God and the City
Muslims and Christians met to discuss the global credit crisis at an event in the City on Shrove Tuesday. The inter faith afternoon was organised by the Christian Muslim Forum and attended by 40 representatives from financial, academic, charitable and media sectors.
Speakers included Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Timms MP, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and Sadiq Khan MP, Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.
The event explored the impact of the financial downturn on families and the role of Islam and Christianity in combating its ill effects. Sadiq Khan MP eloquently summed up the ethos of the event:
'There are some who might think that the global crisis is best left to the world leaders. And indeed, in early April, the G20 Group will be meeting in London to discuss these issues. But, In the midst of the uncertainties of the global economic crisis, people will look to where they can find certainty - and Faith communities can help to provide that. Not just through the messages and sermons from faith leaders but through their day to day support and guidance. That is why today's event is so important. It is part of a dialogue between those wrestling with essential global reforms and those in faith communities who have something practical to say and do about it.'
Stephen Timms MP underlined his colleague's words by speaking of the important role that faith communities have to play in the run up to the G20 summit in April.
'This is an international crisis and requires international solutions. The London Summit of G20 leaders is a vital opportunity to tackle the problems, but also to forge a new, collaborative approach to social and environmental challenges which confront us all. And that new approach needs to be shaped by faith communities, trade unions and civil society too.'
The other speakers were Mohammed Amin, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Alex Cobham of Christian Aid, journalist John Madeley, Faizal Manjoo of the Islamic Foundation (see speeches here) and Mark Speeks of Acuity Capital Management (see Mark's speech here). The event was held at St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace.
The afternoon began with presentations from the speakers, followed by group discussions and then feedback. It was concluded by a session with the Archbishop of Canterbury, who gave a speech and answered questions.
The Archbishop gave a wide ranging speech that touched on a great many different areas. He said that faith communities 'need to be getting uncomfortable truths into prosperous environments' and finished by stressing these three points:
1. 'What's good for me and what's good for you, belong together - My flourishing and your flourishing belong together. Common and convergent good belong together. There is a peculiarly special relationship between human being and human being, rooted in their common relationship to their creator.'
2. 'The world is a gift to be stewarded. I'm always struck from the days of the Jubilee 2000 campaign onwards with the way in which in Leviticus in the Hebrew Scriptures, we're told very firmly that the land is, so to speak, lent to you.'
3. 'On the whole, religious people believe in a divine agent, power or presence that is faithful. As we seek to live in harmony with that divine reality, then faithfulness and trustworthiness are utterly fundamental to how we approach life. Earlier on, it was noted that the further away you are from the people you're contracting with, the harder it is to keep a vivid sense of the necessity of keeping promises. Religious people believe promise-keeping is a good thing. It's very basic, almost primary-school stuff, but none the worse for that, I'd say.'
Taking on this ongoing challenge the Christian Muslim Forum is offering a range of ideas, and seeking more, on how to contribute to issues relating to global finance at macro and local level.
Resources:
Big Business, Poor Peoples by John Madeley
Tackling Predatory Lending, Oastler Centre, Leeds, plus other papers on finance and the economy
http://www.mile.org.uk/file.htm webpage for Faiths in London's Economy and details of other organisations
http://www.kingdombank.co.uk/Resources/news.pdf announcement of Kingdom Bank's (Christian and ethical) donation of some of its profits to Christians Against Poverty, a free debt-counselling service for anyone
http://www.shared-interest.com/ Shared Interest is a co-operative lending society that aims to reduce poverty in the world by providing fair and just financial services. It's lending capital is provided by investors in the UK and many of the loans support FairTrade producers.
http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/, the Fairtrade Foundation, home of the FAIRTRADE Mark
Association of British Credit Unions
Faiths and Finance, Manchester 2006
