What do we mean by social justice

What is social justice?

Social justice is communal participation in establishing equality among all people groups. It is the recognition that all people deserve fair and equal treatment and movement towards fair and just treatment for all -- regardless of race, sexual identity, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, ethnic or national background, or mental or physical ability.

We cannot experience a shared sense of justice until we have recognized where injustice occurs — until we have recognized where inequality exists. So social justice involves naming the existing injustices and inequalities. It is then achieved when one person comes alongside another to ensure mutual welfare and well-being.

Because social justice exists in relationship, it implies that those of us who engage in relationships (really, all of us) participate in social justice to a degree. We are all participants in social justice. Each one of us has a part to play.

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How do we participate in social justice?

Racial Justice

As people who seek justice, we condemn racism, ethnocentrism, tribalism, and any ideology or social practice based on false and misleading beliefs or ideologies that one group of human beings is superior to all other groups of human beings. Learn the root causes and manifestations of racism and identify strategies for overcoming related social conditions.

Gender Equality

Reject beliefs, policies or practices that envision women and men as unequal in either religious or secular settings. We can also seek to implement concrete efforts to nurture and promote the leadership of all people, regardless of gender.

Human Sexuality

Support the rights of all people to exercise personal consent in sexual relationships, to make decisions about their own bodies and be supported in those decisions, to receive comprehensive sexual education, to be free from sexual exploitation and violence, and to have access to adequate sexual health care. Be a safe person for holding conversations about sexuality.