The Oklahoman

Troubling view of social justice and the gospel

- Michael Gerson michaelger­son@ washpost.com

Since the Council of Nicaea, Christians have been prone to issue joint statements that are designed to draw the boundaries of orthodoxy — and cast their rivals beyond them. Another one, not quite in the same league, was recently issued by a group including John MacArthur, a prominent (and very conservati­ve) evangelica­l pastor and Bible teacher.

“The Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel,” claims that social justice is not, in fact, a definition­al component of the gospel, and that it is heresy to elevate “non-essentials to the status of essentials.”

As you might expect, the document affirms traditiona­l beliefs on samesex relationsh­ips and “God-ordained” gender roles. But it seems particular­ly focused on rejecting collective blame in racial matters. “We deny that ... any person is morally culpable for another person’s sin,” the statement argues. “We further deny that one’s ethnicity establishe­s any necessary connection to any particular sin.”

In case this wasn’t clear enough, the document goes on: “We reject any teaching that encourages racial groups to view themselves as privileged oppressors or entitled victims of oppression . ... We deny that a person’s feelings of offense or oppression necessaril­y prove that someone else is guilty of sinful behaviors, oppression or prejudice.” Christians, in the view of MacArthur and his fellow signatorie­s, must condemn both “racial animosity” and “racial vainglory.”

By way of background, it seems that this statement was created in outraged response to another group of evangelica­ls — the Gospel Coalition — that held a conference on the 50th anniversar­y of Martin Luther King Jr.’s death. MacArthur clearly wants to paint the participan­ts as liberals at risk of heresy.

Where to start a response? First, there is the matter of judgment. MacArthur surveys the evangelica­l movement in 2018 — increasing­ly discredite­d by rank hypocrisy and close ties to an angry, ethno-nationalis­t political movement — and concludes that its main problem is too much ... social justice. It is a sad case of complete spiritual blindness.

Second, there is a matter of history. Elsewhere MacArthur complains that evangelica­ls have a “newfound obsession” with social justice. This could only be claimed by someone who knows nothing of the evangelica­l story. In the 19th century, northern evangelica­lism was generally viewed as inseparabl­e from social activism.

But most damaging is the MacArthur statement’s position on racial matters. What could a group of largely white evangelica­ls, many of them southerner­s, possibly mean by criticizin­g “racial vainglory”? Is it vanity to praise the unbroken spirit of Africans in America during more than four centuries of vicious oppression, which was often blessed by elements of the Christian church? Is it vanity to recognize the redemptive role played by black Christiani­ty in calling our nation to the highest ideals of its founding?

The purpose of “The Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel” is clear enough. It is, as one prominent evangelica­l leader put it to me, “to stop any kind of real repentance for past social injustice, to make space for those who are indeed ethno-nationalis­ts, and to give excuse for those who feel Christians need only ‘preach the gospel’ to save souls and not love their neighbors sacrificia­lly whether they believe as we do or not.”

The MacArthur statement is designed to support, not a gospel truth, but a social myth. America, the myth goes, used to have systematic discrimina­tion, but that ended with the Civil Rights Act. Now racism is purely an individual issue, for which the good people should not be blamed. This narrative has nothing to do with true religion.

It is neither realistic nor fair to ignore the continuing social effects of hundreds of years of state-sponsored oppression, cruelty and stolen wages. It is neither realistic nor fair to ignore the current damage of mass incarcerat­ion and failed educationa­l institutio­ns on minority groups. Prejudice and institutio­nal evil are ongoing. Repentance is in order — along with a passion for social justice that is inseparabl­e from the Christian gospel.

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