Social Justice Fundamentalism Is Bumming Me Out
Over the last 10 years I have walked with hundreds of WOC coming out of church trauma, queer folks ousted from their communities and churches, and women of color cut off from the churches that raised them. There has been a lot of pain. A lot of trauma. A lot of disillusionment.
But in the last few years, I have felt like I traveled far only to end up in the same place. Now instead of Christian Fundamentalism, I have entered the world of Social Justice fundamentalism. And it deeply concerns me. *
As of late, I’m often taken aback by the harshness of social justice people on social media. It’s mean. It’s eager to cut people off. It loves to critique. It thinks in extreme binaries. The church of social justice has ended up being more fundamentalist, conformist, and policing than any church I ever attended.
(And I grew up Seventh Day Adventist in the 80’s. Y’all don’t understand that reference. But just trust me. It’s a legit point I’m making. :)
In the Christian communities I was a part of, folks were so afraid of falling out of favor with church leaders and by extension God, that they tolerated spiritual abuse, affairs, exploitation, and toxic church cultures for years. But I think people are afraid in a different way now. Afraid that they will do or say something that will get them cut off, canceled, critiqued, or called problematic. And they are tolerating vitriol, meanness, and toxic community for fear of being ousted.
I have questions for us, questions for my beloved community, the larger network of folks who do social justice work, particularly online.
Questions about the world we are trying to build and the way we are doing it.
FUNDAMENTALISM ABOUNDS
Fundamentalism has some similar character traits no matter how it is being expressed. Here are some similarities between Christian Fundamentalism and Social Justice fundamentalism.
Strong binary thinking. Particularly viewing people as inside and outside
Punishment is being pushed out of community
People are disposable
There are deep schisms between people who essentially believe the same things. This expresses itself as denominations in Christianity and as ideological purity in social justice spaces.
Being right and feeling self righteous is an animating force in the community.
Disagreement is viewed as an existential threat.
They view the stakes as like and death
People remain fundamentally disposable. ( Yes, I said it twice.)
I have the same critique of Social Justice fundamentalism as I do of Christian Evangelicalism.
Christians will oust you don’t convert, if you don’t stay orthodox, if you stop being in “theological alignment.” They will argue that best way to let people know they are loved by Creator, is to tell them they are burning in hell, that God is angry at them, and that community will push them out if they don’t conform.
Social Justice Fundamentalism will oust you if you don’t agree, if you don’t perform emotional urgency about a particular issue, if you are not ideologically “pure” enough. They will challenge your worthiness as a person. And threaten to address it publicly on social media. Which is its own kind of hell.
We can’t say we’re fighting for a more just, healed, and liberated world, and then build that world by treating folks as disposable. We must resist the temptation to constantly draw lines in the sand and declare the people on the other side unclean.
For both groups the issues are life and death. Of the utmost urgency.
And both group betray the core of what is beautiful about their ethic. In the church of social justice we truly believe that every person is sacred, and should have the right to live. And not only to live, but to live with dignity, and hopefully joy.
However, more and more I encounter folks who want to learn more about certain justice issues, but are afraid to ask questions, afraid to learn, afraid to engage. Afraid that they will be shouted down for joining so late. Shamed for not caring sooner. Punished for not knowing more.
How do we hold space for urgency AND room for people to join later in the game.
How do we hold room for reality that justice work is both urgent AND a marathon?
How do we navigate the reality that the issue that you are passionately giving your life too, may not be the work someone else is doing? I have a friend whose mother is undergoing intense cancer treatment and she has been pouring herself out as a caretaker 7 days a week after working her full time job. She felt bad that she couldn’t do more around the situation in Palestine. I understood the sense of conflict. But should she feel bad? Isn’t caring for her very sick immigrant mom, also part of a healing ethic? It is also justice work and sacred work.
One of my core convictions is that HOW we do the work matters. It matters how we do Christianity. We can’t just talk about love, but then treat people like shit. And it matters how we do social justice work. We can’t say we are fighting for healing and liberation, and then leave a trail of people we consider disposable in our wake.
Deepa Iyer poses these two important questions in her book.
How can each of us contend with the urgency of this time with effectiveness, sustainability, and strong connections?
How can we embody grace, joy, and accountability even when the external forces of division and inequality are relentless?
I want us to explore these questions together. I want us to avoid the trap of having an analysis that is “so pure” we can no longer build together.
* I want to credit two articles I read that deeply shaped my thinking on this and that I consider this post to be in conversation with. Excommuicate Me from the Church of Social Justice- a blog by Francis Lee in 2017. And We Will Not Cancel Us by adrienne marie brown.