate these two biblical principles with communism and Nazism.
Definitions may be helpful. Since the mid-1800s, the term “social justice” has been used in Christian circles to mean that Christians are not merely to give to the poor. They also are to work to correct unjust conditions that keep people poor. Economic justice has been defined as the right of individuals to earn a livable wage through work.
Unfortunately Beck’s knowledge of what the Bible teaches on these topics seems to be as limited as most Americans. A November 2009 American Bible Society survey asked people to identify the source of the statement “You must defend those who are helpless and have no hope. Be fair and give justice to the poor and homeless.”
The most often cited sources were President Obama, the Dalai Lama or Oprah Winfrey. Only 13 percent correctly said the statement came from the Bible (Prov. 31:8–9). Few respondents thought poverty and justice were even mentioned in the Bible even though it has more to say about poverty than about heaven, hell, adultery, pride or jealousy. More than 2,000 verses deal with the topic of poverty.
The Bible is unmistakably clear. Proverbs 29:7 states, “The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.” Jewish society in Old Testament times was constructed to care for the poor through individual actions and government actions from the king.
The New Testament brings that concept forward. James 2:17 says, “Faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.” Baptists understand this to mean that works are an expression of one’s living faith. Romans 13 teaches government can be a gift from God for doing good. Again individual action and community action go together.
Southern Baptists understand this teaching. In the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) statement of faith, the Baptist Faith and Message (2000 edition), Article XV says, “All Christians are under obligation to seek to make the will of Christ supreme in our own lives and in human society. … Every Christian should seek to bring industry, government and society as a whole under the sway of the principles of righteousness, truth and brotherly love. In order to promote these ends, Christians should be ready to work with all men of good will in any good cause, always being careful to act in the spirit of love without compromising their loyalty to Christ and His truth.”
Article XV, titled The Christian and the Social Order, even outlines some of the areas where Baptist Christians should work to establish God’s justice and righteousness. The article reads, “In the spirit of Christ, Christians should oppose racism, every form of greed, selfishness and vice and all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality and pornography. We should work to provide for the orphaned, the needy, the abused, the aged, the helpless and the sick. We should speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death.”
As recently as the 2008 SBC annual meeting, messengers adopted a resolution asking Christians to be active in the political process for causes reflecting God’s righteousness. The resolution, titled On Political Engagement, urged Baptists to “participation in the democratic public policy and political process in order to help fulfill the Kingdom mandate … ‘to bring industry, government and society as a whole under the sway of the principles of righteousness, truth and brotherly love.’”
The resolution was a clear call to social and economic justice on the part of individual Christians and Baptist churches.
Perhaps that is why Richard Land, president of the SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, observed that if taken literally, Beck would be asking people to leave Southern Baptist churches. Baptist roots are deep in social and economic justice simply because we are a Bible-believing people.
That does not mean we forsake the message of salvation through a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. Unapologetically we preach Jesus as God’s gift of forgiveness of sin and practice God’s call for social and economic justice in our personal lives and the life of society.
The Bible does not present these as polar opposites. Rather they are inseparably linked — faith and good works. What is true of Baptists is true of other Bible-believing Christians. Nicholas D. Kristof recently wrote in The New York Times that “Evangelicals have become the new internationalists, pushing successfully for new American programs against AIDS and malaria and doing superb work on issues from human trafficking in India to mass rape in Congo.”
He pointed out that World Vision, with its strong evangelical roots, is the largest U.S.-based international relief and development organization with 40,000 employees. Recently six World Vision staff members were murdered in Pakistan for helping victims of an earthquake. The organization averages losing one staff member per year to violence, but still believers go in the name of God.
Bible-believing Christians, whether they are associated with World Vision or the SBC, understand God’s clear teaching to care about justice for the poor. Bible-believing Christians are working and giving their lives to make God’s teaching a reality. To have those efforts compared to communism and Nazism is insulting and wrong.
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