4 - 2003

What churches should do, and can do

The central "building blocks of a church agenda"

The book reviewed by W. Kessler, Wealth and poverty as a call to church action, contains suggestions for churches, local congregations, church agencies and groups whose goal is social justice in church and society, including the following:

Making social justice real in the church

Churches should investigate the distribution of income and assets among their employees and members and ask whether, in their own midst, there are people living in poverty and whether new "models of solidarity" are needed.

Intensifying the political debate about the distribution of wealth, giving it new emphases and involving those affected

Churches should make it clear why, in view of the polarisation of the society, a new emphasis and intensity is needed in the political debate on the distribution of wealth, for the sake of the future viability of the society, that this is necessary for social cohesion and is a dictate of social justice.

Private wealth and "public poverty"

To make it possible for the social welfare state to function, churches should point out the connection between "public poverty" and "private wealth", and do everything they can to make this a topic for sociological and political debate. But most of all churches should promote a more adequate consideration of this connection in the structuring of the tax system, and an end to the  "tax cut race" among the OECD nations.

Economic crime

In view of the wide discussion of "welfare fraud" and misuse of social security services, churches should emphatically demand determined steps against high-level economic crime, which is much more harmful to the national economy, and help to see that this challenge to the rule of law is at last given the political, criminological and legal importance which the facts demand.

Ethical investment

Since stocks and investment certificates are rapidly gaining importance as forms of investment, churches should contribute to the stronger and more widespread development of instruments of ethical investment, by making more use of such instruments themselves than they do at present.

"Poverty and wealth report" by the churches

The churches should periodically publish a common ecumenical report on poverty and wealth, drawing on empirical findings and sociological analysis in evaluating church experiences with poverty and wealth, and culminating in calls for social and political action. The existing ecumenical networks of church agencies, services, local churches and groups should be the ones to prepare this report.