Report of a Consultation sponsored by The Lutheran World Federation

A study on the social and ecological effects of modern industrialized society as such prove to be far more problematic than the difference in Systems, which did not play an important role at the consultation anyway. To what extent capital, know-how and the resulting political and economic power in the” developed” industrialized countries is responsible for the pauperization of the Two-Thirds World remains debatable. The fast, however, that the indebtedness alone of the Two-Thirds World is at the origin of an estimated capital transfer of 35 billion dollars per year from the poor to the rich serves as a vivid illustration no the international social crisis caused by this economic System.

The ecological consequences of the global “pricing” of all normal and human resources are dramatically illustrated by the long- term change in climate, the destruction of the owned layer, erosion of the soil, depletion of the rain forests, etc.

The attempt of the wealthy and powerful industrialized countries to let the so-called underdeveloped nations and the ecosystem pay the price of their own increased material wealth, must be regarded as having failed. Thus more than ever before the economy has become a challenge to the ethical responsibility of humanity.  In biblical times, regional economic injustices gave rise to prophetic pronouncements and the enforcement of religious laws. Today this type of reaction can take place only in international bodies and in ecumenical solidarity.

The churches have either individually or in ecumenical community made certain Statements on the ever new burdens that the economy places on society and the environment. They have primarily focused on one or the other aspect of the problem such as the debt crisis, the Amazon region, unemployment, etc. The Department of Studies of the Lutheran World Federation invited its member churches to engage in common reaction on the validity of Christian ethics in the economy.

Series: LWF Studies. Reports and texts from the Department of Studies.

Languages: English, German