Back-to-school time often means back to familiar routines, but it can also bring new things: new schools, new teachers, new friends… new vocab? Now, if you’re hoping we’ll explain what stuff like skibidi toilet riz means, you’re out of luck.1 But we might be able to help you with the other kinds of words your kids might be bringing home – ideological buzzwords.

Buzzwords make up the jargon of a particular time and place. Every generation has slang and jargon that captures the era’s zeitgeist that can sound strange to other generations. For example, the buzzwords of the 1990s included many new tech terms that parents had previously been unfamiliar with like e-mail and hard drive. Or words like “virus” that suddenly had a new definition (computer virus anyone?).

Parents today have a lot of new buzzwords to learn, too, except most of the words kids are bringing home are concepts that parents only think they understand. That’s the tricky part: this new zeitgeist operates by taking the familiar and infusing it with new meanings that the average person 10 years ago wouldn’t have even dreamed of (hello, linguistic theft!) – words like privilege, inclusion, and justice.

But we mama bears aren’t going to be like those normal moms. We’re the cool moms, right? The ones who understand the ideological implications behind the words. Yes, they can be difficult to define because they are vague, slippery, and can mean just about anything people want them to mean–and that’s on purpose! In the words of community organizer Saul Alinsky (who taught his followers “how to get power… how to get it and how to use it.”), “You do what you can with what you have and then clothe it in moral garments. . . because all effective means require the passport of morality.”2

When all is said and done, you’ll get a good picture of how some old ideas are sneaking into these new happy-clappy-can’t-we-all-just-get-along-flower-power words. For each of our words, we’ll briefly describe what people have traditionally meant by the word, what people now mean by it, give a few examples of how it is used in this new sense, and then finally how to talk about it with your kids.

But before we get to allllllll our buzzwords, we first need to dig deep into the big kahuna – the buzzy-est buzzword of all – justice (and more importantly social justice).

Social Justice?Ahhhhh….. Social justice. It sounds so good! So biblical! So right!

Or, for some of you, the phrase “social justice” immediately makes your skin crawl and you import the entirety of Mao’s and Marx’s philosophy into a single phrase, ready to unleash your righteous indignation on anyone who uses the phrase positively. But mama bears, let’s try not to err on either extreme. Our goal is to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16). God has given us the ability to reason, so come let us reason together (Isaiah 1:18), starting with the concept of social justice.

Our goal is to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16). God has given us the ability to reason, so come let us reason together (Isaiah 1:18), starting with the concept of social justice.
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“Justice”What we assume they mean: A good society upholds justice when its people are treated fairly and impartially. This means people will be respected and afforded the same opportunities regardless of their gender, skin color, ethnicity, economic status, etc. Justice should mean that people receive the benefits they worked for and are not being punished for things they didn’t do. When a crime is committed, appropriate punishment should be served to the perpetrator and payment made to the victim ensuring justice has been restored. The Bible is all about justice. (See for example Leviticus 19:15, Deuteronomy 27:19, Jeremiah 22:3, Proverbs 21:15 and 29:7, Isaiah 1:17 and 5:23, Zechariah 7:9, 1 Peter 1:17, and Colossians 3:25.)

The overly simplistic summary of what they actually mean: Equal opportunities and outcomes for everyone, especially if there is a statistically significant discrepancy between ethnic minorities. (Unless those minorities do better than the average white person (i.e. Asian or Jewish people); those kinds of “minorities” don’t count.)

So what is “social justice”?

Our culture is sweeping all kinds of social dilemmas under the banner of “social justice.” Social justice goes beyond identifying “justice” for individuals and instead focuses on “justice” for groups – especially groups based on ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, and religion.

The assumption: According to social justice theory, if everyone had the same opportunities, then everyone would have the same outcome. If there are statistically significant differences between demographics (like those listed above) then the “system” is to blame, not the individual. Social justice means exposing and dismantling these unfair systems.

In the case of the justice system, certain demographics can experience unfair benefits or unfair impediments to success, preventing groups from achieving the equal outcome hypothesized by a totally “fair and just system.” In order to achieve this fair and just system, the structural impediments of the system need to be torn down. The unearned privileges must be rejected by those receiving it in order to allow someone in another demographic to benefit. (And yes, biological differences can also include unfair privileges and impediments, as we’ll see in a later blog regarding the concept of “reproductive justice.”)

What they get right and what they get wrong:

Setting evil people or selfish agendas aside, most “social justice warriors” (SJWs) are passionate about human flourishing. Even if SJWs are not suffering themselves, many are willing to commit time and energy to the goal of being an advocate for the well-being of others. What they are good at is bringing awareness to often overlooked areas of life in which communities or groups of people are suffering. They encourage (if not demand) others to get uncomfortable and examine their own biases and prejudices because they assume that it is these biases and prejudices that are causing all the harm. And in some cases, they are absolutely right! (For example, see here.) They help bring awareness to historical injustices that still have lingering vestiges. (How does one quantify the generational effects of learned helplessness from slavery?)

