What C.S. Lewis and F.A. Hayek Had to Say about 'Social Justice'
Both Hayek and Lewis were (rightly) deeply suspicious of the idea.
Few would disagree with the assertion that politics increasingly pervades our culture.
Much of the politicization stems from the ideology of social justice, the idea that the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges in our society (and the world) is unequal and needs to be rectified. Christians increasingly are called to join this fight.
“Justice is central to the Christian faith,” Relevant magazine declared earlier this year, “yet many Christians, especially in the United States, leave the work of justice largely untouched. The signs of the times cry out for people who will stand in the gap and engage the pursuit of justice.”
Numerous books have been published in recent years detailing how Christians can pursue social justice to live out their faith (apparently this can be quite an exhausting exercise, however).
To what degree are Christians called to be in the world and shaping it? It’s an ancient question, and a thorny one. But social justice, and the means we are to employ to pursue it, is a particularly tricky question for Christians grounded in the Lockean philosophy, which holds property, life, and liberty as natural rights.
One person who did have thoughts on the matter was C.S. Lewis, who touched on the issue in The Screwtape Letters.
In the book, the demon Screwtape, writing to his nephew Wormwood, notes that the relationship between Christianity and politics is a “delicate” matter.
“Certainly we do not want men to allow their Christianity to flow over into their political life, for the establishment of anything like a really just society would be a major disaster,” Screwtape writes. “On the other hand, we do want, and want very much, to make men treat Christianity as a means.” (emphasis mine)
A means toward what? Preferably toward personal advancement, Screwtape writes, “but, failing that, as a means to anything—even to social justice.” (emphasis mine) He continues:
“The thing to do is to get a man at first to value social justice as a thing which the Enemy demands, and then work him on to the stage at which he values Christianity because it may produce social justice. For the Enemy will not be used as a convenience. Men or nations who think they can revive the Faith in order to make a good society might just as well think they can use the stairs of Heaven as a short cut to the nearest chemist’s shop. Fortunately, it is quite easy to coax humans round this little corner.”
The message is a clear warning to those who’d be tempted to use the Gospel to build utopias here on Earth.
Lewis was saying the Christian faith should guide our ideas, and these ideas are of course expressed in all areas of political life. But, according to Lewis, all people—and perhaps social justice advocates in particular—should be wary of making political causes false idols of our faith.
To me, this seems like prudent advice. (Author’s note: If you’ve not yet read The Screwtape Letters, you absolutely must, even if you’re not a person of faith. In fact, especially if you’re not a person of faith.)
It’s also worth noting that Lewis was not the only renowned thinker to see through the charade of “social justice.”
The Nobel Prize-winning economist F.A. Hayek also saw how pernicious the idea is:
The classical demand is that the state ought to treat all people equally in spite of the fact that they are very unequal. You can’t deduce from this that because people are unequal you ought to treat them unequally in order to make them equal. And that’s what social justice amounts to. It’s a demand that the state should treat people differently in order to place them in the same position. . . .To make people equal a goal of governmental policy would force government to treat people very unequally indeed.
Fascinating and thought-provoking. Thanks!
I always liked P. J. O'Rourke's take on the 10th Commandment. "Here are God’s basic rules about how we should live, a very brief list of sacred obligations and solemn moral precepts, and right at the end of it is, 'Don’t envy your buddy’s cow.' What is that doing in there? Why would God, with just ten things to tell Moses, choose, as one of them, jealousy about the livestock next door? And yet, think about how important to the well-being of a community this Commandment is. If you want a donkey, if you want a pot roast, if you want a cleaning lady, don’t bitch about what the people across the street have. Go get your own."
God doesn't care if we're equal - it's our responsibility.