wfn.org | WCC: Globalisation debate

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World Council of Churches
Update UP-03-18
For Immediate Use
30 April 2003

Churches debate globalisation: no easy solutions for complex problems

Cf. Press Update, UP-03-17, of 28 April 2003
Cf. Press Release, PR-03-16, of 24 April 2003
Free photos available, see below

Church representatives meeting in Buenos Aires exchanged differing opinions
about globalisation. Some openly condemned it, while others pointed to its
positive aspects. And they said that churches sometimes tend to legitimise
policies of exclusion. 

Panelists and representatives from different regional contexts presented
their points of view during a debate on the issue of  "poverty and wealth"
held on 29 April, the second day of a "Globalising the fullness of life"
consultation.

Organised by the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) and co-sponsored
by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and other ecumenical organisations,
the Buenos Aires consultation lasts until 1 May.

Speakers explored the issue from the perspective of Latin American indigenous
people, European churches and ecumenical organisations. 

Julian Guaman, an indigenous theologian from Ecuador, was critical of
globalisation, describing it as an "octopus that absorbs everything". 

"Among indigenous people, a poor person is someone who has no land to
cultivate," said Guaman. He explained that in Ecuador, indigenous people have
"small pieces of land: between 100 square meters and 13 hectares". Meanwhile,
the big landowners control irrigation and the land "is burned" by the
intensive use of fertilisers. 

However Peter Pavlovic, a representative from the Conference of European
Churches, said that the globalisation process does have some positive 
features for central and eastern European nations. Among its positive
features, he said, are increased mobility, communication and access to
democracy.

Reminding his listeners that the countries of central and eastern Europe had
lived under a totalitarian regime for more than half a century, Pavlovic also
recognised "a swift decline in solidarity" as being among the negative
effects of globalisation. 

But he recalled that the environment was not a priority during the Iron
Curtain era and pointed out that today, as a result of globalisation, it was
on the agenda.	"There are no easy answers to such a complex issue," warned
the European representative.  

Bob Goudzwaard, of the Dutch Reformed Church, warned that the negative
effects of globalisation also impact on developed nations, where poverty and
the gap between the richest and the poorest members of society are increasing

For Goudzwaard, impoverishment and increases in wealth go hand in hand.  For
example, one in four children in the United States faces hunger. Using as a
metaphor the way trees regulate their growth in order to survive, he called
on countries central to the world economy to limit their growth.  

After discussing the different presentations participants agreed that, in the
face of poverty, church intervention tends to focus on giving aid and
assistance. They noted, however, that "some churches have attempted to
develop a concept of development for transformation in poor areas". 

Some groups went beyond this to deplore the fact that, as churches, "we have
played a role in the privatisation of social assistance". In some cases,
churches have become "agents that legitimise policies of social exclusion,
concentrating their action on mitigating rather than resolving poverty," they
said. 

The approximately-100 participants, mostly from Latin America and the
Caribbean but also from Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and the Pacific,
proposed that ecumenical organisations like CLAI spread alternative,
biblically founded, concepts of ownership. 

Participants also encouraged Christians to participate in civil and political
society at local, regional and national levels, to strengthen alternative
economies based on solidarity, and to open channels so that people from the
South and the North are able to exchange information and  increase their
mutual understanding. 

The consultation is being co-sponsored by the WCC, the World Alliance of
Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Conference of European Churches (CEC).

Free photos to accompany articles based on this update are available on our
website:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/jpc/argentina-e.html 

For further information, please contact the Media Relations Office,  tel: +41
(0)22 791 64 21 / 61 53

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The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches, now 342, in
more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works
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1948 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general secretary
Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

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