FROM THE ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOP OF CAPETOWN
The Most Reverend Njongonkulu Winston Hugh Ndungane .
BISHOPSCOURT CLAREMONT CAPE7700 TELEPHONE:(021)761-2531
FAX:(021)761-4193



29 April, 1997

My dear colleagues,

As Chair of Section 1 of the Lambeth Conference I send my warm greetings to you in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Vice Chair, the Rt. Rev'd Kenneth Fernando, Bishop of Colombo, and the consultants who assisted us at the St Augustine's Seminar in the drafting of our Section agenda, also join me in this greeting.

You should regard the report which follows as an initial exploration of the themes we were invited to address by the regional conferences held recently around the Communion.

This report comes with our assurance that this should not be held as the final word on any of the topics included in its ambit. We have sought to provide a stimulus to your own reflections and consideration, and your local and regional/Provincial pre-Lambeth discussions.

Please study this report and come to our Conference next year ready to contribute your insights based on your own particular experiences and context.

It is our hope and prayer that our work together might be mutually enriching and encouraging to our Christian witness and episcopal ministry in our respective countries.

With my good wishes and prayers for you in your own ministry and leadership,

Grace and Peace,

Yours in the love of Christ,



The Most Rev'd Njongonkulu Ndungane
Archbishop of Cape Town and
Metropolitan of Southern Africa

SECTION ONE- CALLED TO FULL HUMANITY

Links to Portions of this Document

INTRODUCTION

1. Successive Lambeth Conferences have found moral, social and pastoral issues are matters of central concern to bishops gathering from many parts of the world. Our contexts and cultures are different, but many of the issues we face in a fast-changing world are similar. International communication, travel and trade have brought many benefits to the world, yet they have also brought many problems. Globalisation affects us all for better and for worse. A Lambeth Conference is a major opportunity to reflect upon shared issues. It is an opportunity to do this sharing in a context of joint worship, bible study and pastoral and theological reflection.
2. The title of this section is "Called to Full Humanity." Each of these words is important. Our concern is about "humanity" within and beyond the Church. The Anglican Communion throughout the world has a broad and challenging social agenda. Our concern has always been both for people as individuals and for the wider societies in which they live. In the Anglican tradition the pastoral care of individuals is bound up with action for social and economic justice. The needs of the poor and the marginalised in the world require nothing less. A major theme of this conference will be the international debt crisis which is having such a devastating effect upon the poor in many countries.
3. Our concern is with "full humanity". As Christians full humanity is expressed finally in Jesus Christ. In Christ we encounter humanity in all its fullness. Our relationship to God in Christ is finally what makes us fully human. Life in Christ now offers us a vision of what human life in all its fullness will be later.
4. We are being "called" to full humanity. We do not claim that we have achieved full humanity. Our own sins, weaknesses and frailties are only too evident to us. Rather we are called by Christ as bishops to serve, oversee and guide communities that have already experienced the first fruits of the Kingdom, but we long for more. As a pilgrim Church we are called to follow Christ and to attempt to live more Christ-like lives in the world.
5. The Lambeth Conference in 1988 offered an important reminder:

"A Lambeth Conference cannot lay down guidelines about what all Churches should be doing in every place. But it can assert on behalf of all that no part of human life is excluded from God's care and concern. It can reaffirm moral principles for the guidance of communities and peoples, as well as for individuals. It can remind the world that there is much to be concerned about in the way human beings hurt each other and exploit God's creation. It can go on asserting, in the face of so much which seems to deny it, that the reconciling power of Christ's love and the motivating power of the Holy Spirit are available to heal, restore and renew a world in which we are promised that 'sin shall not have dominion over you' (Rom.6.14)." (Lambeth Report 1988, p. 159, Para. 20).

6. With this in mind, what can be achieved in this section? Some way of ordering our deliberations was thought to be important and a four-stage method was devised to be applied to six themes. Applied theology increasingly stresses the need for clarity about how we are doing theology. A characteristic of much Anglican theology is that it is grounded in first-hand experience and practice. Applied theology seeks a two-way process, with faith informing practice and practice informing faith. It is this style of applied theology which sets the four-stage method that follows:

The Situation

7. A feature of this Lambeth Conference is that regions have been consulted widely and have already reported back the moral, social and pastoral issues that affect them most strongly. From these reports a number of key issues emerge that are of major concern to many Provinces. Six broad themes which cluster these issues have been identified: Human Rights and the Negation of Human Dignity; The Environment; Human Sexuality; Modern Technology; Euthanasia; and International Debt and Economic Justice.
8. Sometimes Anglicans are accused of letting sociology dictate theology. The focus here is quite different. The primary resource in depicting each situation is the pastoral voice of the different regions of the Anglican Communion. The very exercise of bringing dioceses to Lambeth means that bishops become aware of the social reality that confronts the whole Church and shapes mission and ministry. The differing pastoral situations challenge the way we live our faith. Many positive, but often complex, developments as well as many pressing problems that close this century challenge us to examine our call to full humanity in Christ Jesus.

Theological Reflection

9. The situation inevitably raises questions of faith and the resources available to us as Christians, and specifically as Anglican Christians. Lambeth 1988 and more recently the Virginia Report have articulated well how Anglicans approach the questions that life-situations ask by prayer, worship in the context of the resources of Sacred Scripture, Tradition and Reason.
10. For the writers of the Virginia Report "Anglicans are held together by the characteristic way in which they use Scripture, tradition and reason in discerning afresh the mind of Christ for the Church in each generation." This Report affirms that the Scriptures "must be translated, read, and understood, and their meaning grasped through a continuing process of interpretation." It affirms that "tradition refers to the on-going Spirit-guided life of the Church which receives, and in receiving interprets afresh God's abiding message." And it affirms that "'reason' means simply the human being's capacity to symbolise, and so to order, share and communicate experience. It is the divine gift in virtue of which human persons respond and act with awareness in relation to their world and to God, and are opened up to that which is true for every time and every place."
11. Scripture, tradition and reason determine the way we view the world, and how we respond to the questions that culture and context raise for the faith. This is a mutual process. It is never simple or uniform since we bring into the process of theological reflection our distinctive insights and cultural differences.
12. There are many features of the modern world for which to give thanks. Sometimes theological reflection moves us to be critical of some developments in the modern world, and it also helps us to receive its unexpected gifts. Modern medicine, for example, has proved to be a blessing.

