Apparently an student-led atheist group is giving away free porn in exchange for “Holy Texts” (see video above). The philosophy? Religious texts are both filled with shameful imagery and have led to oppression and violence. Therefore they are in some way on par with pornography.

Without addressing the group’s (deeply flawed) assertions more fully, I find myself at least wondering if they’ve paused to examine the many atrocities that have been committed by those who followed atheistic teachings. And if so, do we have to turn in Mein Kampf, or can we also turn in atheistic seed-planters such as Nietzsche or Heidegger? And if oppression is bad, then why give away a product that is so deliberately dehumanizing?

GLENN BECK AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

But before we can go any further, in roughly the same time frame that this video came out, we got to hear from Glenn Beck on the nature of social justice. Social justice, Beck says, was a common theme of both the communists and the Nazis. He held up the representative flags and said:

“Communists are on the left, and the Nazis are on the right. That’s what people say. But they both subscribe to one philosophy, and they flew one banner. . . . But on each banner, read the words, here in America: ‘social justice.’ They talked about economic justice, rights of the workers, redistribution of wealth, and surprisingly, democracy.”

True, Hitler’s greatest “strength” was in convincing the masses that the most vicious atrocities were actually acts of compassion, and that by eliminating the “undesirables” they were, in some way, doing society a favor. But to confuse this twisting of the ideas of compassion and social justice is a bit much. In the same program Beck targets churches that endorse social justice:

“I’m begging you, your right to religion and freedom to exercise religion and read all of the passages of the Bible as you want to read them and as your church wants to preach them . . . are going to come under the ropes in the next year. If it lasts that long it will be the next year. 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. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!”

What both Beck and the “Smut for Smut” campaign miss is the way that social justice has been such a powerful influence on our world.

JUSTICE AND THE SCRIPTURES

Let’s be good students of history. Historically, especially within the last century (give or take a decade or two), many denominations have moved the message of the gospel from the message of the cross to the message of social reform. And, as a reaction to this, many churches have emphasized the message of the cross over the message of social reform. This is why Dallas Willard coined the term “Christian vampires” to refer to those who want Jesus for His blood and nothing else.

But the truth is Christianity demands both theological identity as well as social relevance. When Jesus begins His ministry, He walks into the temple, opens the Bible and quotes Isaiah, saying:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

I don’t know how to “spiritualize” that. Nor can I read Jesus’ prescription for us to imitate the behavior of the Good Samaritan without an understanding of the Christian duty to reach out to the broken. In the Hebrew scriptures, Israel is explicitly instructed to “…learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause” (Isaiah 1:17). James tells us that “true religion” is helping the “widows and orphans” (James 1:27).

So we must remember that, yes, there have been those who have misused the text of scripture to perpetrate acts of violence, but even a casual reading of the text tells us that its pages compel us to acts of compassion.

OUR CHRISTIAN HERITAGE

Since we’ve mentioned the Nazis, I feel it’s my duty to mention one of my favorite writers, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer stood in opposition to the Nazi regime during WWII, an opposition that would eventually cost him his life. It was Bonhoeffer who said,

“It is not a religious act that makes the Christian, but participation in the sufferings of God in the secular life. That is metanoia [repentance]: not in the first place thinking about one’s own needs, problems, sins and fears, but allowing oneself to be caught up into the way of Jesus Christ….Pain is a holy angel…Through him men have become greater than through all the joys of the world….The pain of longing,which often can be felt physically, must be there, and we shall not and need not talk it away. But it needs to be overcome every time, and thus there is an even higher holier angel than the one of pain, that is the one joy in God.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison)

It should be equally noted that Bonhoeffer did not advocate social justice alone, but stood against this sort of theological reductionism, even to the contradiction of such strong voices as Barth and Rahner.

Quite similarly, Mark Noll remarks on the strength of Christian witness through acts of mercy and charity:

“Over the long course of Christian history, the most depressing thing – because repeated so often – has been how tragically far short of Christian ideals we ordinary Christians so regularly fall. Over the long course of Christian history, the most remarkable thing – because it is such a miracle of grace – is how often believers have acted against the pride of life to honor Christ. Of all such ‘signs of contradiction,’ the most completely Christlike have been those occasions when believers are strong – because of wealth, education, political power, superior culture, or favored location – have reached out to the despised, the forsaken, the abandoned, the lost, the insignificant, or the powerless.” (Mark Noll, quoted in Michael Novak et al, “Where Would Civilization Be Without Christianity?” Christianity Today, 1999)

GRACE AND GOSPEL

This is not a subject to be avoided, shut away, or exchanged for the denigrating product of pornography, nor is it a subject to be confused with political conspiracies.

Mind you, I write this not “against” (though admittedly in reaction to) anyone. I am instead “for” the grace of Christ, a grace wide enough to welcome the poor, the needy and the broken, and a grace costly enough to invite us to changed lives.

FURTHER RESOURCES

How Christianity Changed the World, Alvin J. Schmidt.

The Hole in Our Gospel, Richard Stearns

Over at Challies.com you can read about a new book, When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor and Yourself.

You can also read my previous post on Social Reconciliation.