The Purpose of Religion (pps. 258-260)
By Rabbi Sid Schwarz
Excerpt from Judaism and Justice: The
Jewish Passion to Repair the World © 2006 Sidney Schwarz (Woodstock, VT;
Jewish Lights Publishing). $24.99+$3.95 s/h. Order by mail or call 800-962-4544
or online at www.jewishlights.com.
Permission granted by Jewish Lights Publishing, P.O. Box 237, Woodstock, VT
05091.
Life is a journey through a wilderness filled with much pain
and suffering, injustice, and inequality. Religion has the power to move us toward
the messianic future. It is no coincidence that many of the most important movements
for justice in the world have rallied around religious personalities whose leadership
was deeply rooted in their respective faith traditions. Mahatma Ghandi used Hindu
teachings to rally Indians against an unjust British occupation of their land. Dietrich
Boenhoeffer used Protestant theology to articulate Christian opposition to Adolf
Hitler. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a minister who used his pulpit to stir the
conscience of America against the evils of racism. Desmond Tutu invoked Christian
teachings about forgiveness and reconciliation to keep South Africa from plunging
into a cycle of violent revenge after it succeeded in ridding itself of the white
minority apartheid government. Elie Wiesel went from being a chronicler of the suffering
of the Jewish people during the Holocaust to an international voice of conscience
in the world, speaking on behalf of people experiencing oppression in every corner
of the globe.
These are examples of people whose lives bear witness to the
incredible power of faith to stand up to evil and oppression and to rally people
of conscience to a given cause. There are thousands of other such religious role
models for social justice.
We wonder: What has given these individuals, what has given us,
the strength to be, in the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., “drum majors for justice,”
in a world filled with poverty, oppression, and selfishness? Good religion gives
people just such strength. A person of faith believes that good can triumph over
evil despite the injustice they see in the world and lives his or her life in a
way to make that belief true.
Social justice is to religion what love is to family. One is
the institution; the other is a quality that makes the institution worthwhile. Just
as a family without love is dysfunctional, so is a religion dysfunctional when it
does not teach and manifest a deep commitment to social justice. It is a religion
that has lost its way...
...Today, more than ever, religions are challenged to bring the
wisdom of their respective traditions to bear on the moral crises besetting the
human community. Religious leaders must challenge their adherents to respond to
the same call that Abraham heard in the desert. Every human being has the ability
“to extend the boundaries of righteousness and justice in the world.” It needs to
become the litmus test of true and good religion.