Putting into Context

13. The question to be answered here is: What insights arise when we apply this process of theological reflection in our own local context? In this process there is a need to be defined and specific and also to allow diverse voices and contexts to speak; difference is to be respected and context is to be humbly honoured. The Gospel speaks to all situations and local traditions and the place of culture in the church and provides the context for a faithful response.

Practical Application

14. The product of theological reflection and the examination of the context leads to a consideration of how the situation may faithfully be changed for the better. This is how the Christian vision gives faithful substance to the given context. This is how we seek to be faithful Christians expressing our full humanity in a diverse and changing world.

Further Reading:

The Truth Shall Make You Free. The Lambeth Conference 1988,"Christianity And The Social Order", p. 155-195

Theme 1: HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMAN DIGNITY

Racism, Ethnicity and Nationalism

The Situation

15. The last decade has seen many changes in international affairs, both positive and negative. We rejoice with the people of South Africa that apartheid has come to an end in such a miraculous way and the country is now set on a course of democratic and economic development based on human rights. The Berlin Wall has been torn down. The Cold War, as we have known it since 1945, is no more. The nations of the world now have the opportunity to work together for peace as well as for social and economic development. We express solidarity with the people of Hong Kong as they begin a new era of their history as an integral part of mainland China. We hope that they maintain a democratic society, a vibrant economy and freedom of religion.
16. The inter-communal conflicts of our era cause much concern. The situations in former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Zaire and the Great Lakes Region of Central Africa, The Sudan, Northern Ireland, Palestine and the Middle East, among others, are proving hard to resolve. People of the world are confronted with a picture of death and destruction, hunger and famine, intolerable brutality and genocide, and the misery of refugees on a scale rarely experienced before. In Europe and North America stories of racial violence continue to outrage conscience. Also the application of immigration laws is tainted by perceptions of racism. Arson attacks against black churches in the Southern states of the USA have generated protests and acts of solidarity. Around the world indigenous peoples are asserting their right to sovereignty and self-determination, to their land and to their culture. The historic Beijing World Conference on Women (1995) highlighted that women all over the world continue to struggle for emancipation and the achievement of equal rights.
17. The Church is caught up in these situations. In Rwanda the Church has been left divided and torn apart, its resources wasted, its image tarnished as bishops and people live in exile. Many African churches are having to deal with conflicts which arise from the evils of nationalism and ethnicity. During the decade since Lambeth 1988, the world has observed unimaginable atrocities. For example, in the former Yugoslavia in the course of a vicious religious and nationalistic war that involves Muslims and Christians, both Roman Catholic and Orthodox, many have suffered from the evil of "ethnic cleansing". In Sri Lanka the civil strife has claimed thousands of lives. Christians are to be found on both sides of the war, in both the majority Sinhala and minority Tamil communities. The same is true also in Northern Ireland as Christians, Catholic and Protestant, are caught up on both sides of the inter-communal conflict.
18. The primary victims of these inter-communal conflict are children. Family life is affected, disease spreads and there is drift and homelessness. Children have been conscripted into war in every situation of conflict in violation of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. Children are victims of sexual abuse. Children die of starvation and disease. Other forms of the violation of human dignity, such as racism, also adversely affect the lives of children, reducing their sense of self-worth and robbing them of a secure future. Racism embitters future generations and destroys the natural development of human community.

Theological Reflection

19. The Bible testifies to the unity of the human community and to the fact that humanity created by God has intrinsic dignity in the eyes of God. Discrimination denies what God intended in creation (Para. 38 & 39: Lambeth Report, 1988).
20. The New Testament records how the early Church struggled with unity and nondiscrimination between Jew and Gentile, slave and free, men and women (Galatians 3:29). Peter, having received a vision from God in a dream, was compelled to testify that: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him" (Acts 10:34-35). Pauline teaching challenges commitment to non-discrimination: "When Christ who is your life is revealed then you will also be revealed with him in glory. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Sythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!" (Colossians 3:4,11).
21. The Gospels tell the story of Jesus the Son of God as one who lived and taught the unity of all people. His meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well resulted in her inclusion in Jesus' life and ministry. John's gospel places her as the first evangelist. In the dialogue with Nicodemus, John's gospel records these words of Jesus: "No one has ascended into heaven except the who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life" (John 3:13-15). Later we read in John: "Now is the judgement of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself: he said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die" (John 12:32-33). On the cross Jesus was lifted up for the salvation of all people revealing God's unconditional love for all. Recording Jesus' ascension into heaven, Matthew's gospel relates Jesus teaching to the disciples that they are to go and "make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18). The final judgement will be in terms of how nations and peoples have cared for the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless, the sick, the naked, the prisoner (Matthew 25:31-46).
22. The church strives to become a community of shalom in which diversity is both affirmed and transcended. The church should judge no one by human standards (2 Corinthians 5:16). The church is called to be, in the highest measure possible, an instrument, a sign and a foretaste of the unity of humankind, a fellowship around a common table. In the Eucharist, the Christian community represents Christ's gift of unity to which it aspires but never fully attains. In the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Church finds the source and inspiration for its unity, and witnesses to the abundant life that human beings can discover through their relationships with one another.
23. By the power of the Holy Spirit the Church discovers and re-discovers its communion with the Holy Trinity and one another in acts of truth and love given to us by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Many societies, cultures and religions also seek unity in community of love, care and interdependence. For Christians this communion is lived in the Church. Some African cultures express this communion as ubuntu. Ubuntu means that persons are human to the extent that they are in relationship with others and that one's humanity is given value by the humanity of others. Ubuntu is an example to the whole Church of the call that all Christians have to live like Christ. Human community is built out of an intricate and mutually sustaining web of relationships with one another and with God (cf. the Virginia Report Chapter 2).
24. In order to minimise conflict by addressing the underlying causes of war, the international community has developed human rights norms and standards. These affirm the value and inherent dignity of human beings. For the church advocating human rights principles enable us to articulate and embody our faith in the teaching of Christ. Human rights enable people of goodwill to identify scandalous injustices and to work together to overcome them. The church holds out before the world a deeper evangelical message and summons all to faith in the Risen Lord Jesus Christ and the hope of salvation. Human rights, for the Church, is not simply a secular theory but a spiritual and theological doctrine which gives quality to our lives and our relationship with our neighbours.

