wfn.org | Injustices of Economic Globalization Must be Raised More Clearly

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

Proposals from a Western Europe Ecumenical Consultation

SOESTERBERG, The Netherlands/GENEVA, 25 July 2002 (LWI) - Western
European churches have been urged to examine their own financial
policies and consider social, ethical and ecological criteria when
undertaking investments. They should make stronger use of their
positions to be politically active and advocate more vigorously
against economic injustice and ecological destruction.

This call was sent to the churches by participants in a recent
gathering of representatives from western European churches on the
consequences of globalization, held June 15-19 in Soesterberg, the
Netherlands. This followed and responded to messages coming out of
regional consultations in Bangkok (1999), Budapest (2001) and Fiji
(2001). These previous consultations had challenged churches in
especially the north to "choose between God and mammon."

A central concern in the June meeting, "Economy in the Service of
Life," was how seriously the western European churches take their
role in the worldwide Christian community, in the face of the
increasing global social injustices, largely due to the neo-
liberal economic system.  The destructive impact of this system,
evident in increasing injustice, poverty, hunger and environmental
degradation, needs to be analyzed more intensively, and the
injustices of economic globalization raised up more clearly,
participants in the consultation said to their churches.

The conference was jointly organized by the World Alliance of
Reformed Churches (WARC), World Council of Churches (WCC),
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and Conference of European
Churches (CEC). It was hosted by the Council of Churches in the
Netherlands, and attended by over 80 representatives from western
European churches and guests from central and eastern Europe,
North America, Africa, Asia and the Vatican.

In their letter to the western European churches, participants
called for a joint churches' approach that includes initiatives of
civil society and non-government organizations (NGOs) such as
ATTAC (Association for the Taxation of financial Transactions for
the Aid of Citizens).

It is necessary to introduce a taxation of currency transactions
along the lines of the "Tobin tax", they said, and also to support
networks for stronger solidarity with churches in the south, and
with central and eastern European churches. Also, the increasing
privatization of social services including water, education and
health should be resisted.

The participants stressed that the effects of the current global
market system is incompatible with the ideals of Christian
community and solidarity. It does not center on human social needs
but on the unlimited, uncontrolled accumulation of capital. The
consequences are a growing global divide between the world's
majority poor people and the few rich.

In other letters to churches in central and eastern Europe, in
Asia, Africa and Latin America, the western Europe participants
admitted the failures of their own churches in the past they had
not adequately responded to the problems and suffering of their
partner churches. They noted that the exclusionary character of
the neo-liberal system had also been underestimated and its
consequences had not been sufficiently tackled. In this message
western European churches were responding to the call "to resist
the destructive forces of economic globalization and to be
advocates for global social justice." The call had been raised by
central and eastern Europe churches representatives at a June 2001
ecumenical consultation on the consequences of globalization in
the region.

These consultations rose out of a WARC initiative to question
economic globalization, launched in 1997 in Debrecen, Hungary, and
related to processes at the 1998 WCC Assembly in Harare, Zimbabwe.
The LWF has been involved in the ecumenical consultation process
since 2001. With its working paper "Engaging Economic
Globalization as a Communion", the LWF called on its member
churches to discuss the impact and consequences of globalization
and to develop responses of the worldwide communion of Lutheran
churches.

Further consultations on the consequences of globalization are
planned for 2003 in North and Latin America. In December 2001,
churches in Argentina urged their "sister churches in the North"
to help advocate for the international community's attention to
the overwhelming social and economic crisis in their country. The
injustice and disgrace of foreign debt not only called for
solidarity, they said, but is also a matter of ethical concern.

No consensus was reached on the question of how the churches
should react to economic globalization in structural terms.
Perspectives ranged from the need for reforms within the neo-
liberal economic system to a demand particularly supported by
southern churches' representatives for a fundamental debate on the
form and mission of the church in view of the threat posed by
economic globalization and the "worship of Mammon".

Coping with the consequences of economic globalization and the
question of how the Lutheran churches can participate in
transforming globalization is one of the major topics of the LWF
Tenth Assembly, to be held in July 2003 in Winnipeg, Canada. The
LWF basis for this work is its self-understanding as a worldwide
communion of churches seeking a common response and strategy with
respect to economic globalization. (823 words)

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 133 member churches in 73 countries representing over 60.5
million of the 64.3 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on
behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human
rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and
development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva,
Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted,
material presented does not represent positions or opinions of the
LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an article
contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced
with acknowledgment.]

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