I think that people of faith are called to speak, work, advocate, pray, protest around issues that affect the human race and creation. I am aware that people of faith cannot solve all the world's crisis but we are called to a message of hope and transformation. Jesus of Nazareth brought a message of hope and transformation in the midst of a world under Roman imperial rule, we should do no less. Second, we are called to work with people of different faiths and world views to address some of the greatest crises of our time. Christians can and should work with all people of good will whenever possible to improve the plight of humanity. We may not cure all social problems but we should definitely treat them (to continue the medical metaphor).
The challenge for people of faith is to have an understanding of both compassion and social justice as complements in this journey toward God's shalom. We must engage in acts of compassion but also analyze the systems that cause and maintain perennial social ills. We may not cure all the problems but we should certainly provide a response. This response should be holistic one that speaks to individuals and the larger systems of which they are a part.
Yes, Christians have a mixed legacy concerning social problems. I think Christians are historically-informed enough to know that sometimes we have provided relief (abolitionists, civil rights activists, anti-apartheid leaders, anti-poverty leaders) and at other times been at the root cause of some serious abuses (colonization, slavery, apartheid, genocide, sexism, etc). There is much to champion and much for which to repent. We are simultaneously righteous and sinful (simul iustus et peccatur). Christians are also informed enough to know that Christians are not the only group who provides responses to social problems. Christians know that Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Atheists were part of the Civil Rights Movement, Women's Rights Movements, Anti-Poverty initiatives, etc. Still we hold that at the heart of our message is the love of Christ for the world ( we don't always get it correct). Different philosophies, convictions, world views motivate people to do good, for Christians, it should be Christ's love.
The reality is that recently much attention has been given to well-known (perhaps even "famous") Evangelical leaders focus on AIDS/HIV, war, genocide, global warming, poverty, ecology, Darfur, etc. The truth be told anonymous and "famous" religious and secular leaders the world over have been working on behalf of these issues for decades. Since, the US is infatuated with a culture of celebrity this seems like a new phenomenon that is not the case. Let me give a short (not exhaustive) list of Christian leaders (none of them is perfect) involved in issues of compassion and social justice for some time (both living and deceased) Martin Luther King, Jr., Ron Sider, Desmond Tutu, Bartolome de Las Casas, Jim Wallis, Rosa Caraballo, Mother Theresa, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Berrigans and thousands of nameless others. For the sake of humanity I thank them and applaud their efforts.
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