Putting into Context:

25. The Lambeth Conference needs to be aware of two significant events occuring in 1998. 1998 has been declared the International Human Rights Year in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Throughout these fifty years the UDHR has served as a principal standard for human rights policy and practice. The UDHR together with the international Covenant on Civil and Political Rights(1966) and the Covenant of Social, Economic and Cultural Rights (1966) form the body of international common law in the field of human rights. Second, 1998 represents the midpoint of the United Nations Third Decade for the Elimination of All Forms of Racism (1993-2003). This Decade represents yet another call from the community of nations to take determined action to eliminate racism.
26. The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (1993) states that human rights are universal, interdependent and interrelated. This declaration maintains that human rights must be viewed as a whole and that they apply to all situations. Much emphasis has been given to individual rights and freedoms. However appropriate this emphasis may be, we must not lose sight of the fact that there are rights which are held in common. This is recognised, for example, in the rights of indigenous peoples, the rights of the child and the rights of women. The African Charter of Human and Peoples' Rights has led the way in recognising communal rights. Intrinsic to the meaning of rights is a set of corresponding duties and responsibilities. Rights have no meaning unless they are exercised with the understanding that they bestow a duty to respect the rights of another. The 1988 Lambeth Conference resolved that the work of international human rights organisations be commended. In particular, Lambeth endorsed the UDHR and asked provinces "to support all who are working for its implementation" (Resolution No 33).
27. It is against this background that Lambeth Conference 1998 must examine the issues of racism, ethnicity and nationalism. Racism has been defined as any policy which enforces discrimination on the basis of visible characteristics like race and colour of the skin. These are unalterable characteristics given by God in Creation. In political terms, racism is an ideology of control, exclusion and subjugation. So understood, racism determines who has power to make and enforce decisions, as well as whose destiny such decisions affect. Racism controls access to resources and it sets standards for acceptable behaviour based on a set of values and a cultural system of the dominant group. Racism is a threat to peace. It imposes its will by violence and it gives rise to resistance and struggle. Racism is a heretical ideology, a false religion. It denies God's intention in Creation. Racism distorts human value and its anthropology is partial and false.
28. Ethnicity and nationalism are descriptive terms. Ethnicity is a given fact of creation like race, tribe or language. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with them. Instead, they should be joyfully acknowledged and recognised by others. Ethnicity and nationalism are marks of human identity. They cause problems, however, when they become sources of pride and bigotry, when they lead to blind allegiance and when they become barriers to relationships between neighbours and are used to justify conflict. When this happens Christians living in such a context must re-examine their allegiance and submit themselves of the authority of Christ.
29. Nowhere do Anglicans live in isolation. They live in neighbourhoods. Their daily lives intersect with and are affected by the lives of others who belong to other faiths. The religious plurality in the midst of which we live and move and have our being obliges the Church to relate to other faith communities. Some Anglicans live among Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist communities while in part of the world Christians suffer the widespread denial of human rights based on religious discrimination. As a result of the rise of militant fundamentalist religious communities, Christians must be careful not to descend into counterfundamentalism. In many such situations, where possible, it is important to seek to understand the faith of our neighbours in order to enter into meaningful dialogue with them and to work together for peace and well-being in our communities.
30. Anglicans have made great contributions to peacemaking in many parts of the world. Many have been and are being martyred. We think of the martyrdom of the late Ugandan Archbishop Janani Luwum, and the faithful witness of Archbishop George Browne at the height of the civil war in Liberia. We also recognise the prophetic witness of Archbishop Desmond Tutu in opposition to apartheid in South Africa. We acknowledge the peace efforts of the Anglican bishops in Jerusalem and in Ireland. There are examples of Anglicans witnessing to racial justice in North America and Britain and are active in defusing conflicts. Anglicans make their contribution within the context of a world anxious for lasting peace. The World Council of Churches has inaugurated the Programme to Combat Violence, which is a renewed challenge to churches to be sacrificially engaged in active peace-making.

Practical Application

31. A cautionary note is required. We need to be careful about depicting such an idealised world that there is no hope of realising the dream. Christians we hold in tension a realism about human limitations as well as the hope in the power of God's transcending love. Thus, the suggestions that follow are both a challenge and an invitation.
32. IN THE CHURCH:
  • The Church as a Model Community: A Christian community should be a model of tolerance and love. Whenever Christians gather they should examine their lifestyle critically and seek to develop honest and affirming relations with one another. In recognition that the Church is the Body of Christ efforts should be made to encourage participation by all and the acknowledgement of distinctive gifts, ministries, cultures and other qualities. To achieve this goal, the Church discern and identify all discriminatory practices in its structures, images and symbols and commit itself to reform and renewal.

  • The Church as a Moral Community: The Christian community should lay the foundations for moral values that mark the character of a truly human community. Efforts should be made to avoid too close an identification with particular tribal, ethnic or national consciousness but should seek as wide and genuine a catholicity as possible. Renewed attention must be paid to the family so as to create an environment and especially where all children can be loved and nurtured, especially in this age of widespread social breakdown. Children should be protected from conscription in war and unjust employment practices, and special measures should be taken to meet the needs of unaccompanied child refugees.

  • The Church as a Learning Community: The Church should be open to discovery of new insights, new understandings and to grow in faith and holy living. As a learning community, the church will be devoted to nurturing the faith of adults, children and youth and to graciously receive those who wish to join the community. The catechism of the Church should teach the elements of the Christian faith and Christian formation and promote sensitivity to diverse cultures. Church teaching and community life should reinforce the principle that children need to be protected from the ravages of family violence. Furthermore, it is imperative that the Church should do its best to ensure that formal schooling for children is provided in accordance with the International Convention on the Rights of the Child.
33. IN THE WORLD:
  • In obedience to the teachings of Christ, the Church is obliged to live and preach the gospel and to promote and protect human rights. The Church has a responsibility also to monitor the activities of government and to contribute to the promotion of a just society. The church is called to prophetic witness where human rights violations occur and where corruption and nepotism threaten public trust.

