Evidence Cannot Fill the God-Shaped Hole

Why Social Workers Must Balance “Liberal Science” and Spirituality in the Quest for Social Justice

Abstract

Social work has long struggled to square its commitments to social justice with the desire to ground knowledge production in scientific empiricism. Such tensions are magnified in the face of so-called “woke” ideology (Secular Social Justice Religiosity or SSR), an ambient quasi-religious worldview that grew out of postmodern and critical theories and Christianity. Opponents of SSR outside of social work commonly take aim at its religious elements, while critics within the discipline focus narrowly on epistemology. This article explores the links between epistemology, spirituality, and an ethic of social justice grounded in equality and anti-authoritarianism. It frames SSR as one of many secular attempts to meet the human need for transcendent meaning left unfulfilled by political liberalism’s cold rationality and what many view as liberalism’s unmet promise for material equality. While conceding the limitations of rational empiricism in explaining human experience and ameliorating inequality, this analysis contends that the comprehensive philosophical liberal tradition from which it arose is nevertheless superior to SSR because liberalism actually is the anti-authoritarian engine that SSR purports to be. This article ultimately argues that social work ought to reject SSR as a guiding framework, not because it is irrational or religious, but because it is authoritarian, and authoritarian systems bode poorly for most people and most poorly for the most oppressed.