The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice. Martin Luther King, Jr.
So tonight begins my journey into the world of blogging. It is long overdue. I am a Lutheran, someone well versed in the idea that one component of sin is the tendency to "curve in on oneself," and lose a sense of the importance of striving for worldly justice, of being for others, of trips to homeless shelters and food banks. I am an academic, and I often function the best with a book and time to muse over its ideals and concepts. Making meaningful and clear connections to issues in the world--things like hunger, environmental destruction, consumerism, economic injustice, all kinds of violence, sexism and racism--are important. I see this blog as allowing me to put the theories and faith that rattle around in my head to a more practical use.
I'd like to believe that Martin was right, that the universe does have a moral arc. But I'm not always so sure....
These musings are also an invitation to conversation. So what do you think?
Taxation is perhaps the most common modern day contribution by citizens to the "common good." Of course, we all don't agree with the use of tax revenues by the government, however, while imperfect, this contribution has significant moral significance to the founding structures of our nation.
ReplyDeletePresident Washington in his Farewell Address made clear the indispensable nature of religion and morality in the structure of the nation, and the necessity of religion in supporting the national morality:
Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports…Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice?
Washington implies, in his references to prosperity, property, and reputation, an individualistic element of the common good, an element which is characteristic of the Constitution. The Declaration of Independence, on the other hand, implies a more covenantal or communitarian aspect of the common good. A public covenant to the less-successful competitor, the “other”, is indelible in the equality and full humanity of all persons in the Declaration. Jefferson’s language, that “all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights,” places the Divine as the source of the legitimacy of the body politic, that is, a source grounded in natural law and the Bible.