The Morality of Economics

KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives is a dynamic church-based social justice movement.KAIROS works with its members, partners, and our cross-Canada community based network in the following areas: Ecological justice, Solidarity in Canada, Human rights and trade, and Grassroots action for global justice grounded in the local community

I just heard about KAIROS this weekend and liked one of their actions in particular - a letter to the Canadian Government calling for a moral response to the economic crisis. The full letter can be seen here.

I feel like religious communities provide a valuable contribution to the morals and ethics of our society. They help build communities of moral and spiritual support, often actively caring for the people and addressing larger needs of the population (through things like pastoral care and counselling, advocacy, philanthropy, etc). I don't always agree with the theology or specific approach of different groups, but I still think these communities provide an important voice for the morals of our society. They provide support and tradition for both mourning and celebration. When these communities, or leaders within them, speak out on issues, people take notice and at the very least, critical discussion is generated. Since KAIROS can send a message that represents a large number of these communities I hope that much more notice is taken. I don't know though since I only heard about it at a church which contributes to the organization. It can't hurt to try though, even if no attributable impact shows up in the news that I pay attention to.

So the attempt at a better world is to contribute to the united church Mission and Service fund, which contributes funding to a wide variety groups working on all kinds of issues. KAIROS is one example of an organisation that receives funds from M&S and this letter on the need for moral evaluation of our efforts to stimulate the economy is one example of how a group like this can play a valuable role in bringing about a better world, in my opinion of course.

As always, I would love to hear any feedback on the value of funding something like this, and the value of pushing for a moral response to our current economic woes.