Justice and accountability go hand in hand.  Many in the Christian community agree that the war in Iraq does not qualify as a “just war” and want to hold those responsible accountable.  Indeed, people of every nation have a right to expect their leaders to practice justice.  So it was in Israel when the Psalmist wrote, “God, give the King your justice…”

 

In a democracy, the people as well as their leaders must also be held accountable, for we are the ones who put presidents in office.  There are those who argue that religion and politics don’t mix, but if they don’t, our religion is irrelevant.  We are both religious and political beings, and when we go into the ballot booth, we do not leave our faith and our values outside. Reinhold Niebuhr said, “The duty of politics is to establish justice.” And President Carter added, “Politics is God’s extension service. In a democracy, our failure to be an informed voter means that we are not accountable.”

 

I grew up in the South where my Church seldom addressed justice issues.  Most of the sermons were about personal behavior and the plan of salvation.  In fact, there was a common vocabulary used in churches that suggested Christians should not be “worldly.”  It was as if the task of the Church was to save people from the world rather than transform the world.  This was a theological way of escaping the justice issues of our racist, segregated society.

 

Instead, we white Southerners insisted that we practiced love. But, at best, it was a diseased love. We lived in a culture that was unapologetically unjust, never realizing that love can never take the place of justice.  Not until the Civil Rights Movement did we begin to understand that genuine love can never be less than justice.  We piously refused to be accountable. 

 

The principle applies to many issues today.  There is no justice when we are content when people receive a minimum wage instead of a living wage.  There is no justice when we deprive people of health care because we are afraid of socialized medicine.  There is no justice when a CEO makes more money in one day than the employees make in a year.  There is no justice in a judicial system when identical crimes lead to different sentencing, depending upon the county in which the crime was committed.  There is no justice when we assume that our charity is a sufficient response to the homeless. 

 

Martin Luther King’s indictment of Christian moderates who are more devoted to order than to justice is valid today about a wide range of issues that we accept in the status quo. 

 

That range of issues is wider today than ever before.  When we pledge our allegiance to our country “with liberty and justice for all” we are beginning to understand that ALL includes not just human beings but all of God’s creatures with whom we share the planet earth.  We now see that justice means protecting endangered species, and we are more cognizant that global warming is a wakeup call mandating justice for environmental viability.

 

As the 2008 election approaches, the Psalmist’s prayer should become our own. “Give the President your justice, O God.”  And we should add to that petition, “Make all of us accountable.”  

 

BY REV. ROBERT SEYMOUR, MINISTER EMERITUS,

OLIN T. BINKLEY MEMORIAL BAPTIST CHURCH, CHAPEL HILL