diakosyne

The other day I heard a South Carolina preacher exhorting his congregation to "vote for the candidate who can restore America to righteousness." That word, righteousness, in its religio-political context, has become a kind of unspoken code for the core hot button issues of the religious right (namely abortion and sexuality). Hearing it again reminded me that the New Testament's Greek word at stake there is diakosyne, a word that is translated either "righteousness" or "justice". In other words, when we speak Biblically and theologically, the two are intertwined. There is no personal righteousness if the nation is unjust; and the nation cannot be righteous if its citizens are unjust.

 I would love to hear our candidates, especially those who claim Christ as Lord, to discuss what this diakosyne would mean: for American citizens, for immigrants (legal and illegal), for Iraqis, for Iranians, for the poor, for the rich.