This is not a long or well-developed rumination, and it's probably been said before, but it's something I'd like to share, hopefully to start a civil and redemptive conversation about these issues.

After the talk of "re-humanization" in every facet of life - from business to art-making to wine-making to city-designing - at the IAM conference earlier this month, I've been thinking about re-humanization and Christian humanism in more practical terms. Don't be scared off by the term "humanism" - the idea of religious humanism is a far cry from secular humanism, with which the term is most often associated today. This is more akin to art historian and L'Abri theologian Hans Rookmaaker's statement:

"Jesus did not come to make us Christian, Jesus came to make us fully human."

In other words, God seeks through the salvation provided by Christ's sacrifice to restore us to what we were meant to be at the creation - in perfect harmony with our Creator and each other. (I recommend this essay by Greg Wolfe, editor of Image journal, for those interested in a good definition and explanation of the idea of religious or Christian humanism.)

In any case, I was thinking specifically of business and wealth the other day. I'm not a fan of socialism and communism - in theory, I sort of like the idea, but in practice in a fallen world I think it rarely works out, especially when enacted by a government - so I don't especially like the idea of the government spreading wealth around by force.

But I was considering what an ostensibly democratic government in a free-market economy can do to "do justice" for the poor, needy, widows, and orphans, as instructed:

"So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty. (Malachi 3:5, NIV)

My thought is that the government's role is to encourage businesses to operate justly in how they treat and pay their workers, to make it attractive for the market to operate in a generous, non-oppressive way. Not to mandate that everyone change their policies (although, that kind of reform may be called for in some cases), but to make it attractive to business leaders to act in ways that restore dignity to their workers and suppliers. For instance, the government could offer incentives to companies which moderate their pay scales, or to manufacturers who choose to use supplies from factories which maintain humane practices.

In other words, perhaps we can "make goodness fashionable", as William Wilberforce would have said. And in some ways, I think we're seeing this happening through grassroots efforts to focus on the needs of the sick, needy, and oppressed throughout the world - but perhaps the government, which is made up of individuals just as the rest of the country is, could seek to do justice in this way.

I know this isn't new or original, but it struck me in a new way this week. What do you think? Could it work? What could we do? Are there ways that you see our government (or another government) promoting justice right now?