The Key of Justice

There is an interesting new site/organization called Songs in the Key of Justice that I stumbled upon today. It is a movement out of the Catholic community for teens embracing and continuing the social justice movement (seemingly lost on the new outbreak of conservative Catholics).

SIKOJ (Sik - oj? gotta rethink that acronym) encourages its participants to be active in their communities, schools, parishes, all to impact their world and make a difference. This is not a new concept for the faith based community, but so often its wrapped around an ideology and the spread of the faith that the actual social justice activism is lost.

This is a great organization for pushing activism, but it falls into the continued trap of forcing its faith as a cornerstone of its outreach.

From their "Making a Difference" section Keeping the Faith

"Keeping the faith has taken on a whole new meaning for Catholic young people in Iraq over the past two years. But these young people have more than demonstrated they are up to the challenge of the Gospel!"

Oy. Like there isn't something more important right now to Iraqi children... like... getting to the market or to school without being blown up. I'm just sayin..

There is an embedded social networking site through the website where people of faith can connect and ideally create a collective action around a social project in their community. I was the only person within 3 states around me that was not a youth minister on the SN site. Perhaps it will catch on in the catholic community...

Most times I want to reward organizations that do any kind of youth outreach at all because its a step in the right direction. And using young people to impact their world is an even greater accomplishment, but when its using them as foot soldiers for a doctrine it begins the slippery slope into that whole Jesus Camp mentality.

I still say that if you want to impact the world through social justice movements that are faith based - I would go to something a little less focused on pushing a specific faith but pushes more a solution to the disaster at hand. Save Darfur is a good one, Invisible Children is another.

Is anyone else sick of this kind of sinister approach to REAL social justice? That said, its an indicator to those of us who are on the left that the right wing is beginning to catch up to the internets... And they're doing it to reach out to young people... prepare for indoctrination!