SBC Social Justice Resolution Against the Anti-Gospel of the Social Justice Movement

Grady Arnold

Pastor and Messenger

Calvary Baptist Church

Cuero, Texas

[Publisher’s Note: Some readers supportive of this conversation have nevertheless questioned invoking the name of Mormon talk show host Glenn Beck. While the author is more than willing to reword this and other sections, readers should know that his Resolution has already been submitted to the Resolutions Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention. It is now theirs to amend, reword, combine or decline. It is also worth reiterating that the goal of the author and every well-meaning Christian commenter is certainly to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God. (Micah 6:8) The question is not whether we promote concern for the poor, compassion for the needy, help for the hungry, healing for the sick, and justice for the oppressed. The question is about exactly which philosophy we embrace while pursuing these worthy and biblical aims. As a reminder, in our ABOUT US section, one finds the following explanation of our posting policy: “SBC Today does not necessarily endorse all that is written on this blog, not only in the comments section, but even in the articles themselves. Within reason, we want to encourage the free expression of a broad range of ideas.” Our brother and fellow laborer in the Lord has presented this motion for the consideration of our Resolutions Committee. Therefore, we present it for the consideration of our readers as well. While it is thought-provoking and even controversial, we hope the conversation can foster greater understanding as we all seek to love our neighbor as ourselves and glorify Christ.]

Whereas the social justice movement and worldview are being promoted worldwide, and are being presented using various labels such as eco-justice, economic justice, racial justice, and global justice, to name a few, and

Whereas social justice by definition is based on the anti-biblical and destructive concepts of Marxist ideology, and among other things is interested in redistributing wealth, opportunity, and privileges within society, and

Whereas social justice activism should be considered evil in that it is a vehicle to promote abortion, homosexuality, gender confusion, and a host of other ideas that are antithetical to the gospel, the Christian worldview, and God’s call to holiness (1 Peter 1:16), and

Whereas social justice is now being promoted and enforced by governments worldwide, with Canada being one example that as of 2011 developed Social Justice Tribunals, and is seeking to enforce Bill C-16, a bill passed in 2017 that in application sees it as a hate crime to use the wrong gender pronoun to describe an individual, and

Whereas social justice is deceptive, in that well-meaning Christians become unwittingly drawn into such ideology under the false assumption that social justice equates to standing up for people’s rights and compassion, and

Whereas social justice is based on Marxism and Postmodernism, and should be opposed because of its anti-biblical stance and worldview, and although Christians are attempting to blend social justice with Christianity, they must realize that to accept social justice ideology is to invite liberal theology and liberation theology into our churches, schools, and institutions, and

Whereas authoritative voices have warned against such, for example on the May 2010 “Glenn Beck Program” when Jerry Falwell Jr., declared that social justice was “insidious,” and Glenn Beck warned of a “perversion of the gospel” and called on Christians to “run as fast as you can” away from churches who start teaching social justice because of the toxic nature of social justice, and

Whereas social justice is showing it’s true colors at George Washington University and other campuses in 2018 where they are holding classes and seminars seeking to combat “Christian Privilege,” and attacking Christianity for it’s prominence in society using the social justice ethic, wherein the seminar at GWU students are taught “American Christians receive things they don’t deserve and are not worthy of getting,” and

Whereas Southern Baptists ought to furthermore be warned by the example of the Methodist and Episcopal denominations that have already embraced the social justice movement, and instead of growing in number, these same denominations continue to lose membership at an alarmingly fast rate, and

Whereas we have a present crisis point in the Southern Baptist Convention, in that the same social justice has been recently defended and promoted by Russell Moore of the ERLC within the Southern Baptist Convention, with Dr. Moore writing multiple articles and hosting events promoting social justice, and

Whereas the social justice agenda in the Southern Baptist Convention has become pervasive in some seminaries and state conventions, even to the point that it is apparently an unwritten rule not to speak against the social justice movement, or one’s job or position will be in jeopardy, and

Whereas we are repeatedly warned in Scripture concerning such error and being deceived, with Ephesians 5:6, Hebrews 13:9, Colossians 2:8, and 1 Timothy 4:1 being just a few of these warnings, and

Whereas social justice and Christian ethics are clearly antithetical to each other in the areas of tolerance, sexuality, gender, human life beginning at conception, and in general the role of a believer and the purpose for good works being to glorify God, and

Whereas social justice differs from the New Testament in that social justice expresses compassion for certain groups they deem as “victims” while hating those with whom they disagree, rather than following the command of Christ to love everyone, and especially our enemies (Matthew 5:44), and

Whereas social justice warriors routinely shut down speech that they disagree with, often with violence as part of their “social justice,” instead of “seeking to live at peace with all men” (Romans 12:18) and

Whereas social justice destroys lives by convincing people they are victims who are right to magnify even the most minor of offenses, and to note every disagreement or slight as a “microaggression,” and to complain rather than obey scripture and “count it all joy,” (James 1:2) and

Whereas true Christian theology builds people up to be resilient in the face of trials, but social justice seeks to stoke discontentment (1 Corinthians 10:10; Hebrews 13:5), and

Whereas our own denomination must reject this harmful social justice philosophy in it’s entirety, and

Whereas biblical doctrine and the Christian ethic must be chosen over social justice, then be it

RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Dallas, Texas, June 13–14, 2018, decry and reject the terms and framework of social justice as insufficient to adequately reflect the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Christian worldview; and be it further

RESOLVED That the entities of the Southern Baptist Convention be encouraged to avoid the terms “social justice” and social justice warrior” when referring to Christian ethics or activism, and that the Holy Scriptures be used as a guide without mimicking the verbiage of the Anti-Christian social justice movement, and be it

RESOLVED That all SBC Colleges and Universities be encouraged to review their teaching programs with special attention given to Humanities Departments to ensure that Marxist based social justice is not being taught in our colleges, universities, and seminaries, and be it

RESOLVED, That we encourage churches in preaching, teaching, and in discipleship to address the issues of racial reconciliation, poverty, the environment, sexual and gender issues, immigration, and education from a Christian worldview and reject the ideological underpinnings and verbiage of the social justice movement.