How should the Church address social issues today? Writing in the 1960’s, Carl F. H. Henry provides us with a framework to think through this essential question. His words on why the Church should address rulers and the public on the theme of proper social principles remain applicable to this day:
Even though the Church is not arbitrarily to impose a theology of society, forcing its ideals upon the world, it needs to do more than merely criticize the political climate, no matter how justifiable and effective such censure may sometimes be. Is there really any excuse for not suggesting constructive alternatives to the unpromising attempts to gain political order in an atmosphere of spiritual indifference?
If the Church fails to apply the central truths of the Christian religion to social problems correctly, someone else will do so incorrectly.[1]
[1] Carl F. H. Henry, Aspects of Christian Social Ethics (Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1964) 82.
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