Fighting for people who have been unfairly targeted or forgotten is good and biblical. So what’s the problem? Social justice as a whole gets it wrong on two fronts. First, it takes legitimate cases of group oppression and applies it to every group that has ever been “marginalized.” Gird your loins, mama bears, we are about to see all the same social justice rhetoric for pedophilia under the guise of “minor attracted persons” (MAPs) – a poor, disenfranchised demographic who has been unfairly stigmatized for a “sexual orientation” that they did not choose or want. MAP discussions are already in TED talks and academic literature and will surely be making their way into our society soon. And since we’ve defined “justice” as any kind of marginalization or unequal treatment for whole demographics, there is nothing to prevent the phrase “social justice” from protecting this new oppressed group, too. (This is what people mean by a slippery slope.)

Secondly, if we are to put the intention of this movement in biblical terms, it would be to “love thy neighbor” (Matthew 22:39). Again, a good thing. But SJW’s get this wrong, too, by trying to uphold this command while redefining love. They essentially define love as having empathy and compassion… with no mention of truth or responsibility. Like, put yourself in the other person’s shoes, and ask what you would want if you were them – but what we want isn’t always what’s best for us, either! (And wouldn’t we all like to be off the hook for our own contributions to a problem?) This new definition of social justice operates under the assumption that all unequal treatment is the result of an unjust external “system.” This ignores any problems arising from sin, negates personal responsibility, and (sometimes) rejects brute reality.

According to God’s Word, “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6). Are there areas of unhealthy prejudice and bias which we need to bring attention to? You betcha. Are there areas where people are reaping the effects of unhealthy cultural mindsets? Cultural values that need redeeming as a wide scale? Ummm… yes to that, too. But that is taboo according to SJW’s who label it “victim blaming,” as if people don’t need to also be held responsible for their own choices. It’s not either/or, it’s both/and. We cannot neglect either one.

Furthermore, justice and righteousness are bedmates; you cannot separate them. That should be a huge worldview concern for Christians. You’re either going to look at these issues through a biblical lens using God’s definitions for things like love, truth, righteousness, and justice, or you’ll see them through a lens influenced and shaped by the culture. If all your ideas are filtered through the singular trait of compassion, you can accidentally stumble into (as Allie Beth Stuckey says in her latest book) “toxic empathy.” By disregarding sin, truth, and personal responsibility, our culture’s social justice framework does not always lead to true justice because you cannot have “justice” that includes unrighteousness (as is the case with things like “reproductive justice”).

Examples of (social) justice:

Health Justice

The group Health Justice Commons recently stated on their social media that “The Medical Industrial Complex (MIC) is a violent, profit-driven system that functions as a form of social control.”3 “Healthcare justice” is not just about getting people access to healthcare. Rather, the system itself needs to be cured of it’s “ableist” mindset (the mindset of able-bodied people) who blame people for their illnesses and focus on “behavioral change” for promoting healthcare. For example, in one clip from the NBC medical drama New Amsterdam, a doctor tells a boy’s parents that he thinks their son’s tumor was caused by racism.

This fits in with Health Justice Common’s accusation that our current healthcare system blames individuals and/or their bodies for their illnesses rather than acknowledge that “generational trauma and oppression” are the real causes of “harm and illness.” The goal is to dismantle the system. That’s how they define “healthcare justice.”

Housing Justice

The website urban.org discusses the new concept of “housing injustice.” According to their website, achieving housing justice means “ensuring everyone has affordable housing that promotes health, well-being, and upward mobility by confronting historical and ongoing harms and disparities caused by structural racism and other systems of oppression.” Sound like a mouthful to you too? Here’s the basic idea: People are getting evicted from their homes when they don’t pay their rent/mortgage, but this is seen as an injustice because the reason they haven’t made the payments is ultimately due to being trapped in an oppressive and racist system.

How to talk to your kids about justice:

Justice is part of who God is. We worship a God who loves justice because it is a part of His very nature (Psalm 33:5). Justice pleases God, and injustice invokes His good and righteous anger (Nahum 1:2-3). We see this attribute of God clearly when we read through the Old Testament laws that He gave Moses after delivered the Israelites from Egyptian slavery.

