October 21: Justice in a "Just World"

I’m the speaker for the Minnesota Atheists monthly meeting on October 21.

Is the world we live in fair? We tell children it isn’t, though we often do that just to get them to be quiet.

The idea that the world is fair is embedded in many of the world’s religions. Galatians 6 tells us that we shall sow what we reap, that if we do good, we will receive our reward. In context, this reward is clearly supposed to arrive after we die. However, that hasn’t stopped many believers and traditions from assuming that God will grant them favors in this world if they are only pious enough.

The concept of karma explicitly tells us that we are rewarded or punished for our actions. Again, the consequences sometimes come to us in this life, sometimes in the next. Either way, the events of our lives are dictated by our own worthiness.

Even without religion, many of us believe that the world is somehow balanced. We let go of the gods who are supposed to make the world just, but we don’t—or can’t—let go of the idea that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to those who have somehow earned their problems.

Unfortunately, that idea has consequences. On October 21, at the monthly meeting, Stephanie Zvan will tell us what those consequences are and what we can do to counter the false belief in a just world.

See the Meetup page on this event for more information on the meeting. If you’re local, I hope to see you there.

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October 21: Justice in a "Just World"
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2 thoughts on “October 21: Justice in a "Just World"

  1. 1

    Is the world we live in fair?

    No.

    We wish it was.

    We may tell and even try to convince ourselves that it is.

    But depressingly, horribly and unjustly, it just isn’t.

    However, what we can do, for whatever little its worth,

    Is try to make it fairer, more just and better by our actions.

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