Social Justice & Witness
My understanding of the work of social justice stems from a deep appreciation of what Jesus referred to as the greatest commandments: to love God (or whatever you know as holy) with all your heart, your soul, your mind, and your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself (Mk 12). This is one of Jesus' greatest and most fundamental teachings. This requires careful reflection: a level of self-awareness to understand our own spirituality and our own ethical compass, to cultivate self-appreciation to love oneself, and ultimately, connecting to compassion and empathy for those who are different, and those who do not have the same life experience or cultural context.
Taking the greatest commandment to heart and loving these neighbors as myself requires that I consider the needs and challenges of all people, regardless of our differences. Author John Green once said, “There is no Them. There are only facets of Us.” The biblical Other is an illusion created by our own paralyzing fear. To consider someone as an “other” objectifies and dehumanizes someone; to consider them as your “neighbor” both humanizes and personalizes them. There is no Other, there is no Them; there are only facets of Us. This is why Jesus and the commandments uses the language of “neighbor”—we are all connected, we are all similar, no matter how many differences we encounter.
This work is not achieved through minor projects and occasional volunteering; this work is deconstructing and dismantling conscious and unconscious prejudices and entire systems of oppression. This takes time, patience, effort, and resilience. Theodore Parker was a Unitarian minister, prominent Transcendentalist and avid abolitionist; in a quote often misattributed to Martin Luther King, Jr. or Barack Obama, he said:
Taking the greatest commandment to heart and loving these neighbors as myself requires that I consider the needs and challenges of all people, regardless of our differences. Author John Green once said, “There is no Them. There are only facets of Us.” The biblical Other is an illusion created by our own paralyzing fear. To consider someone as an “other” objectifies and dehumanizes someone; to consider them as your “neighbor” both humanizes and personalizes them. There is no Other, there is no Them; there are only facets of Us. This is why Jesus and the commandments uses the language of “neighbor”—we are all connected, we are all similar, no matter how many differences we encounter.
This work is not achieved through minor projects and occasional volunteering; this work is deconstructing and dismantling conscious and unconscious prejudices and entire systems of oppression. This takes time, patience, effort, and resilience. Theodore Parker was a Unitarian minister, prominent Transcendentalist and avid abolitionist; in a quote often misattributed to Martin Luther King, Jr. or Barack Obama, he said:
I do not pretend to understand the moral universe, the arc is a long one…
my eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. But from what I see, I am sure it bends towards justice.
The work of anti-oppression recognizes that everyone's dignity and integrity is directly tied to the liberation of the oppressed, and the freedom, worth and dignity of ALL humanity.