How long will you judge unjustly, Psalm 82

Thomas Cahill’s ‘The Gifts of the Jews’ documents how the Jewish faith replaced the worship of the seasonal cycle with the concept of good. God was good and therefore wanted his followers to be good. Good is defined as morals, ethics, or adherence to a set of religious values.

Judaism is the precursor to both Christianity and Islam to a lesser extent. Which is why that concept has been the underpinning of western culture for millennia, that we should be ‘good’ because it is the right thing to do. In Christian culture, we remember scriptures read in church that give us perspective on the nuances of good.

Our values of social justice – protection of the weak, the poor and oppressed – come from those scriptures both old and new testament. Of Biblical writers, one of the great poets was King David who wrote at Psalm 82, telling Kings or rulers to act kindly or wisely to the weak,

How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked?
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked

So we wonder, how long can the government afflict Islanders with disabilities for they are the weak and needy? It’s been 353 days, almost a year since they cut back their help. It’s been 95 days since we exposed the DSP scandal.

What is the point in drawing the suffering out longer, when real people are suffering?