The Public Justice Report at Twenty

September-October 1997

By Donald A. Kruse

WASHINGTON, D.C.—When the Association for Public Justice and the APJ Education Fund (now the Center for Public justice) were incorporated in 1977, the Public Justice Newsletter—an all-purpose organ—began publication in October. The newsletter was retitled the Report in 1980, and in 1982 moved with the rest of the organization to Washington, D.C.

Clarifying Christian Responsibility

In the very first issue of the newsletter, a brief report was given of the organization's founding conference, August 26-8, 1977. More than 700 people gathered on the campus of Dordt College in the small town of Sioux Center, Iowa to hear Senator Mark Hatfield (R-OR) speak. Hatfield urged the crowd to take seriously Christ's lordship in politics. In giving witness to Christ's kingdom, Hatfield said, "our standard is never one of withdrawal, but rather one of pointed, courageous, and sacrificial interest and penetration into all passages of the world." Throughout history, God has called people "to pour out their lives for the purposes of God's justice, of his love for all of humanity. Our task is always to call society toward the kingdom."

William Harper, professor of political studies at Gordon College and one of the first contributors to the newsletter, recalls that "it was an audacious act of faith" for the founders of the Center to "challenge the reigning political orthodoxy of America in 1977." In celebrating our 20th anniversary, he says, "let's not forget that the cause remains the same today: a vigorous political expression of the body of justice leading to justice in the public square."

Joan Orgon Coolidge, the first staff assistant in Washington, who helped edit the Report in the mid-1980s, remembers "the privilege of interviewing U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop and of helping to host a lunch in the Capitol for a visiting delegation of Christian Democrats from Europe and Latin America."

"Most of all," she says, "I was profoundly impacted by the faithfulness of the Center's supporters—their critical reflection on the culture of our times, their committed monthly financial support, and their local community activism."

Making the Argument for Principled Pluralism

In the fifth issue of the newsletter's first volume, the lead story was about the testimony given before the Senate Finance Committee by Rockne McCarthy, one of the Center's founding board members and a frequent contributor on issues of educational justice. McCarthy was the first to present the organization's pluralist argument for equitable funding for all schools before a congressional committee. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) was particularly impressed and later published an article on the subject, drawing on McCarthy's argument.

Throughout the period of its publication, the Report has returned reguarly to issues of confessional and structural pluralism in public life. Beginning in the early 1990's, the work of Senior Fellow Stanley Carlson-Thies on welfare reform has been reported and explained in these pages. In no other publication has more attention been given to the just and equal treatment of religious and non-religious service providers in connection with welfare reform and the reorientation of government policy toward society's nongovernment organizations.

David Peters, mayor of La Mirada, California, and a professor at Biola University has appreciated the practical relevance of the Report. The Report he says, "probes for biblical applications to current issues. Its articles reason and grapple with concerns and principles with an honest intellectuality that commands the consideration, respect, and often acceptance of the greater community."

Change in '98

When volume 21 of the Public Justice Report begins to appear in 1998, it will do so on a quarterly basis. Earlier this year, the Center for Public justice inaugurated the Civic Connection, which is edited by development director Michelle Voll. Its purpose is to tell the Center's story, to report on events and people. The Report will no longer have to serve as an all-purpose organ and will concentrate on government policies, political issues, and the development of a Christian public philosophy. As funding permits, we plan gradually to enlarge the Report into a magazine or journal with longer essays, reviews, and commentary. Comments from readers will continue to be welcomed.