Did the 1960s Social Justice trend work?

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Curious about responses. It seems many religious turned much energy in this direction. I don’t have any way to measure whether it all worked out or not.
 
Are you talking about thw War on Poverty, or what, precisely?

Personally, I think government intervention has not been an overall good thing. For decades the only people who could get state aid were single mothers and the rates if illegitimate births skyrocketed. In addition, this contributed to the increase in divorce because women had “an option.” That has been much more of a disaster for those involved and society as a whole than many people realize.

There’s more, but that’s the biggest one to me.
 
I think you are referring to the 60’s era refocus from traditional piety focus in religious life towards “social justice” struggles.

I’d argue that it has been a train wreck of epic proportions. You almost can’t overstate the disaster. Instead of supplementing traditional catholic devotion and focus on holiness with initiatives to help the material needs of the poor, many religious seem to have substituted a nearly secular focus on working on purely material ‘justice’ issues.

IMO, that is the largest reason for the collapse of religious life in America. You don’t need to be a nun, brother or priest to be a social worker or housing advocate. So why do it? You do need to be a religious to be a spiritual mother to an entire community and parish (as opposed to just your own biological kids). But the 60’s nun revolution devalued that role and seem to have pronounced it as trivial. Not coincidentally, every generation since had been almost totally ignorant of the faith… 😦
 
Curious about responses. It seems many religious turned much energy in this direction. I don’t have any way to measure whether it all worked out or not.
Justice that is not blind is not justice. It is a biblical imperative that neither the rich nor the poor are favored in a courts ruling.
Social justice cannot work because it is no longer blind. It inherently expresses favoritism for groups of people. However good intentioned it may be, it subverts the very idea of justice.
 
The War on Poverty instituted by Lyndon B. Johnson, spent trillions of dollars and ended with a poverty rate almost exactly the same as before. The one thing it did accomplish was to make poverty permanent among its supposed beneficiaries while destroying their family structure.
 
These are important points.

I just note that people’s opinions toward blacks have changed considerably and the environment is markedly cleaner.

I DO wonder whether it was a positive thing within the church. I’m always in a flux of feelings when I see a nun who’s just dressed like any other older woman, perhaps with a cross around her neck.
 
These are important points.

I just note that people’s opinions toward blacks have changed considerably and the environment is markedly cleaner.

I DO wonder whether it was a positive thing within the church. I’m always in a flux of feelings when I see a nun who’s just dressed like any other older woman, perhaps with a cross around her neck.
Well, the younger nuns, at least around here, and the newer orders of nuns, will be found to be wearing distinctive garb–i.e., “habits.”
 
The War on Poverty instituted by Lyndon B. Johnson, spent trillions of dollars and ended with a poverty rate almost exactly the same as before. The one thing it did accomplish was to make poverty permanent among its supposed beneficiaries while destroying their family structure.
So it achieved its purpose !

The creation of a lumpen permanently dependent class of state clients.

The growth of Asia allied to the connected growth in western debt will see the western welfare model facing unprecedented pressure. The resultant cuts in payouts will see a surge in criminality and other pathological outcomes in the unsocialised fatherless products of welfare class female led homes ( 9 times more likely to be criminal or otherwise unsocialised than the legitimate children of two parent families)
 
not understanding the question
are you referring to the Catholic Church and social justice issues?
if so why do you call it a “60’s” thing
if you mean 1960s you are about 70 years too late as the first “modern” social justice encyclical is Rerum Novarum from 1891

this link lists “the canon” a fuller list of papal and church letters, pronouncements, bulls encyclicals on topics that generally fall under the “social Justice” umbrella, beginning in the 13th c.
justpeace.org/docu.htm#Pope scroll down to Other Papal Documents

as to “how it worked out” I don’t even know what that means.
 
Regarding welfare, here is a key observation:

“Welfare payments provide economic incentives for the creation of single-parent families since they provide a continuous source of income to young mothers. The welfare system was designed to assist when there was no father. But the system effectively eliminated the father entirely by tying payments to his absence.”

There was no longer a ‘need’ to be a responsible father. And children, male and female, need their fathers. I’m not talking about widows.

The entire article is here:

leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/welfare.html

Peace,
Ed
 
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