The ongoing Flint water crisis has reminded many of us of the role that government plays in providing water to the public. While evangelicals may not be inclined to see access to clean water as a faith or justice-based issue, Calvin College political science professor Kevin R. den Dulk makes a case for why Christians should care about the human “right to water.”
“For Christians, access to water ought not be about the arbitrariness of birth and geography or the vagaries of power,” writes the Michigan-based professor for the Center for Public Justice. “It is a matter of justice, and our response is grounded in God’s call to seek shalom, in this case by addressing the access problems and inevitable conflicts that arise when a good is both basic and unevenly distributed.”
On this week’s “Quick to Listen,” den Dulk joins Morgan and Katelyn to discuss the Flint water crisis through the lens of public justice.
- With the Flint crisis in mind, what do bodies “owe” us citizens?
- Is water a human right?
- What does a public theology of water look like?
We discuss these questions and give John Locke and Thomas Hobbes a shoutout on the latest episode, which you can listen to here.
