Social Justice as a Religious Tradition
Sermon from UUCGT's Service on Sunday, January 26, 2025. Preached by the Rev. Alex Jensen, Senior Minister at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Grand Traverse (UUCGT), Traverse City, Michigan
Many of the world's traditions point to social justice as required for living into faith. How might we understand the sacred tradition of social justice beyond any single tradition? What is our UU justice tradition?
When I was in high school, social justice was my religion! Growing up in an atheist/agnostic household, I didn’t have any traditional religion or spiritual outlook. Yet, between attending late-night school board meetings to standing up to childhood bullies, there was something innate to me about how I came to see the world and my own role in making it a more just place.
My feelings only intensified when, as you can imagine, I became a Unitarian Universalist! Finally, I had a name for a religion that was all about social justice! Right around the same time I became a UU, I joined my school’s LGBTQ+ activism club, the Gay Straight Alliance. I became incensed with how poverty and hunger were continuing to impact my local community in the San Francisco Bay Area––impacting many of my neighbors who were unhoused, without shelter. I even took a first-ever offered social justice class in my high school; one that I thought was the coolest class that had just a few, competitive seats.
Social justice was my religion, and is, especially in the ways I continue to see it reflected in the beliefs and values of my other religion, Unitarian Universalism. Before Unitarian Universalism, I longed for a spiritual home where social justice was not just front and center, but also where people actually lived out their beliefs and values rather than just paying them lip service. That’s what I’ve continued to find powerful about Unitarian Universalism: a religion where we truly say what we mean and endeavor to actually live into our shared values and Principles, rather than just saying them as nice words.
This morning, we’re talking about Social Justice itself as a religious tradition. Something beyond the confines of any particular religious or spiritual tradition. Something that even transcends these traditions to be a tradition and a lineage in its own right. Indeed, it’s not news to you that many of the world’s traditions speak to the importance of loving our neighbors as ourselves and showing hospitality, compassion, and kindness to the stranger. To those who are different from ourselves or hold differing identities, beliefs, values, and perspectives. Traditional religion has long inherited these teachings and values, and yet it has also largely failed to fully live them out.
Today, we’re seeing a rise in movements of White Christian Nationalism across this country. A caustic and deadly movement where those who would call themselves Christians readily refute a teaching or a gospel of showing kindness and mercy to immigrants, LGBTQ+ folks, and those who are least. I’m particularly thinking about the Right Reverend Mariann Budde, who Susan mentioned, who this past week at the Washington National Cathedral implored the President to show mercy to those who are afraid for their lives.[1]
I was horrified to see some of the kickback she received from so-called Christians who said her words had no place in a religious service or mass, and how Maybe Rev. Budde herself should be added to the deportation lists. Such ugly and awful sentiments toward a religious leader preaching the truth as she sees it; clinging to the classical teachings of her faith that invite us to love our enemies as ourselves and to care for those who are “the least of these”.
While some traditions and strands attempt to cheapen this message, of taking loving one’s neighbor as oneself out of the lexicon of religion in practice, I think this is an important time for us to reclaim social justice from those who would stifle it or even throw it out altogether. As Unitarian Universalists, I think of no other group who are quite as natural in taking up social justice. There’s a running joke in UU spheres that you can always spot a UU on the road with all of their many bumper stickers! I used to pull into parking lots as a teen and young adult and know I was in the right place, if I started seeing those stickers. I’ve even seen some of your own cars in our lot!
Today, I want to make the case that a Love Ethic itself must be at the heart of our religious and spiritual traditions or else we risk losing ourselves morally, ethically, and spiritually. I want to showcase for you a few religious traditions and what they have to teach us about social justice that goes even beyond their particular traditions. Ultimately, I believe this is a critical time for us pastors, ministers, congregations, and churches to speak truth to power.
We’re at a time when the forces of empire seek to water down our messaging, to preserve the sensibilities and yes, profits, of those select few: those billionaires, oligarchs, and businesspersons in power who pull the strings My charge to you is to recommit yourself to this sacred tradition of social justice and to find your own well and spiritual fount from which you can derive nourishment and strength. This is going to be a long haul, and we need our spiritual resources and tools for the growing wilderness if we’re somehow going to make it through.
So, let’s dive in and see what a few religions have to teach us about social justice as its own emergent tradition. I want to first start with Buddhism, a tradition whose founding story is one of social justice and facing inequity. Siddhartha Gautama, also known as the Buddha, was an Indian prince who grew up wealthy and sheltered from the world and its ills. As a young adult, he became curious about the outside world beyond the palace walls and even snuck out to see it. Wandering the streets, he came face-to-face with death and suffering: coming upon a man who was old and frail, another who was ill and sickly, and a corpse of a man who had died.[2] As the legend goes, up until this point, Siddhartha hadn’t yet encountered these things, and these sights broke him open. He became convicted to discover the causes of human suffering.
Dedicating his life to this mission, he left his wealth and prestige behind to live the life of a spiritual seeker. In the end, Siddhartha’s encounter with human suffering brought him to a state of deep compassion, realizing that suffering itself and being in touch with those who are suffering is the gateway to compassion.
Buddhism teaches us that to live a full life is to suffer; it is also to encounter the deep suffering of our neighbors and to turn toward this suffering with compassion and care. Individual suffering is inextricably linked with social and communal suffering; You cannot separate the two, for cultivating the insight and awareness of others’ suffering leads us to be kind and friendly to all of our neighbors, not just those who are doing well, or those who are just like us. So, Buddhism teaches us that in social justice, our suffering is connected: what affects one of us affects us all.
