Look Good and Sin Not - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

"learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause." Isaiah 1:17

From May 22-28, I was honored to devote a week's worth of time to studying the intersection of faith, justice, and civil society at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. Heritage, as many of you are no doubt familiar with, is best known as America's premier conservative think tank on issues relating to public policy.

The "Week in Washington Fellowship" was sponsored by  The DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society, a department within Heritage, and organized and facilitated Dr. Ryan Messmore, The William E. Simon Fellow in Religion and Free Society at Heritage. Ryan Messmore is of superb academic pedigree and complements his academic skill and calculated precision with genuine humility and a love for teaching. While more about The DeVos Center can be found here, the department "examines the role that religion, family, and community plan in society and public policy [...] We seek to convey the indispensable role of family and religion in our American order and in our conservative philosophy."

Central to the week's mission was reframing and perhaps even reclaiming our understanding of "social justice" by asking pertinent questions like—"What does it mean to be human?" and "What does it mean to flourish as humans?"—in order to arrive at a more satisfactory explanation of justice than simply assigning a monetary figure or government program to address an injustice.

The popular buzz word that it is, social justice has tragically become a nebulous phrase associated with greater government dependence and intervention, wealth redistribution, and economic egalitarianism. To combat this misunderstanding, Heritage commissioned an impressive curriculum titled Seek Social Justice in order to better define the terms of the debate and demonstrate how "justice" is rarely a program that can be imposed upon a segment of society, but an interpersonal exchange of repaired and renewed relationships. It is the goal of The Heritage Foundation to present a compelling and cohesive program for social justice that advocates for limited government intervention and that simultaneously relies upon free market enterprise for its success. The curriculum served each day's seminar as the launching pad into further discussion. Phrasing "Justice" as "Right Relationships," the week's events and discussions were dedicated to exploring the manifold ways in which civil society—church, family, civic associations, cultural institutions—can cultivate and strengthen justice by restoring broken relationships with God, other people, and the rest of creation. It goes without saying that there isn't justice that isn't already inherently relational and social.

Of particular focus was the issue of "justice institutions." In mainstream American discourse, we've been conditioned to pursue justice as an activity or program, and rarely as a personal virtue. Justice, we're told, is something "we do" more than it is something "we embody." If "right relationships" form the condition in which justice is cultivated, it is imperative that conservatives and Christians prioritize the cell of social stability—the family, a primary institution that cultivates justice.  Edmund Burke, the father of traditionalist conservative spoke this way regarding the family:

“To be attached to the subdivision, to love the little platoon we belong to in society, is the first principle of public affections. It is the first link in the series by which we proceed towards a love to our country, and to mankind.”

Personally, an important lesson I walked away with was my identity as a father and fatherhood as a "social justice" institution. While not absolutely definitive, my role as a father will play a vital role in the stability of my daughter's future. Assuring her of care, love, and provision is not a program that the government can solidify, but it can protect it and uphold the primacy of fathers. Fatherhood and other institutions like it—churchmanship, statesmanship, and civic leadership—are of significance and consequence to the pursuit of a just society. This also isn't a conservative position, it's a biblical position.

The focus of the week, however, was not limited to strengthening family relationships alone. Each day was assigned a particular aspect of how justice is to be appropriated in each ordained sphere, particularly within the the assigned tasks of the church and state. We also heard from policy analysts on issues pertaining to American first principles, education, welfare, and religious liberty.The week was equal parts public policy, justice, political theology, and American first principles.

On Wednesday, we traveled to Waldorf, Maryland to visit a church who is incarnating the type of relational justice that we spent the week theorizing. At this predominantly African-American church, we encountered a rehabilitative mercy ministry that invites homeless individuals and other troubles persons in and ministers not to the person's financial needs or those like it, but to the person as a whole. A gentlemen by the name of Woods was our tour leader. Woods was a former drug addict who entered the mercy ministry ten years ago and over time and care, is now a leader at the ministry in which he was first a recipient. He would tell you that he is a restored individual not because he was fed and clothed, but because he got his relationships right with Christ and found personal redemption in the midst.

I share this post with the readers for several reasons. One, everyone should plug into the resources of the Heritage Foundation, and specifically the DeVos Center. Secondly, the conservative ethos driving Mere Orthodoxy resonates with placing justice in the private and relational sphere, as opposed to the public (government) sphere. Third, the importance of the Seek Social Justice curriculum cannot go unstated. Part of liberalism's success has been its vacuous and ego-driven appeals to "hope" and "change" with little thought to what those programs actually entail. Good and fashionable intentions can't assume effective achievement. Fourth, and I know he'll deflect any attention away from himself, but everyone here should be following the writings of Ryan Messmore, especially pieces like this. Fifth, Heritage continues to reach out to young conservatives with programs like "The Week in Washington" and each of you need to be attentive to the programs and fellowships to which they offer.