A friend of mine, a minister, recently asked me about the concept of being on the “right side of history.” His concern is that being on the right side of history, as many people generally understand it, is not necessarily being on God’s side.
It’s an intriguing formulation. The term, “the right side of history” is often invoked by people on the left to signal that history is moving in a progressive direction — and that it’s best that we join the “enlightened” side early rather than late. They’d cite issues like the abolition of slavery and desegregation, rights for women, and child labor laws as issues that were controversial at the time but now seem obvious.
But even more than in the past I don’t find the appeal of being on the “right side of history” to be compelling. “History” doesn’t have a conscience — and sometimes-fashionable trends (like the divorce revolution, drug use, a constitutional “right” to abortion, and communism) have tremendous human costs. I’d rather be on the “right side of justice” or the “right side of human dignity” which may be in fashion at some points but may also be out of fashion at others.
The trickiness comes in determining what advances justice and human dignity and what sets it back. That isn’t always easy to know. It depends in part on which side of an issue one chooses — but even then, there are often complicated matters of tactics, which require wisdom. One could have been an abolitionist in the 19th century — but that still left open the question of whether one ought to adopt the approach of John Brown or Abraham Lincoln. Some of the abolitionists were on the side of justice — but they needed to have their passions channeled in a constructive way. William Wilberforce was an example of someone who combined justice with prudence and persistence, a rare and marvelous combination.
For those of the Christian faith, it’s worth bearing in mind that on several occasions in the Scriptures we’re warned that there will be tension and conflict in being a faithful Christian in the world. That doesn’t tell us how to act in any particular circumstance; but it does serve as a warning that when the world tries to dictate to us what the “right side of history” is, we don’t necessarily have to accept it.
In thinking this through, it also strikes me that one other way to view this is that God is the author of history — there’s a beginning, a middle and an end; there are chapters that will eventually comprise a glorious book — and so in some important sense, being on the “right side of history” means being on the side of the Author of history. Which means to be on the right side of history means being on the right side of God, His will, and His ways. That isn’t what the left usually has in mind; and it’s not a bad place to be.
