{"id":457,"date":"2019-06-13T09:43:51","date_gmt":"2019-06-13T07:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.developmentresearch.eu\/?p=457"},"modified":"2020-01-29T12:12:28","modified_gmt":"2020-01-29T11:12:28","slug":"faith-as-inspiration-for-politics-and-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.developmentresearch.eu\/?p=457","title":{"rendered":"Faith as Inspiration for Politics and Development"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Henning Melber\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Designs and practices of developmental cooperation continue to maintain an almost exclusive focus on aspects of physical and economic well-being. While these are important necessary dimensions, such reduced perspective neglects the important spiritual source of individual mindsets in human beings. After all, resilience as one of the most important motivating sources of energy for survival, is strongly inspired by spiritual dimensions of belief systems. Facing misery with a determination to not give up and accept the daily challenges requires hope. Religion, or rather faith, is a substantial ingredient to survival. It therefore should not be ignored as a key element in efforts to bring about better living conditions for people in need.<\/p>\n

Papal encyclical opening the doors to post-development<\/strong><\/p>\n

Faith is also a substantial ingredient to walking the talk. It encourages key notions and core values such as empathy, solidarity, and respect for life as well as compassion. Let\u2019s illustrate this with an example close to my own cultural background and socialisation, although I am not a Catholic. My references are from the moral theology as manifested in the papal encyclicals of the Holy See<\/a>, which among others promote fundamental values of universal relevance \u2013 notwithstanding the ambiguities and contradictions when contrasted with some of the positions held by the church. Already Pope Paul VI stated: \u201cThe real solidarity of all does not only bring advantages with it, but also obligations.\u201d And Benedict XVI<\/a> reminded us: \u201cThe patterns of behaviour in which humans treat environment, influences the patterns of behaviour in which they treat themselves and vice versa.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it was Pope Francis\u2019 Laudato si\u2019<\/em><\/a>, published a few months ahead of Agenda 2030, which in its ethics transcends the established developmentalism beyond the Sustainable Development Goals. It argues against an imperialist way of life for the sake of fairness and opens the doors to post-development widely. The encyclical – partly inspired by the liberation theology of Leonardo Boff<\/a> – listens to the moaning of the poor as much as the moaning of the earth. It prefers healing to management. The damage done to nature and humanity beyond all physical is seen as a spiritual obtrusion of the systemic commonality and bondage of all life. The encyclical is a declaration of inter-dependence. As stated in \u00a7 164: \u201cThe interdependence is an obligation to think in terms of a singular world, a common plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

So much about the relevance of spiritual\/religious\/theological schools of thought. I am convinced that similar if not almost identical notions on the shared obligations of humanity can be found in many other languages and belief systems.<\/p>\n

A lack of holistic approaches to development<\/strong><\/p>\n

The dichotomy between secular and religious worlds has been dismissed since long. The insight that values matter in both worlds and at best complement each other has already been forcefully articulated and personified by Dag Hammarskj\u00f6ld as the United Nations second Secretary-General. In office since 1953, he died together with 15 others when their plane crashed under hitherto unclarified circumstances in September 1961. For Hammarskj\u00f6ld, the United Nations was a secular church, and the Charter a secular bible. For many, he was a secular pope. Inter-faith spirituality inspired his diplomacy and motivated his respect for and recognition of otherness. He was guided by a strong loyalty to values, integrity and conscience. He personified faith as politics and politics as faith<\/a>. His safe space was his faith, and solidarity was his gospel. Hammarskj\u00f6ld reminds us that we do not have to reinvent the wheel.<\/p>\n

The recent report by Marie Juul Petersen \u201dExploring and Working with Faith-based Organisations. An analysis of practices in selected EU Member States\u201d on behalf of the European Commission<\/em> is a timely and welcome contribution alerting us to the need for further reflections on the role of religious, faith-based organisations as advocates of and contributors to the promotion of human dignity through improving also the material well-being of people. Petersen\u2019s report highlights several challenges:<\/p>\n