In looking for some resources to share, I ran across the neatest thing! Maybe you all know about it already, its a section of the ELCA website (www.elca.org) dedicated to social statements.
Social statements are social policy documents, adopted by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly, addressing significant social issues. Since 1991 the ELCA has adopted eight social statements. The one I would like to highlight over the next few posts is titled Economic Life: Sufficient, Sustainable Livelihood for All.
Part 1: (All of this text can be read in its entirety at http://www.elca.org/SocialStatements/economiclife)
Economic life pervades our lives the work we do, the income we receive, how much we consume and save, what we value, and how we view one another. An economy (oikonomia or “management of the household”) is meant to meet people’s material needs. The current market-based economy does that to an amazing degree; many are prospering as never before. At the same time, others continue to lack what they need for basic subsistence. Out of deep concern for those affected adversely, we of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America here assess economic life today in light of the moral imperative to seek sufficient, sustainable livelihood for all. *
To an unprecedented degree, today’s market economy has become global in scope, intensity, and impact. Common brand names appear throughout the world. Many companies based in the United States generate most of their revenues and profits abroad. Daily foreign exchange trading has increased a hundredfold over the past quarter century. Billions of dollars of capital can flow out of one country and into another with a few computer keystrokes. This economic globalization has brought new kinds of businesses, opportunities, and a better life for many. It also has resulted in increasing misery for others. Intensive global competition can force a company to relocate if it is to survive generating jobs elsewhere, while leaving behind many workers who lose their jobs. Sudden shifts in globalized capital and financial markets can dramatically affect the economic well-being of millions of people, for good or for ill.
Human beings are responsible and accountable for economic life, but people often feel powerless in the face of what occurs. Market-based thought and practices dominate our world today in ways that seem to eclipse other economic, social, political, and religious perspectives. To many people, the global market economy feels like a free-running system that is reordering the world with few external checks or little accountability to values other than profit. Economic mandates often demand sacrifices from those least able to afford them. When any economic system and its effects are accepted without question when it becomes a “god-like” power reigning over people, communities, and creation then we face a central issue of faith.
To be continued…
