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The idea of "social justice" was developed late in the church by people like Finny and Wesley. It was never originally part of the church doctrine except that we are commanded to "love justice, do kindness and walk humbly with God".

The problem with the church today is that many believe they're all about social justice. They would rather run food banks or give away backpacks then preach the gospel. Most of these "social justice" churches talk about coexisting with other religions rather then acknowledging Christianity is the one and only true belief and the only way to heaven is to repent and acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ for His saving grace. They wouldn't dare say such a thing. These people are tares and blight on the true church and the message of the gospel.

Glenn Beck is absolutely correct. Christianity is NOT about social justice but receiving a changed heart through the saving work of Jesus Christ. Anyone who thinks otherwise needs to reexamine their doctrine.

Now all that being said, there is far more social justice being performed by atheist Conservatives than Christian liberals. It is not social justice to demand the government take away something from one person and give it to another. The scriptures call that stealing.

It was the Evangelical church that gave the liberals the concept of social justice, the real kind, not subsidizing indolence, etc, but an emphasizing salvation and doctrine.

The political side is secondary to the spiritual, yet insofar as conservatism goes, an increasing number of conservatives seem to suppose it came out of bottle, and that the effects of a living (not institutionalized) Christianity and its evangelicalism were and are not crucial to the real greatness of a nation. And more importantly, to the salvation of souls.

From the Library of Congress exhibit: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel07.html

“Benevolent societies were a new and conspicuous feature of the American landscape during the first half of the nineteenth century. Originally devoted to the salvation of souls, although eventually to the eradication of every kind of social ill, benevolent societies were the direct result of the extraordinary energies generated by the evangelical movement—specifically, by the “activism” resulting from conversion. “The evidence of God’s grace,” the Presbyterian evangelist, Charles G. Finney [foremost a revivalist] insisted, “was a person’s benevolence toward others.” The evangelical establishment used this powerful network of voluntary, ecumenical benevolent societies to Christianize the nation.

The earliest and most important of these organizations focused their efforts on the conversion of sinners to the new birth or to the creation of conditions (such as sobriety sought by temperance societies) in which conversions could occur. The six largest societies in 1826-1827 were all directly concerned with conversion: the American Education Society, the American Board of Foreign Missions, the American Bible Society, the American Sunday-School Union, the American Tract Society, and the American Home Missionary Society.

VII. Religion and the New Republic

The religion of the new American republic was evangelicalism, which, between 1800 and the Civil War, was the “grand absorbing theme” of American religious life. During some years in the first half of the nineteenth century, revivals (through which evangelicalism found expression) occurred so often that religious publications that specialized in tracking them lost count. In 1827, for example, one journal exulted that “revivals, we rejoice to say, are becoming too numerous in our country to admit of being generally mentioned in our Record.” During the years between the inaugurations of Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, historians see “evangelicalism emerging as a kind of national church or national religion.” The leaders and ordinary members of the “evangelical empire” of the nineteenth century were American patriots who subscribed to the views of the Founders that religion was a “necessary spring” for republican government; they believed, as a preacher in 1826 asserted, that there was “an association between Religion and Patriotism.” Converting their fellow citizens to Christianity was, for them, an act that simultaneously saved souls and saved the republic. The American Home Missionary Society assured its supporters in 1826 that “we are doing the work of patriotism no less than Christianity.”

Alexis de Tocqueville commented,
“The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other; and with them this conviction does not spring from that barren traditionary faith which seems to vegetate in the soul rather than to live.” - Democracy in America, Volume I Chapter XVII (1835)

I do not know whether all Americans have a sincere faith in their religion; for who can read the human heart? but I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions. This opinion is not peculiar to a class of citizens or to a party, but it belongs to the whole nation and to every rank of society. - Democracy in America.