Social Justice

God desires the flourishing of creation and human community within it. The flourishing of creation describes a situation in which the present and future of human beings and all living things are somehow secured, in ways that respect the delicate balance between creatures and the environment.

Humanity is living beyond the fragile limits of our planet – of which the climate crisis is just one indicator. Environmental injustice impacts first and hardest on the poorest. Lifestyles of overconsumption and economic models that pursue growth regardless of ecological impacts place people already experiencing poverty in an increasingly worse situation.

Discover our response here: Action for Hope

All humans are made in the image of God and are worthy of equal value and dignity. The denial, hindering or waste of God’s gifts is not only sin against God but represents an injustice against others. The Bible presents challenges to structural injustice.

The United Nations estimates the number of people forcibly displaced is now 89.3 million, with over 27.1 million refugees. Conflicts, poverty, and the climate crisis as well as the narrower definitions described in the Refugee Convention are behind this movement. In the UK, there is an anti-refugee narrative, with legislation increasingly limiting people’s chances of exercising their right to claim asylum.

All humans are made in the image of God and are worthy of equal value and dignity. We must not only refrain from injustice, but actively seek peace and pursue it, in all our encounters, in our attitudes, and in our participation in the proclamation and enactment of the kingdom. We, too, are called to live in ways that upend the accepted values of the world.

There are many examples of how people experience discrimination. There is significant income inequality between ethnic groups, due largely to lower wages, higher housing costs and the impact of the benefit cap. Disabled people are more likely to be living in poverty, unemployed and without further qualifications. The pandemic had a disproportionate impact on people from certain already disadvantaged groups. People who experience more than one form of disadvantage or discrimination (intersectionality) are hit even harder.

Read about the Inclusive Methodist Church.

Peace and justice are tightly woven together. Peace cannot exist without justice. In order to create peace in the world we need to know peace within our own relationships and communities too.

Global conflicts kill, injure and displace millions every year. Violence and conflict are interwoven with poverty, homelessness, environmental degradation and historic injustices. Nations and industry promote a narrative that security can only be achieved through increased military expenditure, which restricts resources put into reconciliation and peace-building. The possession of nuclear weapons implies the possibility of their use and yet any use of nuclear weapons would be immoral and catastrophic.

Through campaigning, being with those experiencing injustice and offering support, building relationships, or striving to tell a different story of a just world, churches will be able to engage with Priorities that are most relevant in their context – through existing involvement or through actions that reflects their gifts.