me on Veritas Rex: economic injustice vs. poverty

A useful posting on Veritas Rex to start a conversation on a favorite (and important) topic. I have written at great length on these matters. Here, my reply mostly deals with the opening paragraph:

I have found that one of the many criticisms against conservative Christian organizations, such as IFI, is that we are too focused on issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion. We should be more focused on other issues such as poverty, hunger, etc. The first thing that must be understood is that one of IFI’s main tasks is education and research on public policy issues. If the government wanted to, it could outlaw same-sex marriage and abortion right now. However, it cannot outlaw poverty. I believe the best place to work on the problem of poverty is outside of government. Churches, faith-based groups, other organizations and partnerships outside of government do a much better job of helping people out of poverty than the government does.

My reply:

I agree that a Christian organization devoted to certain tasks should not be held accountable to deal with every social ill-- whether poverty or anything else.

Of course, Christian individuals within those organizations would be expected to deal with a range of social ills-- in varying degrees. Again, not everyone needs to have the same plate of concerns.

But I'd redefine the concern as "injustice leading to poverty", rather than poverty per se. And if "one of IFI’s main tasks is education and research on public policy issues", then you should redefine/narrow your mission (as, e.g., Bryan Wickens does with ROCK) or you should address big issues of economic injustice as well as social justice (e.g., abortion) and social morality.

The Scriptures speak at great length about economic injustice. Moreover, theology and the ministry of Christ point us toward more energy/passion in arenas where the rights of others are violated ("justice" issues), rather than when people largely do harm to themselves.

If you're not angry at economic injustice-- as the old bumper sticker goes-- you're not paying attention (or you haven't read enough). Consider the working poor: government policies result in higher prices for food, clothing and shelter; the government typically provides a low quality of through a monopoly (a major contributor to poverty); labor market restrictions; and oppressive payroll taxes (that do far more damage than the much more popular income taxes); and so on.

We can't outlaw poverty, but Christians can and should work to end injustice perpetrated by the government.