The Fifteenth M. A. Thomas Memorial Lecture.
ECONOMICS, RELIGION AND ALL ELSE AS IF PEOPLE MATTERED!
1. The People first
People matter. Persons come first. The human community is central, ultimate and decisive. That is the truth we recall today, a truth to which we do well to re-dedicate ourselves on this occasion.
Some people, if not all of you, may remember that the phrase, “Economics as if people mattered”, is the sub-title of a book authored by the British Economist E.F. Schumacher, and published in 1973. The main title of the book reads, “Small is Beautiful”. The author died in 1986. But the appeal of his work, as a humanizing spiritual message, is perennial.
What Schumacher affirms has relevance beyond the borders of economics. Not only in the realm of economics do people matter, but in relation to politics as well, and judiciary, government, medicine, research, science, and technology, art and literature, agriculture, industry and development, ethics, culture, and religion and worship. In all these, people come first. Everything on earth and in history is there for the service of people, for their welfare and growth, their fulfillment and happiness. Things and movements are there to affirm and promote the dignity, the freedom, the rights and the creativity of every human person, every human group, and of the entire human family, and to challenge all and enable all to relate to one another in beautiful human ways, and to walk with God our ultimate Origin and Destiny. Our everlasting happy Home.
Schumacher lays accent on the human which includes organic farming, small scale machines, intermediate technology, political decentralisation and regionalism as well as common ownership and workers’ control. He was a close student of Gandhi, of non-violence and of ecology. With Gandhi he rejected gigantism and mass production while advocating production by the masses, using their own resources, inventions and skills, and producing in order to meet the real needs of the people.
Theodore Roszak, introducing Schumacher and his work, observes: “Bigness is the nemesis of anarchism, whether the bigness is that of the public or private bureaucracies, because from bigness comes impersonality, insensitivity, and a lust to concentrate abstract power. Hence Schumacher’s title, Small is Beautiful. He might just as well have said “small is free, efficient, creative, enjoyable, enduring”---. In the Gandhi-Schumacher world view, labour can be “a freely-chosen, non-exploitative, and creative value in its own right”; work need not be eliminated in favour of machines; the industrial man’s “ecological stupidity” can be avoided, as well as “the terrible simplicities of quantification”, and thus avoid overlooking or distorting “the incommensurable qualities of life, especially… “health, beauty and permanence”.
2. Religious basis.
2a). According to the Hebrew scriptures human beings are the crown of creation. God made them in His own Image and Likeness, and gave them power over the earth. (Ge 1: 26-30). They were endowed with intelligence, freedom and moral consciousness: with the ability to discern and pursue truth as opposed to falsehood and error; the capacity to choose, to love, to repent, and definitively to commit oneself. Therefore God entrusted the earth with all its wealth and wonder to people.
So precious are people to God that God cares to educate them and help them grow and mature, through commandments they have to keep, through trials they have to endure, and through achievements and joys they may celebrate. Some people He chooses as specially favoured, like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph through whom He seeks to renew the rest of the family. And when some people enslave and oppress others, God intervenes powerfully to re-establish freedom and equality. He enables midwives to dare defy imperial orders and save babies, and earn the collaboration of three other women, and thus to render the Exodus revolution and Biblical religion possible.
2b). For the Hebrew Prophets, the essential and indispensable factor in the process of humanisation is the practice of justice and mercy. The just and the merciful are truly human and acceptable to God. (Hos 6:6, Mtt 9: 9-13; Isa 58). Compassion for the suffering and helpless brother or sister, for a widow or an orphan or a foreigner or somebody ostracized as a sinner, is far more spiritual and saving than blood-offering and temple liturgies. Recall the message of the prophets, and the story of the Good Samaritan as told by Jesus (Lk 10; Hos 5&6; Isa 58; Mic 6).
In the Book of Numbers, chapter 27, there is the story of five girls who had no brothers, and who, on the death of their father, laid claim to paternal property to the surprise and scandal of everybody. According to prevailing custom and law, girls had no right of inheritance; and such property had to go to the nearest male relative. As the girls stood before the entire community and pressed their claim, Moses took the case to God. And what was God’s response? God said: The girls are in the right, change you customs, reshape your laws. For God too, people matter, girls too matter. A narrative which loudly proclaims that people matter and that people come before traditions that are insufficiently sensitive to the rights and dignity of people.
