Justice Lifts the Nations
In the halls of one of the old Supreme Court buildings in Lausanne Switzerland, one might see this mural plastered on the wall…
Though I make no claims to any expertise in the visual arts, the painting has a quality to it: the quarreling, both among and between the two factions, the balanced scales, and the titular lady “Justice,” staring expressionlessly at the people. In the midst of this, Lady Justice’s sword rests decisively on an opened book: “The Law of God.”
The Painting is called “Justice Lifts the Nations,” and the painter’s politics might help even further interpret the work.
While working in the early 20th century, the painter Paul Roberts was fascinated with political developments following the Protestant Reformation. In his mind, “The Law of God” is not meant merely as a private, personal morality, but as a sufficient legal foundation for the betterment of “the Nations.”
The Law of God is, paradoxically, the great liberator. Laws, at least on their surface, always restrict, but just laws work to restrict tyranny’s grip on the whole. As Paul Roberts intends, even the most tyrannous king and the most zealous, grassroots movement and the most corrupt politician have a master they bow to: the law, so the Latin phrase Lex Rex goes: Law is King.
Shouts for Justice in the past few months have certainly increased in the past few months. But, the louder the shouts the more questions I’m left with: Justice on whose terms? At what point can we qualify an injustice as remedied? And the one I find most interesting: are unjust means justified if done in the pursuit of just ends?
These questions, however, seem to have no way of being, if not resolved, at least satisfied. America, it seems, no longer shares a common “Law of God.” If we do not have that, it seems our only options are to recreate some law according to new ideals (and I fear what those “new ideals” could be), or to revel in societal despair. As some dead, white, classics professor once remarked, “without a common God, we have no common good,” where our common God is, where be will we begin civility again.
