Advocacy for Social Justice: A Personal Reflection

Advocacy for Social Justice: A Personal Reflection

Tao-jen Wang

Social justice is important in the Bible and also in real world, and this is the reason for Christians to love and stand with the oppressed.  But things get complicated when dealing with homosexuality, which is becoming a heated issue in Taiwan.  The society of Taiwan is divided on this controversy, where the younger generation being more open and pushing the older generation to change.  A Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights (TAPCPR)[1] was formed and has been trying to change the law: to allow same-sex marriage and establish a system “partnership relationship” to coexist with the traditional marriage system.  In 2013, TAPCPR successfully pushed the same-sex marriage law amendment draft proposal into Legislative Yuan’s committee review process, which did not include the “partnership system,” but might lead to a quick law change regarding to same-sex marriage if the proposal was accepted.  But this ignited the churches in Taiwan to form a Family Alliance with multiple religious groups and organize a parade to defend traditional marriage system and uphold family values.  The parade seemed successful and the proposal was not accepted, but churches in Taiwan were labeled as “not tolerant” and “homophobia” by the younger generation and some LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) Christians left their church.  There were a few pastors sympathetic of the difficult plight of LGBTs and were supportive of same-sex marriage.  Though they might not be supportive of the “partnership system,” they were labeled as compromising the Bible and succumbing to sexual liberation movement by others. 

So are these the only two options for Christians to choose: one being homophobia and one being compromising the Bible and succumbing to sexual liberation?  Actually it should not be like this.  The society in Taiwan is divided into two sides and each side being hostile to the other, but Christians should not “be conformed to this world.” (Romans 12:2)  It should not be a simple black-or-white, friend-or-enemy decision for Christians to choose; Christians should find a new way to discuss this issue: a way that is faithful to God and His Word, committed to stand with those being oppressed and alienated, kind and loving to other Christians who might not hold the same view and last but not least, able to testify Jesus Christ to the world. 

This issue is somewhat political, and we can learn from analyses of political theology and church-and-state relationship.  We may stand as a Calvinist and encourages the church to participate in government and politics to change the world;[2] or we can stand as an Anabaptist and stresses that the church should stay outside of the government and be a witness to the world to help.[3]  But no matter where we stand, it is the church that should influence the world, not the other way around.  But sadly it is sometimes the other way around: when the church is trying to do the will of God and root for a particular political party or a political view, the church is often identified as one of them and also influenced by them.  The former makes evangelization difficult to other parties or people holding other views; the latter makes Christians follow political ideology blindly and view others as enemies.  Perhaps this is one of the things we can learn from the analysis of Christian political movements in the United States by Hunter:[4] the Christian Right, the Christian Left and the neo-Anabaptists all tried to politicize their concerns and hoped to “change the world,” but this is exactly the reason why they all failed to achieve what they hoped.  So Christians should always be careful when supporting a political party or a political view: everything should always be reflected in the light of Jesus Christ and Christian should develop a “Christian way” to participate. 

So what is this “Christian way” as to the homosexuality issue?  I have a few suggestions: firstly, we should always be faithful to God and His Word.  We do not need to compromise the Word of God or compromise our theology, and we should do what we should do to follow Jesus.  On the other hand, being faithful to God and His Word also means that we are not the final judge.  So we should listen to other Christians and discuss with them humbly.

Secondly, we should confess that we Christians are all sinners and in the past we have done a lot of harm to LGBTs and also to each other, intentionally or unintentionally.  Though these harms might not be caused by ourselves personally, we Christians as a whole still fell short of what Jesus would have done.  So we should make our sincere apologies to LGBTs and to each other.  We hope that forgiveness and reconciliation can lead all of us down a new road.

Thirdly, we may support a certain policy like accepting or not accepting same-sex marriage, but we should always be critical of the policy itself and the political movements surrounding it.  Policies or activities supported by “our side” should not be accepted automatically.  We should always reflect that does God want us to support this policy?  Does supporting the policy in keeping with the principles of love and justice?  Does the way we support the policy in keeping with the Bible?  We should be critical of our own side and learn from the other side.

Fourthly, we should view other parties or people holding other views as neighbors, not enemies.  When discussing a highly controversial topic, people might get into cursing, ridiculing, blaming, etc.  But Christians should discuss with love, empathy and humility.  No matter what view one holds, everyone is loved by Jesus Christ.  The other side, whether they are “oppressors” or “compromisers,” are not enemies.  Even if they are enemies of the Bible or the oppressed, Jesus taught us to love our enemies.  

Lastly but most importantly, Christians should listen to voices of LGBTs sincerely and always be there for them.  If we do not listen we would never know their true feelings and we can never really understand them, let alone evangelize non-Christian LGBTs.  And churches should always be open to them because Jesus is always open to the oppressed, the alienated and even sinners.  Christians should be good listeners and friends to LGBTs inside and outside of the church.  Due to different theologies, a sincere Christian friend of LGBTs might respond differently to questions and solutions regarding this issue, but one should always do this with love to LGBT friends.

I hope Christians and churches in Taiwan consider these principles when we face this controversy in the future, because we should testify Jesus Christ not only by our argument, but also by our way of arguing.  People are observing us and also we are responsible to Jesus Christ.  I hope that Jesus Christ lead all of us into His Word and also into His love. 

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[1] Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights, “Introduction to the History and Organization of the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights,” trans. Peter Dernbach and Mark McVicar, http://tapcpr.wordpress.com/%E9%97%9C%E6%96%BC%E4%BC%B4%E4%BE%B6%E7%9B%9F/ (accessed Aug 2014).

[2] Arnold Yeung, “Church and State (政教關係),” New Dictionary of Theology (當代神學辭典), Arnold Yeung ed. (Taipei: Campus Evangelical Fellowship, 1997), revised from New Dictionary of Theology, S. B. Ferguson, D. F. Wright, J. I. Packer eds. (England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1988), 217.

[3] H. J. Loewen, “Anabaptist Theoogy (重洗派神學),” New Dictionary of Theology (當代神學辭典), 21-22.

[4] James D. Hunter, To Change the World: the Irony, Tragedy and Possibility of Christianity in Late Modern World (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 167-168.