Excessive Justice? with Mark Galli

Excessive Justice?

It seems like everywhere I turn lately, I’m reading a piece on the excesses of social justice warriors and their kissing cousins, the “woke” progressives. It makes a contrarian want to defend them! Just because there are excesses doesn’t mean their instincts—about the deep sinfulness of our society and the profound need for change—are ridiculous. To the contrary, they are, in fact, deeply biblical. But just as zealous Christians sometimes turn into self-righteous legalists, and the far-right can become defenders of some awful status quo injustices, so have many on the radical left stepped in it as well. The most thoughtful critique (although not without its shortcomings) is by the political philosopher John Gray, “The Deluded Cult of Social Justice.” The funniest is a satire in the video “Being a Social Justice Warrior.” In my mind, the purpose of thoughtful critiques and satire is not to do away with the good and righteous impulses but only the behavior that makes it harder for all of us to pursue justice together. One Way to Be an Executive Those who have been popping into CT online will have learned that I announced my retirement as of January 3, 2020. Retirement as editor in chief, anyway. I still plan to plague you with a weekly Galli Report--as long as GR readers keep subscribing to CT, and giving gift subscriptions, and reading a few of the ads on the GR. All of which you have been doing, so thanks! I’ve been editor in chief for 7 years now, and as these things go, I think I’ve finally figured out how to do the job, or how to describe what I’m trying to do. It came to me as I read “We Do Executives Do, Anyway?” The job of an executive is: to define and enforce culture and values for their whole organization, and to ratify good decisions. That’s all. Not to decide. Not to break ties. Not to set strategy. Not to be the expert on every, or any topic. Just to sit in the room while the right people make good decisions in alignment with their values. It’s not every executive’s style, but it has been one I’ve tried to live by (with more success some weeks than others--impatience and pride does get in the way sometimes). Perhaps others will find it a helpful guide. The Story Behind Good Night Moon I’ve not thought much about the children’s classic, Good Night Moon. But then I read this review, on the 75th anniversary of the book, which toward the beginning said this: The story in Goodnight Moon, as in all great picture books, comes not so much from an “illustration” of words or pictures with captions, but from an artistic interplay of words and images, and on the first page it is clear that the little bunny is the narrator. The bunny looks directly at the reader, and the “great green room” would be so expansively “great” only because the narrator is so small. And as I continued to read, I discovered many other interesting things about the book! Amazing Balance, How Sweet to Watch Austrian stunt cyclist describes this delightful video like this: “Witness my escape from the daily life, a busy life. Traffic, chaos, commuters. Follow me on a journey through the streets of Austria where the city with all its daily situations becomes my playground.” Grace and peace,

Mark Galli Editor-in-Chief, Christianity Today