2c). It is the central proclamation of the Gospel that God so loved the world as to give His only Son for its, for the people’s, liberation and salvation. God so loves the world that He clothes the flowers, feeds the birds, takes note of every sparrow that falls to the ground, counts the hair on our heads, which even the fondest parent or most enamoured spouse never thinks of doing. He loves people so much that he makes his sun shine on good people and on bad people alike, and gives his rain to these that love him as well as to those that ignore or reject him: he meets the needs of all. (Jn 3: 16; Mtt 6: 25-34; 10: 26-31; 5: 43-48). The attitude we should have is the one Jesus had. Instead of clinging to his divine powers and privileges, the Son of God emptied himself freely, “took the nature of a servant, humbled himself and walked the path of obedience all the way to death on the cross. For this reason God raised him to the highest place above.” (Phil 2: 3-11). Before Jesus’ birth, His Mother sang a ‘song of high revolt’, celebrating the dream of an egalitarian social order in which God will dethrone the mighty and lift up the lowly, and will fill the hungry with good things while sending the rich away with empty hands. (Lk 2: 46-56).
Jesus’ first address to the people of his village described his mission as bringing news which the poor can experience as joyful and life-giving; and giving sight to the blind, liberty to captives, and liberation to the oppressed. These themes and services recur through out His life. He disclosed how much people matter to Him and to the Father by healing the sick, feeding the hungry, weeping with the sorrowful, forgiving sinners, and raising the dead. But He did this even more deeply and touchingly by personal participation in their poverty, pain, agony and humiliation and death. (Lk 4: 16-30; 7; Jn 11; Mk 14-15).
Also in a last discourse about end-time judgment, the people matter; people who, from the creation of the world, have cared to feed the hungry, to give a drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to shelter the homeless, to take care of the sick, and to visit those detained in prisons. These sufferers matter so much that Jesus identifies himself with them: what was done to them was done to Him, and the reward is eternal life in the Kingdom of God. (Mtt 25: 31-46).
3. A different practice.
3a). If people matter, and come first, and are second only to God, we have reason to rejoice, but also much to regret and to be ashamed of and repent of. Recall the history of our self-degradation and dehumanisation through invasions, conquests and wars; through blood-shed and vandalism, through enslavement and exploitation of the small and the defenceless. Let us recall with shame and pain the Nazi holocaust, the two wild wars of the last century, the dropping of atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the humiliation and plunder of the whole of Africa and of most of the continents by European aggressors, the killer dictators of Latin American who, with local resources and labour, had bought the support of the U.S. ruling class.
Returning to India, we remember with pain and shame the murder of Gandhiji; and the assassination of Indira Gandhi, and the bloody riots that followed. We cannot forget the Gujarat riots of 2002 which took the lives of 1,169 people, and injured 2,548 persons, according to official estimates. As compensation for homes destroyed, to those injured, and to the relatives of the killed, the Centre has dispensed a sum of Rs. 262.44 crore.
According to recent newspaper reports, a six year old Dalit girl was thrown into a garbage dung fire at Karali village in Mathura. In Etawa district a Dalit youth was set afire by a shopkeeper over the payment of Rs. 10. If this is disturbing and inhuman, equally inhuman and shameful is the perpetual indifference of the powers that be to the plight of Dalits; and the State’s reluctance to punish the guilty in such cases, has emboldened the so-called ‘upper castes’ to commit grievous crimes against Man frequently.
3b). We cannot forget the bloody road-rage in most cities of our land. Between January and April this year, there were 12, 953 road accidents, which killed 1, 312 persons. Last year saw 10, 907 on the National High way, and 22, 782 on other, district, roads. The year 2005 witnessed 1326 road accidents, which killed 3, 778 persons. Not long ago, a bus hit a bike from behind, throwing the rider into the gutter, and his wife, seated behind him, on the road. The bus ran over the woman, crushed her and sped away. The man came up form the gutter, held up his wife’s mangled body, and signalled to passing vehicles none of which cared to stop and help. Over–speed, intoxication, and mobile distraction are some of the causes of this fatal rage. Do people really matter? More than vanity and money?
3c). A research done by Prabhat Jha of Toronto and Rajesh Kumar of Chandigarh finds that, in the past two decades, 10 million female births have been aborted in India. Nearly 500,000 are lost annually to selective abortion. Daughters are a liability in India for socio-economic reasons, such as dowry. That implies that mothers too are a liability?!
In Delhi, crimes against women have increased in the last 10 years. The year 2007 recorded 581 cases of rape, and 815 attacks against women. The year 2006 had witnessed 713 cases of attack. 2005 saw 762 attacks. Often the victims are adolescent girls, even students.
Women’s representation in parliament is a democratic requirement. It should have become a practice from the beginning of the Republic, but it did not. Women had to agitate for it, a bill had to be prepared and years had to pass before it was introduced. Introduced only to be opposed and ridiculed. It is still hanging to democracys’ and the nation’s shame.
