yes, our political leaders should read this, then someone would
learn some grace and not say, ‘if no recession, i worry for
you!’
Selfish capitalism
A reality check
In today’s troubled times, Singapore’s political leaders and
businessmen may do well to read what is published here. The Times
UK.
Feb 16, 2009
By Alice Thomson and Rachel Sylvester
Pride, avarice, lust, anger, gluttony, envy and sloth: sometimes it
feels as if Britain is in the grip of the seven deadly sins.
There are arrogant politicians, greedy bankers, lecherous
television presenters, furious trade unionists, obese children,
competitive shoppers and an underclass of people who do not work.
To the doom-mongers, British society is not broken, it is
shattered.
According to the Archbishop of Westminster, the economic
downturn could be the very thing that brings us to our senses.
“It’s the end of a certain kind of selfish capitalism,” Cardinal
Cormac Murphy-O’Connor said.
“This particular recession is a moment – a kairos – when we have
to reflect as a country on what are the things that nourish the
values, the virtues, we want to have … Capitalism needs to be
underpinned with regulation and a moral purpose.”
He will stand down soon as the head of the Roman Catholic Church
in Britain, which he has been for nine years, but before he goes he
wants to make one final plea to Britons to change their ways.
He told The Times that he had advised Gordon Brown to complement
his National Economic Council with a moral one, to “rediscover the
things that make for a healthy society”.
He said: “One feels very sorry for those losing their jobs but
in times of recession people have to rely on friends and neighbours
and families and things that really matter to them. That may be a
good thing. I think people did lose their way a bit.
“It has been difficult to bring up children with the kind of
values we want. Let’s face it, we now have a ‘me, me’ society, a
more consumerist society, a utilitarian society, and our values and
virtues have become diminished.
“Some of it has got to do with having too much. If your worth
just depends on your wealth, that is not healthy. Your worth should
depend on who you are.”
Nothing exemplified this better than the bonus culture in the
City. “I hope people have come to their senses. I don’t know why
they got such big bonuses. I would cut them out altogether.”
Bankers, he said, “were just wanting to make profits but in ways
that were rash, and they thought they could continue on this
bonanza without querying their excesses.
“The industry is so focused on money. Unless that is underpinned
with a moral sense and regulation that makes it clear money is only
a tool for living, then it is wrong. I think sometimes there
weren’t enough controls on the City.
“Fred the Shred [Sir Fred Goodwin, the former head of
RBS] wanted a quick fix. I don’t condemn him;
there are rich people but don’t let money possess you. The best
people, however rich, are keen to share it.”
He refused to single out the Government for blame, saying:
“Everyone was cashing in. People kept borrowing as well as bankers
lending.
“People kept shopping. I think shopping fills a void. If you
have one car, you need two. Everyone wants the latest trainers and
clothes.
“It is awful to go to a house and see in a corner hundreds of
unused toys. It’s so profligate. What children need is security and
love, not huge amounts of money.
“Maybe the Church lost a bit of confidence. We should have said
more. [The recession] is not a punishment of God but the
consequences of living a certain way of life. If you live a life
that is consumed by over-indulgence and greed, you eventually pay a
price.”
He condemned the widening gap between rich and poor. “I admire
the Prime Minister for feeling strongly about this … but I have
said to him that pouring money into things is not the only
answer.
“You might give another half-billion to education, the health
service or in benefits, but this is about people, motivation and
encouragement.”
The benefits system, he said, undermined the family. “Clearly
you have an obligation to look after people, whether one-parent
families or broken families, but if all resources are put on them,
it isn’t right. Every social policy should have, at its heart,
benefit to the family.”
He said that much of the benefits system “obviously doesn’t
benefit people. The tax system must benefit the family. The
greatest evil in this society is the breakdown of the family.”
He was worried that some single mothers were exploiting the
system. “I am sure if you can get benefit from having another
child, you might want quite a number of children for the money.” He
was also concerned that mothers may be working too much.
“I have nieces and I will be in big trouble if I say women
shouldn’t work but I think children should have a mother who is
there. If I was living on an estate in Basingstoke or Slough, I
wouldn’t necessarily want to be at home all day long …
‘If a woman goes to university, she gets used to having equality
and a career. You can’t say, ‘No, you can’t work’, but I do think
you have to make some choices.”
The Sixties had a lot to answer for. “Liberalism is fine as long
as it doesn’t become libertine. Casual sex is very dangerous. I get
so angry about schools.
“They all seem keen to teach everything about sex. When I go
into schools and talk to girls and boys, they say, ‘When I grow up
I want to settle down, marry and have a family.’ It is good to
encourage that, not to say you must have sex right, left and centre
and it will all be fine. It won’t.”
On contraception, he said: “It is quite ridiculous to go on
about Aids in Africa and condoms, and the Catholic Church. I talk
to priests who say, ‘My diocese is flooded with condoms and there
is more Aids because of them.’ Education, healthcare and abstinence
are much more important.”
Celibacy had been a sacrifice in his own life. “I would have
liked to have been a father. I think good priests would also make
good fathers. The sacrifice is very big but it is compensated by
having a special relationship with the parish.”
Catholic adoption agencies should, he said, be allowed to turn
down gay couples who want a child – something that is now banned
under equality legislation.
“I am against discrimination against homosexuals but … we think
the best way of bringing up a child is with a father and mother.
[The law] is political correctness gone mad. Religious bodies and
voluntary agencies shouldn’t be discriminated against.”
There was a danger that politics was losing touch with faith.
“Fifty years ago there was an underlying Christian ethic that was
held by most MPs. That is not true any more.
“There’s a tendency to utilitarianism, a rationalism that is not
underpinned by anything,” he said….
This is editted for brevity. For full report:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/...