Steven E. Handwerker, PhD, DDiv, peacewk@peacewk.org, The International Association for the Advancement of Human Welfare, Inc., 33 Laurel Ridge Break, Ormond Beach, FL, 32174
A priest, a Talmudic scholar, a reverend, and a minister walk into a conference…for the third year in a row at APA for an interfaith dialogue – this time on social justice. Social justice is a core principle of many religions. Social justice is “the ability to participate equally in social and political life” (Fraser, 2009, cited in Thrift & Sugarman, 2019, p. 12). It refers to the concept of improving diversity, equity, inclusion, access to resources, participation in policymaking, and human rights for groups historically marginalized based on race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, and disability through the distribution of power (Finnis, 2017; Fuhriman, 2017; Kapila et al., 2016; Soken-Huberty, 2010). Many religions consider social justice to be central to their core missions — a moral imperative. For example, in Christianity, the Bible states that Christians should “learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, and please the widow's cause” (Isaiah 1:17). In Islam, the Quran says of Muslims that “God commands justice and fair dealing” (Quran 16:90) and “O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm in justice” (Quran 4:135). In Judaism, the Torah declares of Jews that "justice, justice shall you pursue” (Deuteronomy 16:20), and the Tanakh states that Jews should “hate evil and love good, and establish justice at the gate,” and “let justice well up like water, righteousness like an unfailing stream” (Amos 5:15, 24). In Buddhism, the Dalai Lama declared that “I believe in justice and truth, without which there would be no basis for human hope,” and he observed that “all religions try to benefit people, with the same basic message of the need for love and compassion, for justice and honesty, for contentment.” Social justice is clearly important to many religions. Yet most religions have historically been institutions of injustice as well, promoting oppression. Religious dogma has been used for centuries to persecute, oppress, maintain patriarchies, promote authoritarianism, justify racism, rationalize oppression, and support White male privilege. Many religious ideologies justify the oppression of others — often those in the minority. Some scholars have even argued that the primary function of religion is to justify the status quo of society and preserve existing injustices. This symposium takes a hard and honest look at how religions promote — and fight against — social justice. A priest, a Talmudic scholar, a reverend, and a minister each discuss how Catholicism, Judaism, progressive Protestant Christianity, and Zen Buddhism approach social justice in their respective religions, and a group of psychologists and students discuss how psychologists support — and fail to support — social justice efforts, from the perspectives of the APA in general and the Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality (Division 36) in particular.