Now, I’d like to turn toward the Abrahamic traditions: the traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, all of which have core teachings of social justice and caring for those who are vulnerable and oppressed. While these teachings may go by many names, they are every bit the same in how we are to regard those who have less than we do. That is, we are to care for the widows, the orphans, the strangers in our midst. To give to those who are hungry and thirsty. To give a portion of what we have to those in need.
Teachings around justice itself tell us that justice is a divine mandate: the familiar quote from the Hebrew Bible; “What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God”.[3] In Islam, the Qur’an teaches that all believers are to uphold justice for one’s neighbors, even when this is hard or inconvenient, or may even come at a personal cost. In Jesus’ sermon on the mount, it is the weak and the meek that will inherit the Earth; that systemic change is not only coming but inevitable if we are to truly see heaven and Earth become one.
The Abrahamic traditions teach us that social justice is a mandate of each of ours; to recognize and affirm the inherent dignity and worthiness of every person, no matter who they are or where they come from. Living and working for justice is required of us not because it is easy but precisely because it is difficult. We learn and grow when we care for those who are different from ourselves. These traditions teach us that justice itself is non-negotiable. You do not have faith if you don’t love your neighbors as yourself. What you have instead are empty rituals and words, void of action. Justice is required of you. Not just a suggestion.
Lastly, let’s turn to the Sikh tradition––a monotheistic religion in India that stresses equity, justice, and service to humanity. How many of you are familiar with Sikhism? I see a few hands. I was lucky growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area to have some friends who were Sikh. Sikhism itself is a radical tradition in India that attempts to subvert the social order, asserting the full equality of every person.[4] Not only are women, men, and people of any gender seen as equals, all of us, no matter our race, religion, caste, or social standing, are the same. Said another way, by Sikhism’s founder Guru Nanak, all beings are equal in the eyes of God.
What’s striking about these teachings about radical equality is the idea that there is a divine essence that can be found within all living beings. Sikhs live this out in acts of selfless service, also known by the Punjabi word seva, voluntary service that expects nothing in return from others. In Amritsar, India, the city with Sikhism’s famous Golden Temple, they serve over 100,000 free meals a day to anyone in need.[5] Many Sikh temples, known as Gurudwaras, across the country and world also provide this radical hospitality of free meals for all who need to eat… Pretty sure that means everyone!
Sikhism teaches us that at the heart of our serving others is the knowledge that we are all equal in dignity and worth. No matter who we are or how we are born into this world, the essence of God, the Divine, or of our very universe is found within each person. Sikhism reminds us that our endeavors for social justice are rooted in our abilities to be selfless rather than self-serving; for all of us are in need of kindness, grace, and mercy in a world where so many still go hungry.
I want to now turn toward our Reading, an excerpt by the radical feminist, critic, author, and educator bell hooks. In the excerpt, hooks refers to what she calls a “Love Ethic”. As she writes:
A Love Ethic presupposes that everyone has the right to be free, to live fully and well… Embracing a Love Ethic means that we utilize all the dimensions of love—care, commitment, trust, responsibility, respect, and knowledge—in our everyday lives… Domination cannot exist in any social situation where a Love Ethic prevails. When love is present the desire to dominate and exercise power cannot rule the day.[6]
What a powerful quote and reminder for our times. As people of religion, as people of faith, it is our task to reclaim religion in the name of Love. It is our task to bring forth the timeless wisdom and truths that each of our traditions hold that compels us to open our hearts and broaden our tables.
It is true that morality itself doesn’t come from religion. If that were true, then parking lots after Sunday service would be the most polite places on earth! Instead, religion comes from our earnest human yearnings to come together and to be made whole. We must not allow those who would take the Love Ethic out of the religion to have the final say. We must ensure that we show up publicly and bear witness to these spiritual truths that ground us and hold us close.
To close, perhaps you, too, find yourself yearning for a faith, for a religion that lives its values out loud. Perhaps you, too, came to the shores of Unitarian Universalism surprised that you’ve already been one for some time now. Or, perhaps you find yourself still in that realm of discernment; that place within you where your only holy place that feels like home is in the struggle for justice, for peace.
Whatever it is that grounds you, that sustains you in these trying times, know that you do not journey alone. We Unitarian Universalists dare to make a Love Ethic real, a society in which all can flourish and lead full and vibrant lives. Don’t let religion throw the Love Ethic out of faith. That is a separation, a divorce that will not stand.
Instead, I challenge you to be faithful to that tradition of social justice that calls you to picket lines and street corners. That calls you to city council meetings and Senate halls. That tradition that is written on your heart that calls you to have compassion for others, for all who are suffering. May we be ever faithful to this tradition, to this ethic of love and justice, to build that better world that we so desperately dream of. We cannot give up now.
Amen.
[1] “Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde confronts Trump in sermon”, by Jason DeRose & Sarah Ventre, National Public Radio.
[2] “Buddha”, Encyclopedia Brittanica.
[3] Micah 6:8, New International Version.
[4] “Our Values”, We Are Sikhs.
[5] “Kitchen that feeds 100,000 daily”, SikhiWiki.
[6] All about Love: New Visions, by bell hooks, William Morrow.