Hello, Friends–Rev. Nancy Peterson walks us through our desire for Justice–connecting 18th century Imperialism, Old Testament prophesy, 20th century political corruption, and Charles Fillmore’s deeper understanding of what it means to live justly in today’s world.

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We have been through the turbulence! Our nation has suffered violent division, hatred exacerbated by our leaders that has leached into the threads of government and our way of life, and high-profile moral failure all of which leave many wondering how to bring about justice without further fracturing. Leading up to the recent midterm elections, I felt drawn to explore the nature of justice. I see clearly now that humanity has lived the chaos and question repeatedly through the ages.

How do we see justice? Or, as it may present, injustice? And how do we collectively remedy injustice? What I know to be true is that the Principle of justice does not change. Edmund Burke argued this during the trial of Warren Hastings in 1788.

Colonial Britian was expanding its footprint in India in the late 1700s. Warren Hastings served as the first Governor-General in Bengal from 1773 to 1785 where he effectively transformed a loose network of merchant trading posts into a structured regional government. The British exercised military dominance and strategic efforts of cultural blending. One such effort was the translation of traditional legal codes, the Hindu and Islamic law of the land, into English so that the British judges could rule over local populations using their own structures.

When Warren Hastings returned to England, he faced a high-profile impeachment trial in Parliament in 1788. Led by Edmund Burke, Hastings was accused of tyranny, extortion, and systemic corruption. Burke closed his legal argument in front of the House of Lords with these words:

“There is but one law for all, namely, that law which governs all law, the law of our Creator, the law of humanity, justice, equity—the Law of Nature and of Nations.”

Burke was invoking the highest law of our Creator–the One Presence, the One Power, the Absolute–that which is unchangeable.

Hasting’s primary defense was that the democratic and legal standards of Great Britain did not apply to his actions in India. He claimed that because Asia was historically governed by “arbitrary power” and the despotic rule of past conquerors, he was justified in using autocratic and heavy-handed measures to maintain British rule.

But Burke rejected this concept calling it “geographical morality.” Actions considered corrupt, oppressive, or criminal in Europe were not suddenly acceptable, moral actions because they took place in Asia. He called Hastings out on his attempt to warp their understanding of true justice.

In Amos 5:14–15, the prophet advised,

“Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good; establish justice in the courts.”

In 760 BCE, God called Amos out of the wilderness to prophesy in the northern kingdom of Israel. He was not a professional prophet but a herdsman and dresser of sycamore trees. Amos saw that, on the surface, the kingdom was enjoying a golden age of material prosperity but that it was all an illusion. They built their prosperity on corruption, bribery, and exploitation. There was a great disparity between the rich and poor and they were exploiting the poor. Amos represents our conscience. He directly connects the pursuit of justice with the pursuit of life and the presence of God. To “seek good” is synonymous with establishing justice. True justice is not passive. We are called to “hate evil”, to intentionally turn away from corrupt systems. And we are called to champion fairness – to “love good”. Justice requires active alignment within so that we may demonstrate just and fair actions without.

Charles Fillmore referred to the prophesy of Amos in a talk on November 6, 1927 entitled Lessons in Justice. In it he said that “Justice has gone awry; justice has fallen down.” “The very elements of injustice and graft will destroy the foundation principles of our government.” He went on to say that

“though it was preached twenty-seven hundred years ago, (it) is appropriate to our day; and it is not only the nation, but every individual in the nation who is not practicing absolute justice in all of the relations of his life.”

The Teapot Dome Scandal dominated newspaper headlines that same week. This was a massive political bribery trial involving our national oil reserves, President Warren G. Harding’s Secretary of the Interior, and good old-fashioned corporate greed. Fillmore looked at Washington, D.C. and the prophesy of Amos, and he concluded that while human laws try to patch up these errors–graft, bribery, and corruption–legislation or imprisonment can never fix injustice.

Fillmore taught that outer corruption is simply the macrocosm of an individual mental error. In his radio talk he noted: “Injustice works first, in man’s acquisitiveness, and then it works out into his outer life and tinctures everything he has to do with.” Acquisitiveness is our faculty to draw things to ourselves and is essential to our spiritual development. We learn how to use our acquisitiveness to be in alignment with our values and desires and most importantly, the pursuit of our personal good. We draw forth what we require to fulfill our personal good.

However, when we distort this faculty of the mind with greed and selfishness, acquisitiveness turns into a predatory urge to exploit, hoard and take what belongs to others. Fillmore warns us of the error: if we look at the world and believe that everyone else is cheating, we might rationalize that we must also cheat to get by or thrive. But unlike Warren Hastings who defended himself using “geographical morality,” we are called to a consciousness and a personal practice of something much higher. We are called to righteous thinking. We may witness others who perceive that a lower standard exists. But in the ways of the Creator, there is no lower or acceptable standard.

True justice means refusing to let the unfairness of the world corrupt our own personal standards, the standards of the indwelling Christ, the standards that are innately ours. The way that we live in every moment, the choices that we make, the fairness and integrity by which we create our lives, and the unwavering faith in and understanding of the Source of all good raise us up to the remedy for injustice.

Let us each unleash the innate spirit of justice already implanted in our souls. May we listen to our inner Amos.

Rev. Nancy Peterson
November 15, 2026
St. Petersburg, FL

Ordained a Unity Minister on June 1, 2026, Rev. Nancy experienced a pivot from a career in business toward ministry while overseeing her mother’s care through Alzheimer’s Disease. She interned as a hospital chaplain in 2024 at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa but was drawn to Unity ministry by the foundational teachings, particularly around creative powers and healing. Rev. Nancy spent much of her life in the Greater Boston area, earning a BSBA from Babson College and MSF from Bentley University, followed by a career in audit and healthcare finance, and then as a partner in a tech startup.