Earlier this month I was given a challenging opportunity to present the recent research article I co-wrote regarding some of the preliminary data on The Marin Foundation’s national research study – exploring the variables of desire and hope within the GLBT community towards spirituality and religion – to an editorial panel consisting of 15 Christian scholars, editors and researchers. This intimate, week long setting provided me a unique insight into the minds and critiques of some of the country’s most well known and respected innovators of social thought and justice. I have heard about the term social justice quite a bit over the years while working within the GLBT and religious communities, and my working definition is; the process of working toward what is fair and right in the opposition of powerful entities that control and abuse the underrepresented. Throughout the week there were wonderful research studies presented, well thought-out scholarly commentaries and important historical analyses that all surrounded the topic of social justice. Yet interwoven within the week long discussions and debates was the apparent underlying question, at least in my mind, of who or what entity was the first to set the baseline foundation for what true justice, and in turn, social justice, both stand for?

With that said, by the middle of the week all I wanted to hear was just one person say that true justice and human rights are innate to us as living beings because it has been freely given to us by our Creator; no more, no less. Is true innovation rooted in social thought and behaviors, or is that argument flawed because there is no recognition given to the One that provided this freedom to us? Please do not misunderstand my words; new and creative social programs, thought and development are an integral part in moving our world forward. But contradictory to what I heard throughout the week, was it actually Aristotle who is the Father of Social Justice? Are the ancient Greco-Roman philosophers the ones who created the first model of just and unjust? I would have to argue against that statement. The Father of Social Justice is the Father.

By the end of the week I began to perseverate on just one question – when did the world ideologically shift from what we cannot see to what we can; and how was this able to influence the core of some of our own Christian academia that, I feel, has strayed from what is a true grounded reality? I raised this question to a few of the scholars individually after some of the sessions, but it was unfortunately not until the fifth and final day, when I brought the point up myself within the group discussion, that I actually heard anyone speak to this topic. The ensuing discussion came with a wide variety of reason; some I would agree with and some I would not. Throughout the week I had the honor to be involved with a few of the giants of intellectual and social thought, and one of the main feelings that I left with was how easily people can draw poignant battle lines between: 1) declaration of faith, 2) spiritual formation and practice, and 3) academic scholarship. I had always thought these variables were interdependent, existing only because the others existed as well. But as far as I can tell each of these are all now separate entities, independent of each other in beliefs, thoughts and works.

This begs the question then, is it any wonder why our world’s theology and sense of social awareness are incongruent to living out, practicing and constantly pursuing a personal faith through religion?

Sadly, the answer is no. In today’s broader society, the new trendy term of “faith traditions” are being touted as nothing more than a social construct, rather than one’s eternal state of being. Now tell me, is this justice?

Thank you and God Bless,

Andrew Marin