  • The Church, from the perspective of the gospel imperative, has a role to play in the formation and maintenance of global and local public policy by offering strategic analysis, by promoting understanding of public issues, by making specific policy proposals and, where necessary and possible, by criticising public practice.

  • As advocates for peace, the Church should encourage the establishment of peace-making agencies to be active in promoting conciliation and justice.

  • Advocacy on the Rights of Children should be an important mark of the Church in our times.

Questions for Consideration

How are you able to bring the teachings of Jesus Christ to issues of human rights and the denial of human dignity in your Diocese and Province?

What are the underlying causes: racism, ethnicity or nationalism? What role, if any, does religion and culture play in the conflict?
How can the Christian Church and, especially, a small Anglican Church in a region, assist in promoting peace and democracy in the region?
How should your Church express its solidarity with a community where human rights are denied?

December 1998 is the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. What is the significance of this event to the mission and witness of the Anglican Communion? How can Anglicans world-wide mark the occasion?

Dialogue and co-operation between neighbours of different faiths can promote understanding, defuse tension and work together in for community development and the elimination of injustice. How dodifferent faith communities relate to each other in your diocese and Province?

Further Reading:

Haslam, David: Race for the Millenium: A Challenge to Church and Society. London: Church House Publishing, 1997.

Programme to Combat Racism What is Racism: Discussion Starter for an Ecumenical Study, Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1997.

World Council of Churches, Costly Unity. Geneva 1993
World Council of Churches,Costly Commitment. Geneva 1993
World Council of Churches,Costly Obedience. Geneva 1996

Theme 2: THE ENVIRONMENT

The Situation

34. There is a growing realisation in many parts of the world that environmental issues are amongst the most important ethical concerns facing humankind at the end of the second millennium. Gradually we are realising that if we are to sustain God-given life on this planet then we will need to change our attitudes and behaviour. A combination of factors, industrial pollution, deforestation, soil erosion, mineral and fossil fuel depletion, species extinction, over-population, over-consumption, and even unregulated tourism and development, are having devastating global effects.
35. Many are convinced that the growing evidence of global warming, and with it the enlarging of deserts, raising of ocean levels and erosion of the polar regions, is a sign and warning which we must take seriously before it is too late. Since it is the poor of the world who often live closest to the results of environmental degradation, and since it is the youth of the world who will inherit the results of the present degradation, a concern for the environment is closely linked to a concern for justice.
36. One of the greatest challenges in this area is to find a way of sustainable development, that is to say, a way that sustains the environment and matches the calls for justice by the poor. At present in many parts of the world there is a tension between the need for conservation and the need for employment, as is evident, for example, in the tension between employment in the logging industry and concern about deforestation. Environmental issues are global issues and should be of concern to both North and South.
37. It is clear from the regional responses that environmental concerns are high on the agenda in many parts of the Anglican Communion and especially in Africa. This re-affirms strongly the position taken at Lambeth 1988 that "Christians must recognise that concern for the environment is concern for God's world." From Southern Africa it is noted that "war, poverty and apartheid have had devastating effects on the environment of Southern Africa. These effects are interlinked and multiple and range from the deforestation and overgrazing of the 'homelands', to population growth, the dumping of toxic waste and hazardous pollution." In Madagascar the destruction of the environment by fire, as the result of disputes, arson and poor farming practices, is seen as a major issue of concern: "the result is that the country has in recent decades lost over 85 per cent of its natural forest cover."
38. In West Africa "both deforestation and the dumping of toxic waste are typical examples of the squandering and abuse of natural resources" and need to be addressed. In Uganda a specific link is identified between environmental concern and poverty: "Poverty has bad consequences for the environment. People who are poor or who are struggling to survive may not be so concerned about the environment, even though it affects them as well in the long term." A deep concern about both deforestation and the increase of desert is firmly on the agenda of Sudan: "We encourage the protection of the environment from encroachment of the desert by means of afforestation. We advise against the destruction of the environment by wildfire and pollution." In the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand there are also strong voices of concern about present over-consumption of scarce resources and sustainability. Within all of these countries, environmental groups are emerging both within and outside the churches.

Theological Reflection

39. Environmental issues raise key theological issues about dominion, land and the created order. This is also an area in which there has been considerable theological controversy. Lynn White's 1967 article for the journal Science, "The Roots of our Ecological Crisis", has been widely used in the environmental movement and is often seen as a criticism of Christian theology. White claimed that "especially in its Western form, Christianity is the most anthropocentric [i.e. human-entered] religion the world has seen." He argued that this resulted from its dual inheritance from Judaism of a linear concept of time and a story of creation which gave to humans "dominion over all animals (Gen. 1.26).
40. White wrote as a Christian historian, believing that Christians should be more conscious of the negative effects of the notion of "dominion", while secular environmentalists have often viewed him simply as a critic of Christian faith. Recently, Christian theologians writing about the environment have usually heeded his warning and have argued that "dominion" should not be equated with "domination". It has also been stressed that God's dominion in the Bible is to be seen more as that of a shepherd, or even a mother eagle, that is, caring and nurturing images rather than as one who dominates.
41. Many theologians have explored the concept of "stewardship", humans are "stewards" of the created order not dominators of it. However some argue that even the notion of "stewardship" is too anthropocentric. There is a real theological tension here. Environmental ethics increasingly stresses that we should be world-centred not human-centred, yet Christian ethics does have a central concern about the call to full humanity. An incarnational approach based upon the Logos theology of John's gospel offers one important way of balancing these two demands, since the Logos of God is involved in creation itself and the Logos of God comes to dwell amongst us as a full human being.
42. For many theologians the notion of "gift" is also important: land and the created order is a "gift" given by a generous God (Deuteronomy 26), completed in the "gift" of his Son, and should be received with gratitude and responsibility. Augustine of Hippo recognised that there were parts of this "gift" which flow from God's abundant generosity and are not simply there for the benefit of human beings. Biodiversity and God's generosity are thus linked. Environmental theology has also been influenced by eschatology, that is by destroying God's gift and by risking global destruction humans are usurping the will of God. It is for God alone to bring about the eschaton.

