We Have Lied to Ourselves

Tonight, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams kicked off a panel discussion on the global economic crisis with a 20-minute reflection. He said that we have lied to ourselves about our place in the universe. We have pretended that we could have limitless growth in a limited universe. The Archbishop called on all persons of faith to name the economic crisis as a crisis of truth and to advocate for truth and transparency in all our dealings.

Then he highlighted how a Christian response would go deeper than others because of the theology of the Body of Christ. He said, "We are made so that what is given is given to us so that it may be given in turn."

He went on to point out that the word wealth originally referred to well being, and certainly not merely to the accumulation of financial resources. He asked us to consider what it would mean to recapture that ideal, saying that it would involve recognizing (among other things) that the economy is a wholely owned subsidiary of the environment.

The panel discussion then went on with three young adults offering perspectives from their work in the context of working in varying contexts within the church where issues have come to be more critical in the wake of the economic crisis. It was a thought-provoking evening discussion that wiped out chance for supper (until late) as it was followed by hearings in all committees on a wide variety of issues.