I have been spending a fair bit of time researching the topic of social justice—something that has probably become obvious to you if you’re a regular reader of this site. The more I read, the more I see how much of the battle is not merely one of competing ideologies, but of competing vocabularies. John Stonestreet has pointed out that “it’s no good having the same vocabulary if we’re using different dictionaries.” And when it comes to social justice, that’s exactly what’s happening—we are drawing definitions from different dictionaries.
No one is arguing against justice. You don’t hear people on the streets chanting, “No injustice, no peace!” or “What do we want? Injustice! When do we want it? Now!” Of course not! Everyone wants justice. Not only that, but everyone wants justice to extend to the community, to the social sphere. In that way, everyone wants not only justice, but social justice. The problem is that different people mean very different things by “justice” and therefore by “social justice.” As long as both sides refuse to cede the term to the other, definitions will remain critical. The question is not “Are you for social justice?” but “What kind
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