religious oppression of social justice

“The tendency of religious people...is to use spiritual and ethical observance as a lever to gain power over others and over God, appeasing him through their good works. This leads to both an emphasis on external religious forms as well as greed, materialism, and oppression in social arrangements. Those who believe they have pleased God by the quality of their devotion and moral goodness naturally feel that they and their group deserve deference and power over others...In Jesus’ and the prophets’ critique, self-righteous religion is always marked by insensitivity to issues of social justice, while true faith is marked by profound concern for the poor and marginalized.” - Tim Keller, The Reason for God, 59-60.

The more I understand the true, holistic nature of the Gospel, the more I abhor religion. The essence of religion requires man to observe ritualistic traditions and/or work to maintain his righteousness in order to appease a holy God. Religion says in effect if I obey God He will love me. It is man-centered and by religion you are attempting in your own strength to achieve the impossible. Because religion forces you to compare yourself to others rather than Christ, those whom are poor and marginalized become a simple and easy target. There is no grace offered or given, because in religion one has not truly accepted or received true grace as experienced in the Gospel.

Tim Keller, in his book The Reason for God, offers some very interesting insight into this issue. He says, “Extremism and fanaticism, which lead to injustice and oppression, are a constant danger within the body of religious believers. For Christians, however, the antidote is not to tone down and moderate their faith, but rather to grasp a fuller and truer faith in Christ. The scholar Merold Westphal documents how Marx’s analysis of religion as an instrument of oppression was anticipated by the Hebrew prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, and even by the message of the New Testament gospels. Marx, according to Westphal, was unoriginal in his critique of religion--the Bible beat him to it.”

Jesus, in his manifesto recorded in Matthew 5-7, directs his criticism to the “religious” people of his day. “It’s interesting that the very people he criticizes pray, give to the poor, and seek to live a life according to the “law”, but they do so in order to get recognition and power for themselves. They believe they will get leverage over others and even over God because of their spiritual performance (Mt 6:7). This makes them judgmental, and condemning, quick to give criticism, and unwilling to take it. They are fanatics...In his teaching, Jesus continually says to the respectable and upright, “The tax collectors and the prostitutes enter the kingdom before you (Mt. 21:31). He continuously condemns in white-hot language their legalism, self-righteousness, bigotry, and love of wealth and power (You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness...You neglect justice and the love of God...You load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them...[You] devour widows’ houses and for a show make long prayers (Lk 11:39-46; 20:47)

Jesus followed the example of the prophets such as Isaiah, who said to the people of his day:

“Day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They seem eager for God to come near them. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers...Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice...to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter--when you see the naked, to clothe him...?” (Is 58:2-7)

Jesus and the prophets were not against prayer, fasting, and obedience to Biblical directions for life. They were opposed to the tendency of religious people to use these means as a lever to gain power...The God of Jesus and the prophets, however, saves completely by grace. He cannot be manipulated by religious and moral performance--he can only be reached through repentance, through the giving up of power. If we are saved by sheer grace we can only become grateful, willing servants of God and of everyone around us...The Swiss theologian John Calvin, in his commentaries on the Hebrew prophets, says that God so identifies with the poor that their cries express divine pain. The Bible teaches us that our treatment of them equals our treatment of God.

So, what do make in light of all this religiosity that uses the very things we’re commanded to do as levers for oppression and power? Tim Keller paints a beautiful picture of the true Gospel in light of all this in chapter fourteen of his book as follows:

“The story of the gospel makes sense of moral obligation and our belief in the reality of justice, so Christians do restorative and redistributive justice wherever they can. The story of the gospel makes sense of our indelible religiousness, so Christians do evangelism, pointing the way to forgiveness and reconciliation with God through Jesus. The gospel makes sense of our profoundly relational character, so Christians work sacrificially to strengthen human communities around them as well as the Christian community the church. The gospel story makes sense of our delight in the presence of beauty, so Christians become stewards of the material world, from those who cultivate the natural creation through science and gardening to those who give themselves to artistic endeavers, all knowing why these things are necessary for human flourishing. The skies and trees ‘sing’ of the glory of God, and by caring for them and celebrating them we free their voices to praise him and delight us. In short, the Christian life means not only building up the Christian community through encouraging people to faith in Christ, but building up the human community through deeds of justice and service...Christians then are the true ‘revolutionaries’ who work for justice and truth, and we labor in expectation of a perfect world in which: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things is passed away (Re 21:4)...And when we get there, we will say, I’ve come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I’ve been looking for all my life, though I never knew it!” (Keller, 225-6)

Please join me in making this my life’s passion and desire by living out a true Christ-centered, Gospel-driven life of a true “revolutionary”!

[The majority of this post is adapted from Tim Keller in his book, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. I’ve attempted to synthesize the main points and majority of the argument as laid out. I highly recommend reading the entire book at some point. I am by no means attempting to take credit for this post. This section appears in chapter four of his book under the heading “The Biblical Critique of Religion”, 58-60.]