Putting into Context

43. The issues raised by the question of the environment are essentially global. Nevertheless, different parts of the world will perceive their effects in local forms. For many parts of Africa and South America, deforestation is a major issue, albeit one that appears to affect the climate of the whole world. Here the concept of land as "gift" is particularly important.
44. Within some parts of Asia, over-population is a matter of major concern, albeit again one that affects the rest of the world. Within the West, over-consumption, with its effects upon pollution, species extinction and resource exhaustion, is a central issue as it is also to the rest of the world. The implications of both over population and over-consumption, both of which are manifestly unsustainable into the future, are important. In both instances, we are shaping a world with immensely destructive features for future generations.
45. There are also cross-links between these issues which serve to remind us that we only have the one world that God has given us and redeemed in Jesus Christ. For example, one way that is sometimes suggested to reduce the pressure towards over-population in Asia is to raise living standards so that the poor no longer feel a need to ensure their own security through having more children. Yet raising living standards in the South, without reducing those enjoyed in the North, will put even greater pressure on an already fragile ecology.
46. The serious issues and tensions here are illustrated vividly with a story from Papua New Guinea. Villagers in southern Papua needed to raise cash in order to send some of their young people away for tertiary education in Port Moresby. So they decided to sell a piece of unwanted land, part of the rain forest, to developers. Although this did enable them to help their young people, it also caused local and international problems. There was soon a dispute about who really "owned" the land before it was sold, and there was international anxiety because the developers took all the timber from the land and left it devastated. It became evident that there was a serious conflict here between a need for human justice and a concern about the environment; a conflict that was not to be easily resolved.

Practical Application

47. There is an urgent need to search for positive ways of engaging in the debate about the environment and seeking methods to reverse environmental degradation. It is perhaps a sign of hope that many young people in different parts of the world are becoming increasingly aware of and active in environmental issues. Television, too, has played an important role in alerting people to these issues.

>>> Churches could become much more active in seeking to raise environmental awareness in their liturgies, in their preaching and in their teaching and mission to the world. In which ways is this already being done in your diocese and Province and how could it be done further?

>>> There are already a number of local initiatives sponsored by churches around the world. Do you have information about these and plans to develop more?

>>> There is a need for churches to engage more deeply in the environmental debate. This is already taking place in India, where the theologian K.C. Abraham, is linking the liberation/justice debate with the environmental debate. He argues that the two are linked in the daily lives of the poor in India. In Europe, the theologian Michael Northcott argues that a notion of "created order" provides a firmer basis than does secularism for belief and action concerning the environment: for those who believe in God, the world is created and given and should be treated responsibly.

>>> Can inter-faith dialogue help in this area? The theologian Hans Kung argues that such dialogue can be important, since global issues must be approached globally and across national and religious boundaries. One feature of this dialogue is a realisation that some forms of Eastern as well as indigenous and traditional religions have strong roots in the environment.

>>> Together we need to find effective ways, as well as practical steps, to convince those in both the North and the South to act beyond their immediate self-interest. A Christian theology of the incarnation is based upon a Saviour who acted beyond self-interest and upon our behalf. In this important area we are being called to act likewise.

Further Reading:

Northcott, M., The Environment and Christian Ethics. (Cambridge University Press, 1996, paper-back).

Gill, R. A., Textbook of Christian Ethics (T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, revised edition 1995, paper-back).

Theme 3: HUMAN SEXUALITY

The Situation

48. Of all the themes to be considered at the Lambeth Conference 1998, that of sexuality is one of the most sensitive. Bishops know that there are deep divisions within and between our different cultures on a number of issues divorce, cohabitation, marriage, polygamy, and homosexuality. These have been examined many times at Lambeth Conferences in the past and doubtless will occupy generations to come. Many bishops will also give much time and pastoral attention to the victims of sexual exploitation within society at large and also within the Church. All bishops share the concern that people should be helped to live more faithful lives.
49. Bishops will also be aware of some of the harmful effects of globalisation upon communities around the world. It is particularly in the area of the family and sexual relations that the moral challenge of globalisation is evident. Faced with a rapid decline in two-parent families in many parts of the world, a rise in both teenage pregnancies and abortions, increasing evidence about child abuse and violence against women, and widespread confusion about the legal and social limits of pornography and obscenity, Church leaders are currently facing an enormous challenge to the traditional teaching of the Church.
50. Two physical changes do seem to have prompted these challenges. The first of these is hormonal contraceptives, which have allowed women an unprecedented degree of emancipation. The second is a greatly increased life expectancy. In some areas, most couples who now marry in their late twenties can expect, if they do not divorce, to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary.
51. Yet these two physical changes do not fully explain the radical shift in practice and attitudes that is currently taking place. Undoubtedly, this shift is driven by a combination of social and cultural factors, for example an increasingly globalised media, commercial pressures, political disenchantment, generational shifts. Many church leaders find it increasingly difficult to know how to respond, not least because their own families are caught up in these changing perspectives.
52. As discussed at the Lambeth Conference 1988, the tragic spread of HIV/AIDS adds urgency to this debate. Once perceived as predominantly a product of urban homosexual promiscuity, we now recognise that HIV/AIDS is a disease which also indiscriminately affects women and children who are not themselves promiscuous. In fact, AIDS is already affecting whole populations in Africa and Asia. Most distressing of all, however, may be the fact that AIDS is linked to child prostitution in parts of Asia. This means that young lives are being destroyed by the presence of international sex tourists.
53. Concerns over these varied issues associated with human sexuality were expressed by many regions of the Anglican Communion. The Seychelles identified a complex problem associated with single parent families as a critical ethical issue: "Rapid development in Mauritius and Seychelles has meant that a very large proportion of mothers, if not most, now go to work to sustain their families. In Seychelles, one-parent families are now very prevalent. The family structure and pattern has changed so rapidly. Peer influence often supersedes that of parents. The consequences are far-reaching and negative in many cases." Southern Africa notes that "rapid urbanisation has undermined traditional customs" such as extended family life. West Africa records that "our experience has been that the resolution on polygamy made at Lambeth 1988 has not addressed all the problems involved in particular the status of active Church members who have subsequently contracted polygamous marriages." West Africa also states, "the problem of the rampant sexual abuse of children" is a matter of grave concern.
54. A report from Uganda suggests that "marriage used to be a matter for the whole society, but now it is for the individuals alone. There are no longer the taboos in place to be broken. The legal system used to require a man who impregnated a woman to get married to her, but that is no longer the case." The Oceania Region notes "the impact of excessive individualism on community and family life." The East Asia Region meeting at Singapore realised that "human sexuality was obviously going to be an issue at the next Lambeth", but were concerned that homosexuality would not "be high on the agenda ... just because it was a matter of Western concern." Also the South Asia and Middle East Region noted that "in West Asia and the Middle East women and children are particularly vulnerable in relation to marriage customs and practice, child labour, prostitution and child abuse."
55. Faced with such difficult issues how can bishops provide effective and sensitive leadership?
56. Three different ways of sexual living may be distinguished:

