Safe Good

We shouldn't only help people in ways that don't cause an argument.

It isn’t very controversial to give to a charity that feeds the poor, which is good, but there are other ways people need help as well.

Don’t stop at socially safe acts of goodness. It isn’t very controversial to give to a charity that feeds the poor, which is good, but there are other ways people need help as well. Standing up for the role and value of law enforcement in a conversation with colleagues or classmates would be an example of engaging in a controversial act of good in today’s social climate where opinions of authority figures and formal rules are often negative.

Socially safe good doesn’t refer to physical safety here. It refers to acts of good that won’t cause an argument or put you on the side of an argument that people around you disagree with. While socially safe good can be genuinely good, such as the aforesaid example of giving to the poor, it shouldn’t be viewed as a way to avoid the full responsibility of a Christian or a like-minded citizen of the public who believes in promoting the public good.

There are a number of issues today that need the support of Christians and other people who believe in freedom and equality. Standing up for these issues can be controversial because many people support the wrong side of these issues. We want to support just laws and their legal enforcement by fair consequences, and we also want to support the freedom offered by forms of democracy and capitalism that also protect the minority, provide safeguards for the less affluent, and give the opportunity to every individual to be successful and happy.