The Economic Crisis: Towards Sustainable Economies and Livelihoods was the title of a recent conference held in Methodist Church House, London. The one-day event, organised by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI), was attended by around 100 delegates.
Bob Fyffe, CTBI general secretary, posed several questions about the nature of our economic system and what we might have instead – Do we want capitalism to work? Is growth a virtue? What sort of banking system do we want?
“Good questions, but much too hard to answer in the time we had available,” reports Tony Weekes of South Belfast Friends Meeting.
Bob Goudzwaard, former professor of economics and social philosophy at the Free University of Amsterdam, offered an explanation for the current global economic crisis and a plea for economics and economic policy to recapture an ethical component.
Ann Pettifor, formerly of Jubilee 2000, spoke of the scriptural objections, in both Christianity and Islam, to the payment of interest and how these had gradually been weakened over time. She explained that banks create ‘money’ by no more than simple bookkeeping. She also described her work with the New Economic Foundation’s Green New Deal group – a strategy which would address the issues of climate change and peak oil and provide a measure of prosperity.
“This event was a valuable contribution to a debate which members of faith groups need to have: what is the constructive response to this crisis (which most people have had no part in causing, but from which many people are suffering) and how do we communicate with our governments? This must not be the end of the debate,” says Tony Weekes.
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