Pious Priorities
A panel of 'religion experts', a regular feature on the 'Religion' page of a daily newspaper. The question for April 11, 2009 was a simple, theoretical one. The answers followed, and were instructive to a degree.Question: If you could solve just one social problem, what would it be?
Answer from a Baha'i scholar, teacher, essayist and poet published in the fields of spirituality, Baha'i theology and poetry:
Eradicating poverty, for example, will reduce crime, mental illness and homelessness. These effects in turn will increase productivity, reduce government debt and promote viable families.
Response from the rector of the area Cathedral:
I would choose a major world problem. More than one billion people live in poverty, especially in the Third world. Even the World Bank has recognized that decades of development have contributed to a widening of the gap between the rich and the poor throughout the world. However, poverty is also an issue in the developed world. An important segment of our population, while not living in absolute deprivation, are also in great need. Many efforts exist in our society to come to their assistance. Administrators of Food Banks tell us that some people who have been contributors to their work have now become beneficiaries. All our major cities have a growing number of shelters and groups that provide meals to those who are in need. However, the situation on the international scene is even more critical and complex.
Response from an Anglican priest, director of the Anglican Studies Program at...:
Poverty. It is hard to think of another social ill that is so corrosive and so far-reaching in its effects. The poor are not poor in money only. Even the relatively well-off poor of our country - well-off by comparison with the desperately poor of developing countries - are compromised in their health, education, social skills and so on. For the desperately poor, the struggle for shelter, adequate food and safe drinking water stunts and disfigures lives tragically. Such struggle gives rise to other problems such as environmental degradation, social unrest and war.
Response from a minister of the United Church of Canada; dean of the Faculty of Theology of the University of ... and president of the Canadian Council of Churches:
There are several problems with this question in this form. First, it suggests that problems are 'free standing', so to speak,and that it is possible to address one apart from all. Second, it presupposes that the world is full of problems to solve rather than attitudes to be addressed. Third, it assumes that social issues are fixable, the way we might fix a faulty transmission. Fourth, and most important from a religious perspective the question suggests that solutions belong to us and to our ingenuity rather than to the grace of God to motivate and guide us. ...Any approach to a social problem is provisional at best. Any approach will lead to unanticipated new challenges. There are no quick or permanent fixes.
Response from a retired biologist from AgCanada, a founding member of the Sikh National Archives of Canada; president of the World Sikh Organization of Canada, 2001 to 2005:
Ignorance (agianta) or lack of knowledge about Truth is the root cause of all ills (social, economic, psychological, political, etc.). There is turmoil all over the world, and all believers and non-believers have a stake in this ... God's bounty belongs to all, but it is badly distributed in this world due to our ego and greed ... The whole world is deceived or swindled by "five drivers or passions, i.e., sexual lust, anger, greed, attachment and ego".
Response from a rabbi, host of a radio program, author, community charitable fund-raiser:
There is no shortage of social problems, but poverty seems to be the one that is most pressing, as well as most enveloping. Children who wake up hungry and then go off to school cannot concentrate on their studies. They fall behind, then remain behind, and often fall off the rails and into a life of alienation and crime. All this could be avoided with food on a daily basis. This is the proverbial ounce of prevention, the little bit that goes a long way toward avoiding profound human tragedy down the road. Imagine children having no heat at home, and no coats to shield them from the cold winters ... There are many social problems and challenges, but eliminating poverty will carry along with it many other potential problems that are exacerbated or even caused by poverty. Just eliminating poverty will not automatically result in a perfect world, but it will almost immediately eliminate some of the major imperfections.
Response by a Muslim scholar, a partner in a Christian-Muslim Dialogue Interfaith Council:
Gambling was never considered a virtue. In the past, it was generally linked with organized crime. Gambling has now become not only a legalized activity, its promotion by various levels of government has raised it to a form of entertainment and a source of easy and quick income. Its social and economic costs have been pushed under the rug... the gambling industry is now worth over $15 billion and it has surpassed other branches of the entertainment industry. Addiction is a disease, irrespective of the nature of addiction. Easy access to gambling leads to gambling addiction, which is considered to be second only to tobacco addiction.
Response from the dean of Annunciation Orthodox Cathedral, professor in the Sheptynsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at Saint Paul University:
The two great commandments are love of God and love of neighbour, and we do tend to be more comfortable with the former. In most Orthodox parishes, social concern is a learned response and not a natural instinct, especially when it extends to the needs of those who are not part of our worshipping communities. So we do need to be reminded that the Church does not exist for herself.
Read and judge: which among them addresses the question thoughtfully, intelligently and humanely, which among them is mired in their fixed religious devotions, light on the humanity side, blinded by their proselytizing need and which among them demonstrates a proclivity to insult intelligence, to prevaricate, pontificate, evade.
Labels: Particularities/Peculiarities, Religion
posted by Pieface @ Saturday, April 11, 2009
<< Home