12 Principles for a Just Society

12 Principles for a Just Society, an excerpt from Just Generosity by Ron Sider of Evangelicals for Social Action:

1. Made in the image of God, every person enjoys an inalienable dignity and worth that society must respect.
2. Persons are not just complex socioeconomic, materialistic machines: they are also spiritual beings enjoying God given rights and responsibilities. Each person is a body-soul unity made for relationship with God, neighbor, and earth.
3. Because the Trinitarian God created persons for mutual interdependence in community, society must be organized in ways that nurture the common good. Since persons reach their potential only in multi-layered community of diverse institutions (family, church, school, media, business, government), society must promote policies (consistent with religious freedom for all) that strengthen all institutions to play their full proper roll.
4. Every policy, both public and private, must be measured by its impact on the poor and marginalized because biblical faith teaches that one of the central criterion by which God judges societies is how they treat the least advantaged.
5. Both because God wants all persons to be dignified participants in their communities and because centralized power is always dangerous, we must strengthen the economic and political power of the poor.
6. Renewing the family must be a central goal for both government and civil society. (A family is that set of persons related by marriage, blood, or adoption.) While recognizing that today’s families come in many shapes (two-parent, single-parent, blended), all policies, both public and private, should promote the biblical norm of mother and father (united in lifelong marital covenant) with their children, surrounded by a larger extended family.
7. Every Person and family should have the opportunity to acquire and use (without discrimination based on religion, race, or gender) the productive resources that, if used responsibility, will enable that person or family to earn a decent living and be a dignified participating member of the community.
8. Everyone able to work has an obligation to do so, and society, where possible, has the responsibility to make work opportunities available to all. Everyone who works responsibly should receive a living income.
9. Society should care – in a generous, compassionate way that strengthens dignity and respect – for those who cannot care for themselves.
10. Quality education must be available to all, regardless of family income.
11. Quality heath care consistent with society’s present knowledge and resources must be available to all, regardless of family income.
12. Every community must enjoy public safety. Communities should be places where people feel physically secure, violence is rare, and the police and courts function without bias for or against anyone.

We must, as the Call to Renewal covenant insists, stop making false choices “between good values and good jobs, between personal responsibility and social justice, between rebuilding families and rebuilding neighborhoods, between sexual restraint and educational opportunity, between good parenting and livable family wages, between individual moral choices and government responsibility. Every institution in society must do its share and each one must do what it does best.”

Principles of Nonviolent Social Change

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was embraced by Americans during the late 1950s and early 1960s because he spoke about the importance of a loving, nonviolent society at a time when social and racial conflict was escalating out of control.

Today, as far as we have come, there are still see signs of unhealthy conflict in our communities. Perhaps it is time to revisit and embrace the nonviolent principles in which King believed. These principles are based on his understanding of Christian doctrine, as well as the teachings of Mohandas Gandhi.

• Principle 1: Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people.
• Principle 2: Nonviolence means seeking friendship and understanding among those who are different from you.
• Principle 3: Nonviolence defeats injustice, not people.
• Principle 4: Nonviolence holds that suffering can educate and transform people and societies.
• Principle 5: Nonviolence chooses loving solutions, not hateful ones.
• Principle 6: Nonviolence means the entire universe embraces justice.

In addition to the six principles, Dr. King developed a six-step process to help people bring about social change in a nonviolent way.

• Step 1: Gather Information
  • Learn all you can about the problems you see in your community through the media, social and civic organizations, and by talking to the people involved.
• Step 2: Educate Others
  • Armed with your new knowledge, it is your duty to help those around you, such as your neighbors, relatives, friends and co-workers, better understand the problems facing society. Build a team of people devoted to finding solutions. Be sure to include those who will be directly affected by your work.
• Step 3: Remain Committed
  • Accept that you will face many obstacles and challenges as you and your team try to change society. Agree to encourage and inspire one another along the journey.
• Step 4: Peacefully Negotiate
  • Talk with both sides. go to the people in your community who are in trouble and who are deeply hurt by society’s ills. Also go to those people who are contributing to the breakdown of a peaceful society. Use humor, intelligence and grace to lead to solutions that benefit the greater good.
• Step 5: Take Action Peacefully
  • This step is often used when negotiation fails to produce results, or when people need to draw broader attention to a problem. it can include tactics such as peaceful demonstrations, letter-writing and petition campaign.
• Step 6: Reconcile
  • Keep all actions and negotiations peaceful and constructive. Agree to disagree with some people and with some groups as you work to improve society. Show all involved the benefits of changing, not what they will give up by changing.

Write for us!

The Just Life is meant to be a collaborative space. As our community and content grows we are always looking for passionate writers to bring issues, organizations, and solutions to our attention.

Bring up important issues. Explore what it looks like to live a just life — with our prayers, with our giving, with our purchases, with our vote, with our voice, in our minds, in our homes, in our community, in our city and globally.

Share your story! Everyone’s journey to and through the difficult issues of biblical justice is unique — we want to hear your story. How has God opened your eyes to justice and compassion? What life choices have you made in response? What are the questions you are wrestling with? What do you think it looks like to live a “just life?”

If you have any insight beyond what you can share by merely commenting on a post please send your article idea to contact@thejustlife.org. Challenge and inspire us towards daily practical responses to God’s heart for justice.