October 4, 2011

KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia/GENEVA – There was a strong call for an urgent "re-embedding" of the market for the common good at a Lutheran World Federation (LWF) sponsored Muslim-Christian consultation on structural greed.

"The current notion of the economy is conceptually and practically hazardous for the common good, ordinary people, the poor and humanity," said B. Herry Priyono, a Roman Catholic priest and economist, speaking at the 25-30 September LWF consultation on "Interfaith Dialogue Engaging Structural Greed Today," held in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.

"Rampant poverty and ordinary people's livelihood remain ignored even amidst the bullishness of economic growth rates and stock market index," noted Priyono, a professor at the Jesuit center for economic and management studies in Jakarta, Indonesia.

He pointed out that, for example, that though the Indonesian government's budget had risen five-fold steadily from 18 trillion rupiah in 2004 to 94 trillion rupiah in 2010, the percentage of the poor in the country had not seen a dramatic decline.

Between 2004 and 2010, he added, the percentage of extremely poor people declined only marginally, from 16.7 percent to 13.3 percent.

On the other hand, the priest quoted World Bank studies to show that the "social character" of the state was dying, not only in Indonesia but in several other countries as well, with governments cutting back on social programs.

Such reduction in social spending amid economic boom, he pointed out, was being carried out under the prescriptions of international financial bodies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Systematic Study of Economics

Commenting on the economic crisis in Europe, Luigino Bruni, professor of political economy at the University of Milan, Italy, pointed to the connections between the Lutheran Reformation and economic matters by referring to the "market of indulgence" that prevails today.

The excessive private debt in the United States that led to the 2008 market crash, Bruni reasoned, was the "direct consequence of the style of living based on consumerism."

He urged churches to pay more attention to the systematic study of economics by suggesting that economics should be added to the curriculum of theological colleges and seminaries alongside philosophy, moral theology and ethics.

"Unless churches have experts to speak with competence on economic issues, they cannot make a mark when it comes to economic policies," cautioned Bruni, who is a member of the Focolare Movement and vice-director of EconomEtica, the Milan based Inter-University Center for Economic Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility.

Athena Peralta, a consultant from the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, condemned the unfair distribution of food that leaves many in the world hungry.

"Over 11 million children under the age of five and others die of malnutrition and other hunger-related diseases every year," she noted.

"This hunger is not an issue of food scarcity or lack of production.

Sadly, it is happening despite the global food production being sufficient to feed 12 billion people–nearly double the world's population," added Peralta.

The current, dominant systems of consumption, production and distribution were geared towards the private accumulation of wealth and were founded in greed, she noted.

The challenge, she added, was to develop a ‘greed line' or structural greed indicators to pursue the fullness of life for all.

Lutheran World Information