Way I: Faithful and righteous family life, based on love and mutuality, remains an abiding way for all Christians. The Lambeth Conferences 1978 and 1988 both affirmed "marriage to be sacred, instituted by God and blessed by our Lord Jesus Christ." It is not, of course, the only way to live a faithful human life. The New Testament and Christian history identify singleness, dedicated celibacy and monastic community life as Christ-like ways of living. However, there has been a long-standing recognition in the Churches that family life can be distorted by unfaithfulness or unrighteousness. Churches need to find effective ways of promoting faithful and righteous marriage, as well as affirming a person's vocation to singleness and celibacy.

Way 2: Some expressions of sexuality, which are sadly present in all societies, are inherently opposed to the Christian way and are sinful. By way of example, such unacceptable expressions of sexuality include promiscuity (both heterosexual and homosexual), adultery, prostitution, child pornography, active paedophilia, bestiality and sadomasochism. From a Christian perspective, these forms of sexual expression remain sinful no matter how much some elements of secular societies seek to justify them. Likewise, where family systems are distorted by unfaithfulness or unrighteousness, family members may be led by example to behaviour that is not in conformity with Christian virtue.

Way 3: Yet there are other forms of behaviour which some Christians claim should not be regarded as inherently sinful but which may be less than complete expressions of the Christian way. These would include some forms of African traditional marriage and faithful cohabitation.

57. Identifying three examples of this Way 3 may help:

a) Luke Pato helps to put Way 3 into context when he gives an African example of couples having children before marriage: "In African communities, marriage and procreation are a unity. This implies that without procreation marriage is incomplete. The chain of humanity is blocked by a childless marriage. And so, just as it is a duty for African men and women to get married, some African societies also consider it a duty for a woman to bear children. To ensure that this obligation is carried out some African communities, especially in East and West Africa, consider it important to have children before marriage. Many couples live together bringing up a child or children before they decide to get married. This practice has to do with a kind of understanding of what being fully human means" [JTSA, March 1997, p.59]. Luke Pato is not, of course, seeking to justify all of this tradition as Christian. Many women today would object to such an understanding of their contribution to marriage. Instead, he is rather asking us to be sensitive to differences of culture. Although the Christian understanding of marriage may regard any practice of having children before marriage as unacceptable, it is clear that the practice that Luke Pato describes may share some Christian virtues.

b) Some would argue that another example of Way 3 is faithful homosexual relationships. This sensitive issue continues to divide Christians. In many places, homosexual behaviour is identified simply with paedophilia and promiscuity, whereas in other places there are now many examples of faithful homosexual relationships in society at large and within the Church. At present, there is a clear division of belief amongst Anglicans on homosexual behaviour and, indeed, medical knowledge is still developing in this area. While almost all would agree that promiscuous homosexuality (like promiscuous heterosexuality) is sinful and belongs to Way 2, Anglican opinion on faithful but active homosexuality is divided. Some believe it is sinful and belongs to Way 2; others believe it is acceptable to God and belongs to Way 1. Different cultures and different understanding of biblical texts are important elements in how one decides on these issues.

c) A third example of Way 3 which concerns many parts of the Anglican Communion is the remarriage of divorced people. Earlier this century it would have been accepted by most Anglicans that remarriage after divorce is a serious impediment to Christian living, and a complete impediment for the ordained ministry. There are parts of the Anglican Communion where this remains the normative position. For some Anglicans remarriage after divorce does not represent Way 1. Nevertheless in an increasing number of churches, remarriage of some divorced people is recognised and blessed in the Church both for the laity and for those who are ordained. This remains a divisive issue, but there is a growing recognition that remarriage after divorce is not to be identified with Way 2.

58. The suggestion here is that approaching divisive issues of human sexuality from a Way 3 perspective allows for considerable differences among those who believe that they are faithful Christians. This Way 3 approach might also allow Christians to be pastorally sensitive to those with whom they disagree.