Of late, papers have been carrying news about a 14 year old girl student who died of AIDS. Before she died, she disclosed a secret: how a distant aunt of hers, Lissy by name, had been presenting her, most week-ends, to sex rackets in various places in return for good money which Lissy needed for the kind of life she had a fancy for. Trafficking in women and girls, including minors, is not new; nor the running of prostitution houses under the pretext of massage parlours.
All this is radical violation of human dignity, and an implied insult to one’s own mother and sister, and a denial of the sacred meaning of sexuality.
4). The Earth is the Lord’s.
4 a). In the beginning God created the earth, made human beings too, and put them, man and woman, in charge of things. God gave them power over what He had made. They were to guard and cultivate the garden in which they were placed. That gift to our first parents was meant to be a gift to their progeny as well. As God’s gift, then, the earth belongs to the human family from the first generation to the last. Nobody may make it his exclusive private property; nobody may lay exclusive claim to any part of it. For it belongs to the Human family, and is meant to meet everyone’s needs and to serve everybody’s creative potential. The earth is a table the Father has laid with exquisite foods and drinks and flowers for His human family to enjoy together and celebrate their family relationship and love. No member of the family may be denied access to this table. Nor may any one member or a few members appropriate most of it nor transfer it to their private apartments. Or, let us look at the earth as at a large loaf of Bread baked by our Heavenly Father/ Mother over the Fire in His/ Her Heart: a loaf of bread to be broken and shard in God’s family. And no one may be denied his/her rightful portion.
4b). Ancient Roman law and culture saw ownership of land as strictly private and individualist. The followers of Jesus disagreed radically, and insisted that land, and its natural resources, as God’s gift to His family, belonged to the Human family as a whole, to serve the needs and potentialities of everybody. The Acts of the Apostles, Chapters 2 and 4, report how early Christians pooled their wealth, held everything in common, met every one’s needs, and bore witness to the Lord. Paul, commended some local church communities for making collections to be sent to releave other communities suffering from famine or war; to other groups, he recommends the practice. See for instance 2 Corinthians Chapters 8 and 9.
Some early Christian thinkers and writers defended and explained the nature of the ‘Christian Commonwealth’. Here are some references and citations:
4c, 1). Clement of Alexandria (AD 150-203) rejected the prevailing Roman philosophy of absolute ownership, and insisted that material goods, gifts of God, are not destined for the luxury of a few while the many toil in poverty. Rather, wealth-producing resources are there for the use of all; “Personal independence, self-reliance, and self-sufficiency together with community are the twin goals of the use of material wealth”. Property is for the welfare of all, is for sharing, is for those in need, and for achieving self-sufficiency and community life.
4c, 2). Basil, the Great ( of Cappadocia, 330-379) was a man sensitive to the grave social injustices of his time. He saw that the majority of the people were poor, needy, dependent and powerless, insufficiently fed, clothed and sheltered. He saw a causal relation between the state of the rich and the condition of the poor. He denounced the status quo as unjust and wrong. He rejected the prevailing sacrosanct notion of ownership. He described the exploiters as thieves and robbers. He taught a new philosophy of ownership, based on the view that God was Father, Giver and Provider for all… Therefore the wealthy few must stop stealing the food-producing sources God has given for the benefit of all.
4c, 3). Ambrose of Milan ( 333-397), according to whom, the supreme Owner is God, who extends a fatherly providence for all men and women. Ownership rights, therefore, cannot be absolute; it cannot be the same as God’s right. Otherwise it would be idolatry. The earth was made to be common to all. The most basic title to property is the title of need. For the rich to share their wealth only constitutes an act of restitution. To accumulate wealth is to deprive the poor of their birthrights.
4c, 4 ). John Chrysostom (344-407), emphasizes the truth that all wealth primarily belongs to God, and stresses the solidarity of humankind. As fellow servants of the one Lord, called to a common destiny, we may not lord it over one another, but assist one another along this pilgrim path. Ownership is a dynamic function of sharing the world’s wealth to meet the requirements of a life with dignity for everyone.
4c, 5 ). Augustine of Hippo (354-430). The Roman legal theory of private property has led to the possession by a few persons of very great wealth at the price of the dispossession and impoverishment of very many others. The poor are poor because they have been deprived by a few of the earth that belongs to all. Augustine argued that such legalized right was an affront to God, who had willed all creation to be for all the people in common, according to person’s need, as a means towards our common goal in God. Augustine in fact founded a number of monastic, sharing communities.
