Which is more important to your set of values: personal morality or social justice?
Moral values rooted in Christ, Scripture
The Rev. Randy Beeman, senior pastor, First Christian Church, 1000 Ky.:
Personal morality and social justice go together.
Social justice exists because of personal morals. Does anyone believe it was mere coincidence that the leader of the civil rights movement in the 1960s (Martin Luther King Jr.) was a Baptist minister?
My dad always said, "If we always agree, then one of us isn't necessary." Diversity of beliefs is a part of our society that we can celebrate, yet this should never stop us from establishing essential moral values in our personal lives.
The basis of my personal moral values isn't just selected at random. It is found in the teachings of Christ, in Scripture. The phrase, "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and in all things, love," raises some interesting questions about this issue:
- Who decides what the essential values are for society?
- When we don't agree on essential moral values as they apply to social justice, how should we proceed and what should be our expectations of one another?
Jesus teaches us to establish personal values. But as part of humanity, we realize that we differ on these values. Can't we have a dialogue about these differences, in a context of mutual respect and love for all people in our society?
Love is at the center of Christ's greatest commandments. It's easier to discuss differences in the context of love and acceptance, not fear. People then know that regardless of what they share in love, they will continue to be loved by those around them.
We create a dichotomy when our moral values don't align themselves with our sense of social justice. Daily application of personal morals, in a context of love and dialogue that benefits the well-being of all humanity through social justice, is a worthy goal.
Send e-mail to the Rev. Randy Beeman at rbeeman@sunflower.com.
Personal morality must come first
John Brewer, member of the Unitarian Fellowship of Lawrence, 1263 N. 1100 Road:
I can't quite imagine that a person for whom personal morality had no meaning would, in spite of that, be an advocate of social justice. Therefore, my short answer is easy.
Personal morality must come first -- much as having air to breathe takes precedence over having shelter, but not by a lot.
Having said that, I will immediately add that justice is a big part of what Unitarian-Universalists say they are about. The seven Unitarian-Universalist principles include: No. 2, "Justice, equity and compassion in human relations"; No. 6, "The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all"; and No. 7, "Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part."
Both Unitarians and Universalists (who merged in 1961) came out of the Christian faith. Christians, for their part, gradually emerged from first-century Judaism. There is a passionate (and mostly unheeded) demand for right relationships (or righteousness) in the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. But, on certain occasions, God tolerates what most of my Sunday school teachers would call bad behavior from certain Old Testament figures. What does it mean to worship a God who loooks the other way once in a while?
My own feeling is that while we can aspire to social and environmental justice, the obstacles are so overwhelming and depressing that you conclude either that the world is going to hell in a hand basket (a la author Hal Lindsey and other "duck-and-cover" theologians), or it's going to take some kind of genetic change in our species to re-orient ourselves toward international cooperation and more modest lifestyles.
It's a convoluted way of saying that it's a lot easier to preach justice than to believe it will ever happen.
Send e-mail to John Brewer at jbrewer@sunflower.com.
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