Theological Reflection

59. What are these abiding Christian virtues?
60. Two key biblical virtues are particularly important when considering Human Sexuality. An understanding of them might encourage Christians to see that there are abiding Christian virtues in this area. Two sets of abiding virtues are seen as especially present in both Old and New Testaments - lovingkindness/faithfulness on the one hand and righteousness/justice on the other. God's hesed or loving-kindness in the Old Testament is seen as continued in the New Testament in the form of agape and charis.
61. These abiding virtues can be detected despite differing emphases between the Old Testament and the New Testament. A common theme among them is the stress upon God's initiative in dealing with humans. A doctrine of atonement allows us to set these two ways of seeing God's relationship to the world into a context of our relationships to each other as human beings. Just as God has related faithfully and righteously to us, so we should try to relate to each other. Each of us is called to live a faithful and Christ-like life, not least in an area of such vulnerability as our fragile sexuality.
62. Way I enshrines both faithfulness and righteousness and Way 2 damages it. However, many would argue that Way 3 does contain some of the features of both faithfulness and righteousness. It has long been recognised in the Anglican Communion that polygamy in parts of Africa, and traditional marriage, do genuinely have features of both faithfulness and righteousness. In addition, there seem to have been many examples of faithfulness and righteousness among those who have remarried after divorce. An increasing number of Anglicans also maintain that faithful homosexuality contains features of both faithfulness and righteousness.
63. Some may identify additional virtues in this area - this could be an important task for the bishops at Lambeth involved in this section - and others still may not be so convinced that these two virtues are always maintained consistently in the Bible. There is much room for dispute here, but these two virtues do at least provide an initial basis for theological reflection.
64. Another important emphasis is upon eschatology: in the Messianic Kingdom we neither marry nor are given in marriage but are finally fulfilled in relationship to God in Christ through the Spirit (Luke 20:27-36). Thus it is not simply our sexuality which finally defines us as full human beings but our relationship to the Triune God who loves and completes us.

Putting into Context

65. The chief merit of this theological framework is that it distinguishes carefully between, on the one hand, abiding Christian/Jewish virtues that are held in tension in the Bible and in subsequent Christian history, and, on the other, contingent contexts and recipients that are for ever changing. By identifying at the outset a set of relevant theological virtues, it is able then to bring them to the various moral issues surrounding sexuality and changing patterns of family life.
66. Some would identify another abiding element within human sexuality. There has been considerable discussion in recent Roman Catholic theology about how a modified concept of natural law can be relevant to our understanding of sexuality today. From this perspective sexuality is designed by a loving God both for human enjoyment and for responsible reproduction. This offers an important reminder to the secular world that God's gift of sexuality brings with it responsibilities - not least towards the children who are the fruit of this gift. In a context of widespread abortion and child neglect, the Christian ideal of marriage remains vital.
67. An abiding pattern is faithful and loving monogamy, which is seen as the Christian way for sexual relationships and for the responsible bringing up of children. Nevertheless, faithful cohabitation and polygamy are seen as less than ideal but not as inherently opposed to this ideal.

Practical Application

68. It should be emphasised once again that the broad presentation offered here does not resolve our difficulties in the area of sexuality. Instead, it allows us to see that we do have convictions in common, especially on Way 1 and Way 2. It also allows us to locate our differences in Way 3. This presentation suggests a number of important tasks for the Lambeth Conference 1998:

> > > Identify the theological virtues which are important in the Christian way of living.

> > > Compare ways across the Communion in which we are seeking to strengthen faithful and righteous Christian marriage in the face of global pressures working against it.

> > > Find ways of living together despite our differences on issues such as divorce, homosexuality and polygamy.

> > Explore in what ways the Anglican Communion as a whole may find consensus on these issues, perhaps setting up an Inter-Anglican Commission on Human Sexuality

Further Reading

Hayes, R. B., The Moral Vision of the New Testament, Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1996

Barton, S., (ed), The Family in Theological Perspective, (T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1996, paper-back).

Theme 4: MODERN TECHNOLOGY

The Situation

69. The 19th and 20th centuries have seen developments in technology which have had immense effects upon societies throughout the world. Sometimes these effects have been seen as beneficial and sometimes as highly destructive. Changes in agricultural and manufacturing technology have resulted in populations shifting from rural to urban environments. Work has shifted first from agriculture to manufacturing industry, and then from industry to service and leisure employment. This shift is often associated with high unemployment and/or part-time employment. Thus technology was used to "free" labour first from agriculture and then from industry. A form of "liberation" soon also appeared as a form of "destruction": many people were first redeployed and then unemployed.
70. Technology has also brought striking changes in communication, especially in the 20th century, but again with positive and negative effects. At a positive level, high speed travel, telephones, televisions and now the Internet, have allowed people to communicate more easily across the globe. On the negative side, however, the resulting globalisation has often appeared destructive of local cultures. For example, television networks such as CNN have become so dominant in many parts of the world that there is a resulting transfer of television network's own values to the rest of the world.
71. Globalisation, through technology, can also be a source of increasing division between rich and poor. In addition, technology has enabled scientists to develop ever more destructive weapons, including conventional, nuclear and germ-based. If some believe that these are necessary to maintain peace in the world, others fear that collectively they have made the world even more dangerous.
72. Finally, the startling developments in biotechnology that have resulted from genetic science in the last two decades suggest the prospect of enormous changes in agriculture and in the treatment of human disease and incapacity. Many fear that these biotechnological developments will also bring negative as well as positive changes, reducing bio-diversity, risking harmful mutations and manipulating human destinies. Some believe that biotechnology could be as potentially destructive for future generations as the development of nuclear weapons.
73. Some of the poorest parts of the Anglican Communion appear to be most concerned about the harmful effects of modern technology. Anxieties were expressed at the Lambeth Conference 1988 where it was argued that the Church "has a responsibility to see that people do not become alienated from the life of God and his world by the misuse of technology." At the Southern Africa Regional meeting, bishops from Madagascar expressed a concern about the double edged nature of this technology: "In some instances modern technology is seen as an aid to development. Its employment within the Malagasy world of business, finance and industry should enable the country to integrate into the modern world, to the ultimate benefit of its citizens. The other side of the coin, however, is the fact that advances due to the introduction of modern technology will inevitably lead to job losses, which exacerbate the problems of a country already suffering from chronic unemployment."
74. The Province of Uganda, also, noted this double edged nature of modern technology, citing the example of television, which can "inform, educate and entertain" but which can also cause harm. For Uganda "technology in general can have good effects (if it can be used to help preach the gospel and make church administration more efficient), but it can also be destructive. Tea picking machines make people jobless. Computers and new information technology bring about loss of neighborliness, and can reduce humanity, since human beings are meant to relate to human beings not to machines." And the Episcopal Church of the Sudan noticed this double edged characteristic in the application of genetics to medical experimentation and practices: "We consider this as abuse of humanity, because these forces encourage immorality, but they are also useful in the sense that they facilitate the human discoveries and the scientific achievements "