1. God calls for impartiality when judging, from the poor to the affluent (Leviticus 19:15). We even see how the Lord had built-in protections in his law for people like the poor and slaves. (Leviticus 23:22, Deuteronomy 15:13-14)

2. God calls us to protect the vulnerable. When James 1:27 talks about caring for the orphan or widow, it’s literally talking about people in society who have no advocate, no authority over them from whom they can receive protection; this means that this group needs protection from people taking advantage of their vulnerable position. However, it doesn’t attribute any action resulting from that vulnerability as being unjust. As we see in that same verse, we aren’t just to take care of this demographic, but to take responsibility for ourselves from “being polluted by the world.”

3. There have been groups who have been mistreated. Unfortunately, we don’t have to look very hard to find rampant examples of discrimination and injustice in the U.S. and around the world. These include things like slavery, the Holocaust against the Jewish people, Japanese-American internment camps, violence toward and forced assimilation of Native Americans, just to name a few. At times, the list seems endless. We even see examples in Scripture. As Christians, we need to take a stand against such atrocities. We need to care for others as Christ cared for people. Keep in mind that loving our neighbor doesn’t just mean loving those we agree with. Think of Jesus’s love and care for the Samaritans, the tax collectors, the ill, the poor, the rich, etc. When we talk with our kids about past injustices, we need to be honest about what’s happened, as is age-appropriate, of course. Acknowledging the dark stains of human history can help us have more sympathy (and even empathy) toward people among us.

When we talk with our kids about past injustices, we need to be honest about what's happened. Acknowledging the dark stains of human history can help us have more sympathy (and even empathy) toward people among us.
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1. Past injustice (unrighteousness) never excuses present injustice (unrighteousness). God cares about all trauma (Psalm 34:18) However, He still holds each person accountable for their own actions (Ezekiel 18:20). In Greek, the words for justice and righteousness are the same word. Dikaosynē which means “the state of being as one ought to be or integrity and virtue.” What should this tell us about justice? It will never include unrighteousness. When it came to justice, God never allowed “generational trauma and oppression” to change the plumbline for which to judge people. If He had, the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy would look very different. These two books describe a people who were literally coming out of slavery and oppression – an entire demographic intimate with generational and personal trauma. The solution wasn’t a softening of God’s law; it was literally to this people group that God gave his law! (He was extremely patient, but also had some pretty harsh punishments for disobedience.) Moses even had to “talk God down” (kidding/not kidding…) from wiping out the entire group (Exodus 32:9-14).

2. Blessings and guilt can be communal. Just because God only punishes individuals for their own sins does not mean that whole families or communities are immune from the effects of each other’s sins. Alcoholism and depression tend to run in families. Divorce has a tendency to breed divorce. Kids are especially affected by a parent’s choices. Entire groups can suffer for the unrighteousness of their leader (Leviticus 32:33). It is good to acknowledge ways that the health or dysfunction of our family or demographic have affected our own ideas of what is normal and healthy. However, it is up to individuals to break the cycle by making wise and healthy decisions for themselves so that they don’t perpetuate the generational curses.

In short, Christians should emulate God’s heart by being at the forefront of advocating for true justice wherever we are located!

ConclusionThe problem with the cultural definition of “justice” is that it often bypasses God’s definition of justice. Rather, it reflects an unattainable utopia because we, as humans, will always have our actions stained by sin – both as individuals and as individuals within a “system.” Cultural justice shifts the blame for crimes and other sins from the individual to “corrupt social structures.” God’s justice attributes sin on the individual who broke God’s moral law (1 John 3:4 and Deuteronomy 24:16). Cultural justice is about systems and institutions. God’s justice is about the human heart (Hosea 6:6).

Mama bears, we’ve got our work cut out for us! Most of the other buzzwords we’ll cover in this series are under the umbrella of social justice, and social justice has had a lot of linguistic theft and linguistic smuggling going on! (See Chapter 4 in our first book and Chapter 6 in our sexuality book.)

When words like justice, tolerance, inclusion, & rights are sifted through unbiblical assumptions, our kids may think they are arguing for Christian principles when in fact they are advocating for unrighteousness!
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For this reason, we must proactively prepare our kiddos with candid conversations about these buzzwords. We want them to recognize the message and be able to practice discernment, knowing why God’s way is a healthier approach. That way, when our kids inevitably encounter these terms at school or with their friends, they will be empowered to stand firm with confidence in biblical truth. Stay tuned for upcoming Buzzword blogs…

adminWe are all in this together, so sometimes our posts are a bit of all of us.

1 But we’re pretty sure it means someone is unpopular and nobody likes them.2 Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals (Vintage Books, 1989), 36, 44 (emphasis ours).3 See https://www.instagram.com/p/C-3Oucroq8p/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D.The post Beware of Back-to-School Buzzwords appeared first on Mama Bear Apologetics.