5. What could we do today?
5 a). Let us look carefully, lovingly, at what the early Christians, our ancestors in the Faith, sought to do: the Community they founded and the Commonwealth they tried to build. Chapters 2 and 4 of the Acts of the Apostles offer us an account of the steps they took to realize their faith-inspired socio-economic vision. Could we not, should we not, attempt something similar? We have compelling motivation for it in the economics of Jesus, indicated in the Gospels: Jesus is one who emptied himself of Divine Glory and Power, took the form of a Servant, was laid at birth in a manger, lived as a laborer, was so poor that he had nowhere to lay his head. He understood his mission as bringing news which the poor could recognize as gladdening and hope-giving; He directed the rich to sell their wealth and give it to the poor, warned people against the idolatry of mammon, and against worry and anxiety about the needs of the morrow, forgetting Divine Providence who feeds the birds, clothes the flowers and gives the sun and the rain irrespective of merits. He identifies Himself with the poor, counting services done to the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the sick and the jailed as services done to His own Person, and meriting a place in the Kingdom.
5 b). There is, then, the concrete examples of believing communities in various places coming to the help of others in need in situations of drought and deprivation. The examples recorded in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 are inspiring and challenging. In Lk 16, we have the telling story of a poor beggar named Lazarus and a rich man at whose gate Lazarus lay. The rich man lived in consumerist pride and luxury, but never cared to take note of the wounded beggar at his gate or give him anything. Is it not significant that, in the story, the rich man has no personal name while the beggar has one. The rich man had dehumanized and depersonalized himself by making pomp and pride matter more than people.
5 c). The struggles of the poor and the oppressed—of the Blacks in North America, and of the Blacks, Natives and exploited groups in Latin America—developed a Theology of Liberation, having experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit at the root and heart of their resistance to oppression and of their aspiration for human dignity and community. This process has been gaining clarity, speed and strength among Dalits, Adivasis, and women in India, and among similar groups the world over. In this process with Church Synods and conferences opting, since 1965, for the poor and for justice, many base-level communities or people’s Churches were formed. These provided “space for dialogue, criticism, and political awareness. There the people’s church is growing.” This has found acceptance in other parts of the world too.
5 d). In India, we could form base-level human communities, in parishes and villages, with 20 to 30 neighborhood families forming a community, coming together once a week or at least once in a month, in order to pray, to read and reflect on inspiring texts, religious or secular; to discuss the community’s problems,; to take note of the needs and sufferings of individuals or families and plan out relief; to become a true community, owning and operating everything on a communitarian, egalitarian, co-operative basis. It should remain in regular contact with similar base communities in the region, learning from one another and helping each other. Note that we are envisioning here not so much Basic Christian Communities as Basic Human Communities. Buddhism has a beautiful tradition of equality, non-violence, community-living and sharing. Hindus have envisioned the world as a dear little family (vasudhaiva kutumbakam). Islam is a brotherhood.
6. Conclusion.
May I conclude this paper with citation from two Asian songs: one from South Korea, the other from Keralam.
6 a). The song from Keralam resounds all over the territory during the festive days of Onam. There is a legend behind the Onam celebration. Long ago, Keralam was ruled by a good king named Maveli. During his reign, there was complete equality among the people, together with perfect honesty and justice. No high and low, caste-wise or wealth-wise. No lying or cheating, no false weights and measures. And people were united and happy. The legend goes on to say that the Devas were jealous of the people and their king. They complained to Vishnu, who came down as Vamana, a dwarf, and approached Maveli, begging for three square feet of land to be measured by his own feet and meant for himself to live in. The generous king granted his request. Suddenly, the Dwarf grew to cosmic proportions, measured Maveli’s kingdom in two steps, and asked the king where the third step was to be set. Here, said the king, bowing his head. Vamana trampled the king and thrust him down to the under-world. At the pleading of the aggrieved people and of the king too, he was allowed by Vishnu to visit his beloved people once a year. This visit of Maveli is Onam which we celebrate with song and dance, new clothes and foods, and exchange of visits and gifts. The songs are about the equality and brotherhood, the justice and happiness that prevailed when Maveli was king, before the invaders who came crossing the Sindhu/ Hindu messed up everything.
6 b). Finally let us listen to Kim Chi Ha, South Korean poet and freedom fighter, celebrating food in a song:
“… an Asian whose body is broken,
but whose song and love remain unbroken;
who is held in solitary confinement,
but has the company of thousands of men and women
to whom people and dignity and reason matter more
than profit, power and capital.
His song:
rice is heaven:
as we cannot go to heaven alone
we should have rice with one another.
rice is heaven
when we eat and swallow rice
heaven dwells in our body.
rice is heaven,
yes, rice is the matter
we should eat together.”
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Fr. Dr. Samuel Rayan, S.J.
Professor
Vidyajyoti College of Theology
Delhi
