Money Money Money

I found myself at the Scottish Parliament again last night – and yet again, the discussion was about money – but this time I wasn’t asking for money, we were talking about how we use money. The event was a reception hosted by John Wilson MSP as part of the Moderator’s annual visit to Parliament where folk were given a final chance to comment on the work of the Kirk’s Special Commission on the Purposes of Economics.

This is a two year piece of work by a group from business, trade unions, the church, voluntary sector, aid agencies, places of poverty and more. They argue that the purpose of our economics should be about reducing inequality, ending poverty, ensuring sustainability, and promoting mutuality. These are all moral issues. Economic relationships do not sit apart from human relationships. Wealth creation at the expenses of others well-being is destructive and inhuman

There’s no doubt that the credit crunch has been a wake-up call but are we hearing it. Too often I still hear cries to go back to business as usual. It can’t be right that some in our society are making huge financial gains, while for too many this winter the stark choice is whether to heat or to eat.

The Commission has covered many issues but the biggest cheer last night was a challenge to pay day loans. These legal loan sharks are charging 4000% interest in some cases and that could be capped. As Charles Munn who chaired the commission put it; “if Governments can find the political will to set minimum prices for alcohol, why can’t they set maximum prices for credit.” I couldn’t have put it better myself.

What is all of this Concordat business?

I am delighted to see that Action for Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) will be hosting October 26, a conference where participants will be able to express to Alex Neil, MSP, Minister for Housing and Communities and Cllr Pat Watters, President of CoSLA their views on the relationship between local authorities and the Scottish Government. This relationship needs to be re-negotiated in light of the Coalition Government and its proposed budget cuts.


The conference will be a great opportunity for a real dialogue to start between service providers at community level, local authorities and the government. Churches have been in the business of providing social support and building up communities, long before theories of the welfare state were even imagined. Thousands of faith-based volunteers are currently providing social support throughout Scotland and this expertise and skills-base is not often acknowledged.

Our communities need to be prepared for the changes that will hit our social fabric. Resilience needs to be woven from within and churches are where they should be; right at the centre, building community.

A view on poverty beyond statistics to be discussed at the General Assembly

What is it like to live in poverty? What does it feel to be homeless? The Kirk’s General Assembly will be discussing on May 24th specific answers to poverty in a report that showcases innovative congregational projects, as well as the life-stories of people who fight poverty on a daily basis.

Statistics tell us a frightening story; round 950,000 people in Scotland currently live in poverty; this amounts to nineteen percent of the population. Twenty five percent of children living in Scotland live in poverty. However, numbers convey a dry unemotional picture. In order to present a more vivid picture of the effects of poverty on people’s lives, the Church of Scotland jointly sponsored Scotland’s first Poverty Truth Commission in March 2009. The Commission brought people who are experts about poverty because they live with the struggle every day and people who speak of their desire to make a difference but who often see their attempts to understand and tackle the causes of poverty fail. Unless people in poverty are included all attempts to develop a better and fairer Scotland will fail.

It is primarily in the work of local congregations across Scotland that the Church's response to poverty has to take shape. As one congregation put it: "Because we witness daily the local issues of poverty and meet and care for and worship with and marry and baptise the people living in that poverty, we wish to creatively partner local people in improving all our physical, emotional and spiritual well-being". The stories of people battling poverty within the supportive context of projects sponsored by congregations are presented as inspirational examples of good practice. Names of the people have been changed to respect confidentiality. Projects were supported by the Parish Development Fund. Information available at www.churchofscotland.org.uk.

The poverty in our midst has prompted congregations to act. Having attended the Poverty Truth Commission last March, I look forward to the presentation of the Congregational Responses to Poverty report and the subsequent debate

New kind of Manifesto: The poverty truth commission

We have seen two of the three election debates on TV and I must confess that I have found them illuminating. Nobody has yet mentioned some of the appalling inequality statistics that poor people in our country and in Scotland have to face. This is why I am so much in favour of the work that Martin Johnston, of Faith Community Scotland, Jim Wallace and others of the Poverty Truth Commission are doing in highlighting these inequalities through their own alternative manifesto .

The Commission was set up in March 2009 by Church of Scotland  and Faith and Community Scotland, bringing together people with a direct experience of poverty and some of Scotland’s senior civic leaders. The Commission, co-chaired by former Scottish Lib Dem leader Lord Wallace of Tankerness and Tricia MacConalogue has brought together people with direct experience of poverty, and policy-makers who address poverty issues within their work. The result has been fabulous eye-opener information and conferences where the truth about what living in poverty in Scotland actually means, and the tremendous dignity, courage, resilience and determination of people who are set on ending the inherent discrimination and inequality of access to quality social, health and educational services brought about by their post-code.

The alternative manifesto is not just about statistics. This manifesto makes evident with faces and real life stories the life-choices that men and women of this country have to make when living in poverty. The numbers begin to have faces and names. Statistics are important. I do hope that truthful, meaningful statistics will be the backbone for decision-making for anyone of our candidates as they prepare for the third and last debate which will centre on economic issues. However, I would urge them to look at the real life stories behind the numbers. Some “prep” on the Poverty Truth Commission Manifesto might come-in handy during question time.

The Fault Lines of Race and Religion

I have spent time this week with a group of people of all faiths and none, planning a rally on Glasgow Green on 14th Nov. to celebrate our common humanity in the face of forces that seek to divide us along fault lines of race and religion. The rally sets out to show those who harbour racist or bigoted views about whom we have heard a great deal recently, just how well all of us in Scotland can belong together, not simply tolerating one another but enjoying the diversity of insight and experience, culture and our common humanity. It is a positive approach to a negative situation, trying to search for love in time where hate seems to be winning the day.

Making poverty history

This coming Saturday all over the world people, concerned about poverty will mark the UN International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (World Poverty Day).  This year, the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child,  the focus will be the hardships faced by children and their families. My small contribution will be to write to Gordon Brown reminding him that making poverty history is the central moral challenge of our generation. It’s linked to climate change. It’s linked to the credit crunch. It is linked to who we are as human beings. Are we willing to make sacrifices for people who we will never know but whose suffering is now echoing through the global village? This is a job for us all. If we get it right, we will all benefit.

Credits
Photograph taken by The Last Paladin.

Money. money. money

I spent most of Friday in Edinburgh at the first of three conferences being run by the Church and Society Council entitled “What is our international economy for?”We are running these in preparation for a report going to the Kirk’s 2010 General Assembly which will call for a wide ranging commission into the fundamentals of our economy; asking things like “what is our economy for?” or perhaps, as was suggested on Friday; "who is it for?" It’s all very well to talk about “spivs” and greedy bankers destroying the economy but the blame game doesn’t help us as a society get to a new place with our economy. Everyone takes part in the economy in some way. So the economy should be shaped to meet their needs. I remain unconvinced that most people are only motivated by money and that the needs of others don’t matter. Our economy should tell that story too.

Credits 
Photography by Roby(c).

The Credit Crunch still bites deep

It   is good news that Alistair Darling has persuaded the big 5 banks to curb bonuses but my question is why did he need to persuade them? Do these guys not get the message that for us as customers to have confidence in them we need to know that they are not simply motivated by greed. There is something fundamentally flawed in a system that says that those who get paid more need more to be motivated whilst those who are paid less can compete by agreeing to work for lower wages. This remains an issue of justice.

Credits
Photograph by Andres Rueda.