The poor in America

[Socialite]

http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Add...3-30-2011.html

It was beginning to seem that the phrase "social justice," at least in evangelical circles, was becoming a four-letter word. Just over a year ago, Glenn Beck—evangelicalism's favorite Mormon—started a campaign against the word when, on his radio show, he brazenly announced that Christians who found the phrase on their churches' websites should flee their churches. It was a code word, he announced, a sort of shibboleth that showed the church was really a clandestine center of leftist political agitation.

Although it's difficult to decipher what he was thinking when he made this claim—and defended it for weeks—I imagine he had in mind the kind of small, mainline churches that feature Jim Wallis book clubs. Wallis, in fact, became his foil in the fallout. But one church I feel confident that Beck did not have in mind when he made his pronouncement is Redeemer Presbyterian, one of New York City's largest churches.

The word "justice" is all over Redeemer's website, including in an advertisement for this past Monday night's conversation about justice featuring Redeemer's pastor and best-selling author Dr. Tim Keller and MSNBC's Martin Bashir.

I had the opportunity to attend the event at the New York Society for Ethical Culture, and as the evening's activities commenced it was announced that Bashir was sick and would not be in attendance. His replacement, we were told, would be Fox News religion correspondent Lauren Green.

There was an audible sigh of disappointment at the news that Bashir, whose aggressive interview with Rob Bell had earned him some serious evangelical street cred, would not be asking the hard questions of Keller. Green acknowledged the slight awkwardness of a Fox News correspondent, as opposed to one from MSNBC, talking about social justice. She joked that her affiliation would make her an excellent devil's advocate in the conversation. READ MORE IN THE LINK

A side comment, given by Keller in a separate context:

Most Christians get their notion of justice not from reading the bible... but from their political party.