Responding to the Social Justice Movement: Resist Evil and Build for Good
It is not enough to resist the evil around us, it is time to create better
In my previous post on this series, I suggested making local havens where people can be safe and supported. But it is not enough to try to protect ourselves and hide out from the world. First, we are called to be a light to the world (Matt 5:13-16), so hiding our light is not a good option. Second, to hide out is to become increasingly isolated but not necessarily protected.
Therefore, as we seek to move forward making a difference in our immediate context, we need to have an optimistic eye to the near future. Keeping with my grid, in this post we will be looking at how we can help our immediate context for the near future. To this end, I propose a two-pronged strategy of resisting evil and building something good.
Resist Evil
An old maxim often attributed to Edmund Burke says, “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” It appears that Burke did not actually say this, but that does not remove the truth of the saying. It is a necessity to stand up and resist evil.
The extreme forms come in the vocations of soldier and police officer. Those in the military and those in law enforcement are sometimes required to use extreme force to protect the innocent. The pacifist who argues that he should not hurt another, does hurt his neighbor if he sees another attacked and does nothing to stop it. The Augsburg Confession puts it this way: “it is right for Christians to hold political office, serve as judges, to judge matters by imperial laws and other existing laws, to impose just punishments, to engage in just wars, to serve as soldiers” (AC XVI).[1]
While most people’s image of Jesus is that of a peacemaker, we need to remember that He did make a whip, flip tables and drive people and animals out of the temple! This type of response should not be our first reaction, as we must remember that our anger is more often driven by sinful motives. However, there is such a thing as righteous anger and there are times when Christians need to stand up to evil and say, “no more!”
Live not by lies
However, all of us can find much lesser ways to resist evil. The most basic is well summarized in the words of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: “Live not by lies;” this is also the underlying principle of a book by Rod Dreher by that name.[2] The basic idea is that every form of totalitarianism, whether that be the hard totalitarianism of the Soviet Union that Solzhenitsyn lived under or the soft totalitarianism that is growing in the West today, is based upon lies and fabrications. One such example: to say that a biological man can become a woman by saying so or even through drug treatments and cosmetic surgery is clearly false. The concept of living not by lies is if you are not able to outright fight, you can at least refuse to speak the lies yourself. This means that we need to, at least, be willing to not repeat things that we know are false.
For some, resisting evil might even mean speaking up directly. This could be at work, at a school board meeting, or at a city council meeting. With any form of this type of resistance, we do, however, need to be prepared to face the consequences. I cannot promise you that if you speak the truth, or even just refuse to repeat a lie, it will go easily. Throughout history, there have been those who have suffered imprisonment for speaking the truth, from Jeremiah (Jer 37-38) to Christians in Communist countries to even today.
There is a time to speak; remember Mordecai’s words to Esther “who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14 all Biblical quotes from ESV). There is a time when we must be willing to take the risk and speak up. As Christians, we know that the ultimate victory is ours in Christ, so we should not shirk.
If you faint in the day of adversity,
your strength is small.
Rescue those who are being taken away to death;
hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.
If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,”
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it,
and will he not repay man according to his work?
Proverbs 24:10-12
Smaller forms of resistance
Another way to resist evil is to not support or participate in it. Obvious cases would include not joining a Gay Pride event or taking your child to a drag queen story hour. However, there are other ways we really should think more about. Are you supporting the Woke agenda through the products that you buy? If a company is actively supporting what you know is wrong, take your business elsewhere. A couple of recent examples of this are the impromptu Bud Light and Target boycotts. In each of these cases, people just decided that they could no longer do business with these companies. It saddens me that good, hardworking people who work for these companies or businesses that contract with them are also hurt by these boycotts; we should not forget them but even see if there are ways we can support them.
While not as potentially severe, this could still mean sacrifices for us. Sure, there are other brands of beer and other stores as options in the above cases. However, what if the cheapest option with the best delivery policy is from a company that supports the Social Justice movement? Then it might mean paying more or even doing without.
Build Something Good
My biggest concern with what I have said so far is that it has become easy for us to sit back and complain about the problems. There is a place for airing grievances, but that is not enough. Also, it is an inherently negative approach. Rather, we should be looking for and working to create better options.
Take the problem with the public schools. There is a place for resisting by speaking up at school board meetings. However, there comes a time when a better option needs to be created. My family created a small, exclusive classical Lutheran school (I call it exclusive because only my children were admitted); in other words, we homeschooled our children. I am now blessed to be serving as pastor of two churches, one is part of an association that runs a very solid Lutheran grade school and the other generously helps underwrite the tuition of members who attend either that association school or another area Lutheran school and both support the area Lutheran high school. Both options, a solid homeschool and a solid parochial school, are positive options to a corrupt, decaying public school system.
If your situation is such that there is not a good option to a failing school, then I encourage you to homeschool or even work to create a Christian school. If you have a solid Christian school in the area, then support it – even if you don’t have school aged children.
The adage that it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness holds true. This may include other things as well. If the local businesses are pushing an agenda that you cannot support, look for other businesses that you can support or create a new business that operates with godly integrity. One of the tragedies of the demise of the small business is that the local “Mom and Pop” business usually did things in accord with the values of their customers because they knew their customers and shared the values. Large “big box” stores have advertising and even DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) departments that are totally disconnected from their customers and often push agendas based on idealistic schemes. This is exactly what happened with Bud Light.
If there isn’t a better alternative, make one. But you do not have to and shouldn’t do this alone. Look around and seek out others who share your concerns and may have skills or experience that you lack who can partner with you.
Project optimism and truth
The danger with focusing on the negatives in our society is that we end up sounding like we are against everything. This charge is often laid against Christians and not without warrant. I know when I was growing up, the message given about sex was negative: don’t do it. Far better, far more powerful, and more biblical is the message that waiting to have sex until marriage gives one protection from sickness, a closer bond with their spouse, and contrary to popular opinion, better sex (there are numerous studies that show this last point). In much the same way, instead of expending all our energies fighting against the progression of an evil, we should also put at least as much energy into creating a positive alternative.
All too often, people tend to say we need to go along with this or that because there isn’t a good option. It is time for us to get busy and create better options.
[1] Paul McCain, ed., Concordia The Lutheran Confessions: A Reader’s Edition of the Book of Concord, Second. (St. Louis: Concordia, 2006).
[2] Rod Dreher, Live Not by Lies : A Manual for Christian Dissidents (New York: Sentinel, 2020).