I think the quote below from Meridian Magazine particularly interesting and especially would point out the excellent comment by Michael Otterson of LDS church pulic affairs:
"Fox News commentator Glenn Beck elicits strong reactions from people, but never more so than this week on The Washington Post’s On Faith blog where the question itself was based on comments he made on his television show. The question was this:
Wallis vs. Beck: The politics of social justice
Fox News commentator Glenn Beck claims that faith-based calls for "social justice" are really ideological calls for "forced redistribution of wealth . . . under the guise of charity and/or justice," and that Christians should leave their churches if they preach or practice "social justice."
Rev. Jim Wallis disagrees, saying social justice is a faith-based commitment "to serve the poor and to attack the conditions that lead to poverty," central tents of the teachings of Jesus and at the heart of biblical faith.
Who's right? How does the pursuit of justice fit into your faith? Is 'social justice' an ideology or a theology?
The On Faith panel of respondents ranged from calling Beck “insane” or “our national fool” to frank agreement with him. Of great interest was the response of Michael Otterson who heads the worldwide public affairs office for the LDS Church. He wrote:
I have met both of these men just once.
I found Glenn Beck - despite the image generated by the entertainer, the hype and the passion - to be a sensitive and decent man who has struggled mightily to overcome problems in his own life. He is not an uncompassionate man. He is not an enemy to the poor.
Jim Wallis is a man with boundless empathy for the poor and disadvantaged. He is a Christian to the core, and he lives it. I admire any man who selflessly devotes his life to lifting those less fortunate than himself.
The issue here isn't purely theological, however. The essay by Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, gets it right. Care of the poor and needy is such a fundamental obligation for anyone claiming to embrace Christianity that it shouldn't need further discussion. (For that matter, most other religions embody the principle of helping the poor as a moral obligation).
As many have pointed out, Glenn Beck is a convert to Mormonism (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). That, however, is irrelevant in this debate. Beck doesn't speak for the Church and he would be the last person in the world to suggest that he does. It's worth noting that nowhere does he attribute his opinions on social justice to his Mormon beliefs. Aside from that, the Church he belongs to has its own massive programs to aid the poor and deliver humanitarian aid and has elevated the charge to care for the poor and needy as one of its central missions
Here is the issue in a nutshell: Should care of the poor and needy fall to our individual, charitable and church responsibilities, with government playing a minimal role? Or should government take the major role, with individual charitable efforts in support?"
These two questions are the heart of the matter. Constitutionally the government is bound to protect the rights of the people and provide for the general welfare i.e. any thing the government provides must not only be universal it must also be equally administered to the whole body of the people.
The concept of social justice is directly opposed to these Constitutional limits on government. On the one hand the government infringes on the rights of the people and taxes them unequally and on the other it redistributes those tax moneys unequally giving subsidies and tax credits to corporations and the wealthy and welfare of various forms to the poor but leaving the main body of the people with emptier pockets. This has set up a pattern of dependency forcing more and more people to depend on the government for assistance whereas if the government would limit itself by the Constitution this forced redistribution of wealth would become a thing of the past. This has also set up the government as a grand socially justified thief, stealing the wealth of the people by the force of their power; against the will of the people.
In juxtaposition to social justice is Charity, the greatest of the triune virtues Faith, Hope, and Charity as taught by the apostle Paul in the New Testament and by the prophet Moroni in The Book of Mormon. We know that the natural man is an enemy to God because of our fallen and selfish natures. The whole point of Charity is that we chose to transcend our natures through the Atonement of Christ and become Saints willingly imparting our substance to the poor and needy. Those who are rich and do not impart of their substance are condemned in the scriptures; the judgment is Gods. In administering Social Justice, so called, the government usurps that judgment from God and stands in His place to judge the people in complete subjectivity to the whims of those in office at the time: this is not justice.
Americans are the most generous people on the earth. They give more per ca pita and a greater percentage than any other nation on earth. They give more total than all the other nations of the earth combined. The government has stolen more than just our money is has tried to steal our choice to do good, to be Charitable. The government must stop stealing for the people from the people and start limiting itself by the Constitution once again. We the people can and will do the rest. Look at our history: we have lifted the poor and the needy time after time and do it now despite willful theft by our government. Here is what the Lord has said:
Doctrine & Covenants 104
11 It is wisdom in me; therefore, a commandment I give unto you, that ye shall organize yourselves and appoint every man his stewardship;
12 That every man may give an account unto me of the stewardship which is appointed unto him.
13 For it is expedient that I, the Lord, should make every man accountable, as a steward over earthly blessings, which I have made and prepared for my creatures.
14 I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens, and built the earth, my very handiwork; and all things therein are mine.
15 And it is my purpose to provide for my saints, for all things are mine.
16 But it must needs be done in mine own away; and behold this is the way that I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my saints, that the poor shall be exalted, in that the rich are made low.
17 For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves.
18 Therefore, if any man shall take of the abundance which I have made, and impart not his portion, according to the law of my gospel, unto the poor and the needy, he shall, with the wicked, lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment.
No mention of government in there, and no one is forced, we are free to make our choice with a full knowledge of the consequences. Charity is the answer.
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