Justice in the World Today (II)

Rising rents are just one obstacle to opportunity today(Source: Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University)Some time ago, First Presbyterian Church in Cedar Rapids engaged me to do two talks, on justice and social welfare. Since they were scheduled close together, I've treated them as a two-part series, even though I don't think that's how they were conceived, and I'm not even sure I'm doing them in the intended order!The first talk, "Justice in the World Today," happened August 2, and is described here. Drawing on Biblical and philosophical sources, I argued justice is a condition, in which people get what they deserve (substantive justice), and government officials play by agreed-upon rules (procedural justice). While even procedural justice is critical for marginalized people, because they are the ones who suffer most when things get irregular, social welfare seems to deal most directly with substantive justice. Leaving aside the question of who deserves more, we can…