Thoughts About Phyllis Schlafly and Social Justice

Back in January, Phyllis Schlafly wrote that she was shocked that 32% of evangelicals aged 18-29 voted for Barack Obama. Many of them cited "social justice" as the reasons for their vote. According to Ms. Schlafly:

Many of these young people identify "social justice" as the reason that led them to relegate the prime moral issues of life and marriage to the back burner. But the term "social justice" does not define a moral cause; it is leftwing jargon to overturn those who have economic and political power.

What caused young evangelicals, the children of the so-called "religious right," to change their moral imperatives so dramatically? Most likely it's the attitudes and decision-making they learned in the public schools, which 89% of U.S. students attend.

There are so many things which come to mind when I read this, but I will stick to the most obvious one. I am no theologian, but I am pretty sure that there are a lot of references to social justice in the Bible.

'What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.'

Micah 6:8.

35 And one of them,a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" 37 And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

Matthew 22:35-40.

35'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.'

37"Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'

40"The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'

Matthew 25:35-40.

When I think of social justice, these are the texts that jump out at me, the ones about loving your neighbor as yourself, serving the least of these and staying humble about it. Jesus was pretty clear that this is important stuff.

You can argue about whether government is an efficient mechanism to advance social justice. As someone who is generally conservative, I have my doubts about how much government can accomplish, believing that government is generally more effective in restraining evil than committing good. Regardless of questions of efficacy or means, you still can't dismiss social justice as leftwing jargon without throwing out a whole lot of the Bible.

To go back to Ms. Schlafly's concern about the fact that only 68% of young evangelicals voted against Barack Obama, I would like to offer an alternative suggestion. Neither candidate was an ideal Christian. It has become unfashionable and perhaps even dangerous for Republican Christians to talk about social justice. (Remember how quickly George H.W. Bush's thousand points of light and George W. Buah's compassionate conservatism were forgotten when it came time to woo the base). Barack Obama was willing to use explicitly Christian language and advocate social justice. Perhaps these enthusiastic young dissident evangelicals were willing to look past President Obama's flaws and give him a chance since conservatives had ceded the moral high ground with regard to anything other than sex.