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08/13/2004: "WARC votes for poverty"
The World Alliance of Reformed Churches, meeting in Ghana, declared this week, "We reject the current world economic order of global neo-liberal capitalism." The article on the WARC Web site went on to say:
The discussions were heated and at times fractitious. The council was polarized over the central words "empire" and "confession". Both terms met with strong resistance, especially from eastern European delegates.
But the wish for a show of unity proved stronger. "Please don’t play one off against the other," urged Eberhard Hitzler, an ecumenical guest from Germany.
The current world order is rooted in an "immoral economic system defended by empire", says the faith stance. Placing profits before people causes wealth to flow from the poor to the rich. "In biblical terms such a system of wealth accumulation at the expense of the poor is seen as unfaithful to God and responsible for preventable human suffering."
"Global economic justice is essential to the integrity of our faith in God and our discipleship as Christians," the general council affirms. "We believe that the integrity of the Gospel is at stake in the face of the current system of neoliberal economic globalization."
The faith stance defines "empire" as "the coming together of economic, political and military domination led by one powerful nation".
Yes, well. It's easy to criticize the global economic system, but not so easy to offer alternatives. The WARC delegates, of course, said nothing about what they'd put in its place, though their rap against "wealth accumulation" suggests some form of socialism, and we all know how successful that's been.
It never seems to occur to such people that liberal capitalism has a) lifted more people out of poverty than any other economic system; b) produced a broader-based prosperity than any other system; c) offered more opportunity for upward mobility than any other system; and d) been the primary engine for bringing prosperity to formerly poor nations (think South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc.). That doesn't mean that we should be blasé about poverty. Obviously there is still much to do to bring better conditions to many more people, especially in Africa. But I suspect that a large part of the problem WARC has with liberal capitalism has to do with two issues: 1) they don't understand how wealth is created, or the way capitalism ensures that it spreads widely, and 2) they are eaten up with envy of the rich, not realizing that Scripture is far less concerned with any gap between rich and poor than it is with adequate provision and fair treatment toward the poor. In fact, without the investment capabilities possessed by wealthy individuals and groups, many more people would be poor than is presently the case (think Middle Ages, when wealth tended to be static rather than grow through investment and productivity beyond subsistence level).
The terrible truth is that, especially inasmuch as they have no better alternative to offer, the WARC delegates, in condemning liberal capitalism, are actually voting for worldwide poverty. I hope their consciences are satisfied.
