Thursday, September 12, 2013
The limits of Charity
According to Hilfiker, the difference between charity and justice is that charity does little to change the wider social and political systems that sustain injustice. That is why justice work is necessary. But what charity does, that justice does not do is keep individual people from suffering or dying. Yes, I agree with Hilfiker's distinctions because I completely agree that charity does little to change the social and political system because most charities depend heavily on volunteer work and individual donor. And charities who do well in a system are usually not interested in changing it. In fact, charities may oppose changing it. Charity is both necessary in our current situations and a requirement to our faith. Our community need to see and value equally, both sides of justice and charity. But help build a more just and peaceful society. We must end this enmity and competition between justice and charity. They are both twin actions for the Christians. Appropriate sense of outrage means in order to get what you want and change to the community and to create justice among all people, people need to be forceful and vigorous sometimes with their preaching to get a solid point across.
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Great insights, Natalie. Ideally we can move towards a world where justice exists and charity is no longer necessary (meaning, people's lives wouldn't depend on it). Until then, you are correct that we need both 'feet' of social action.
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