The Veil Of Ignorance

Philosopher John Rwls proposed that justice is determined by asking what kind of society we would create from behind a hypothetical veil of ignorance.  This hypothetical veil of ignorance would prevent us from knowing anything about what our position in society would be, for example, whether or not we would be male or female, what our skin color would be, how much money we would have, etc.  Knowing nothing about our position in life other than having the possibility of ending up in the worst position would cause us to strive to create a society that would benefit even the people in the worst off situations.  This, according to Rawls, would lead to a just society.


Would it really, though?  Or is there something about knowing injustice through experiencing it either directly or indirectly that gives us  stronger reason to fight for justice?  Even though the veil of ignorance isn't a real possibility, I'd like to give a little thought to theses questions.


While I had been praying for Christians being persecuted in other countries and have acknowledged the persecution as horrific, there was still some disconnect emotionally.  That is, until Nigerien Christians got attacked and friends I had made there were filling my Facebook feed with prayer requests for loved ones, knowing that there are people that I care about serving over there, and seeing familiar sights in the pictures of burnt and looted churches.  That is, until I think of Burma and the others like the refugees I've helped while they've tried to adjust here in the States.


While I was in Niger, my mentor and I went through Kelly Minter's Nehemiah Bible study as Beth Moore went through it on her blog.  In one part of the study, Kelly invites the participants to get to know names and faces and emphasizes the importance of that.  I think what I am realizing is the impact of knowing names and faces.  There are many types of suffering in the world and by the grace of God not one us will experience all of them.  But there will be someone who will.  Numbers are overwhelming.  Mere descriptions in an article or some other form of media are impersonal and we may forget them with much of the other information we take in everyday.  It's a lot more difficult to forget a face, or a name, a story of suffering shared face to face.  The more you know and care about the people involved, the harder it pulls at your heartstrings and makes you want to do something about an injustice that has been done or try to alleviate suffering from natural causes.  This is why people tend to fight for causes that have personally affected them or some close to them.  Knowledge, as in intimate knowledge, combined with love packs a much bigger punch than ignorance about one's possible position in society.  It's difficult to imagine what it would like to be in any given position until we have lived it or known people that have, listened to their stories, and cared about them.


Jesus' ministry here on Earth was one of stepping into our stuffering and dwelling among us.  It was highly relational.  He didn't preach about what suffering was like and ask His disciples to imagine themselves in the worst possible position they could be in and go from there.  Not even close!  He commanded them to go out and misister to those who were suffering injustice.  This involved some kind of personal contact.  It involved names and faces and testimonies.  It involved experiencing other people's suffering to some degree.  Bearing other people's burdens.  It meant fighting injustice not merely because you could have been in the same position, but because there are people that God loves and died for that are in that position and loving them because He loves them and because He loves you.  It seems to me like this is a more accurate description of how justice prevails.