Theological Reflection

75. A number of theologians have given attention to the double edged nature of modern technology. The Indian theologian Paulos Mar Gregorius presented a paper at the WCC General Assembly at Vancouver in which he foresaw some of the dangers of biotechnology and nuclear science and set them within a context of world poverty and justice. For him life is "a gift of God" and should evoke in us a free response of love and repentance. These theological notions mean that we should always approach technology with a sense of cautious responsibility.
76. The American theologian, Paul Ramsey, writing in 1970 argued for caution when approaching technology applied to human life: "To put radically asunder what God joined together in parenthood when He made love procreative, to procreate from beyond the sphere of love (artificial insemination by donor, for example, or making human life in a test-tube), or to posit acts of sexual love beyond the sphere of responsible procreation (by definition, marriage), means a refusal of the image of God's creation in our own. A science-based culture, such as the present one, of necessity erodes and makes nonsense out of all sorts of bonds and connections which a Christian sees to be the case" (Fabricated Man p. 39). And about biotechnology applied to humans he argued: "'Men ought not to play God before they learn to be men, and after they have learned to be men they will not play God" (p. 138). Ramsey frankly doubted whether humans would ever have sufficient wisdom (moral or empirical) to use new fertility and genetic techniques responsibly and, as a result, was highly suspicious of humans attempting to "play God". In a very real sense, he argued, molecular biologists now move "in a world where formerly only God abounded" (p. 146).
77. A rather less cautious set of theological models, however, is offered by the theologian/scientist Ian Barbour. He argues that initially technology was viewed as "liberation", then it was viewed as "demonic", but now increasingly it is viewed as "power" which can be used responsibly or irresponsibly. There are important connections that can be made here with the Wisdom Literature, in which wisdom, faith and responsibility are all linked.

Putting into Context

78. If Barbour's threefold model is followed, then differing contexts around the world may be encountering technology at different stages. In affluent societies, the challenge is how to exercise responsible choice. For those with sufficient wealth, modern technology offers almost limitless choices, for example choices of travel, of television programmes and videos, of forms of medication and even the option to replace parts of the human body. For the Christian living in this context, the capacity to choose needs to be challenged by the gospel imperative of justice, social responsibility and concern for the poor and disenfranchised.
79. As the submissions from Madagascar, Uganda and the Sudan all show, the effects of globalised technology are often particularly destructive in the developing world where many feel powerless when faced with multi-national firms and television networks. The whole world has experienced the demonic power of modern technology in the form of mass weapons of destruction.
80. The tensions and dilemmas involved in using modern technology can be illustrated by an imaginary story which is already technically possible. Ray produces no sperm and Rea has no ova or womb, yet they wish deeply to have a child. Since they find they are not eligible to adopt they advertise for suitable donors. They choose sperm from an intelligent man and ova from an intelligent woman and have them planted into the womb of another woman. When the child that they have chosen so carefully is born they adopt it as their own. Yet the child effectively has five parents and grows up with increasing anxieties about her identity. And yet Ray and Rea are delighted and loving parents. Would this be a responsible choice?

Practical Application

81. Churches throughout the world may feel that there is little that they can do to promote a responsible approach to technology and to limit its more demonic features. However, the Church must, wherever it is, speak boldly and clearly, witnessing to the values of the gospel of Jesus Christ in society.

> > It is important to identify ways in which churches can seek to form the consciences of people more effectively in this area.

> > > While there has been a long engagement of churches on issues of war and weapons of war, more progress is needed to control the international arms trade.

> > > It is the responsibility of Church leaders to be aware of the on-going conversations between theologians and bio-technologists, on subjects such as human cloning, and to encourage the Church's awareness of these issues and the impact of technological developments.

Further Reading

Barbour, I. G., Ethics in an Age of Technology (SCM Press, London, 1992, paper-back).

Gill, R., Christian Ethics in Secular Worlds (T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1991, paper-back) and Moral Leadership in a Post-modern Age (T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1997, paper-back)

Theme 5: EUTHANASIA

The Situation

82. The term "euthanasia" covers a wide range of issues, depending upon whether the patient is conscious or whether the doctor's conduct is active or passive. Many people identify euthanasia simply with assisted suicide; a conscious patient is actively helped by a doctor to end his or her life. But there are other forms of euthanasia. A doctor may withdraw treatment knowing that this will shorten a comatose patient's life. Or a conscious patient may refuse life-sustaining treatment even though the doctor is willing to continue treatment. Or, again, a patient might leave a Living Will to the effect that he or she does not wish to be treated in the event of serious illness. Given this wide range of possibilities, very few people remain wholly for or against every form of euthanasia. Very few advocates of "direct" or "active" euthanasia recommend that all permanently comatose or mentally incapacitated patients' lives should be actively terminated.
83. Unlike debates about abortion, ethical debates about euthanasia are almost always about degrees rather than about absolutes. So, whereas the abortion debate has often become polarised between pro-life and pro-choice absolutist positions, a wide range of positions are to be found in debates about euthanasia.
84. Recent technology in medicine makes ethical questions about euthanasia increasingly complex. As medicine develops it becomes possible for people with severe disabilities to be kept alive for much longer. While this might often be desirable, it can also create some highly distressing cases.
85. This has been reflected in the reports of a number of international commissions. For example, the distinguished Appleton International Conference Project, begun in 1987, reported its Developing Guidelines for Decisions to Forgo Life-Prolonging Medical Treatment in 1992. Concerning patients in a permanent vegetative state [PVS], it argued that: "The patient who is reliably diagnosed as being in a PVS has no self-regarding interests. Consequently, unless a previously expressed advance directive requests it, there is no patient-based reason to continue life-sustaining treatments, including artificial hydration and nutrition. It is unkind to allow unrealistic optimism to be sustained and it is unfair to allow the prolonged consumption of societal resources in support of such patients beyond a period of education and adjustment for the family." In other words, the authors of the report believed that patients' prior wishes (e.g. Living Wills) should be required to opt into "artificial" hydration/nutrition not to opt out of it. Secondly, the report argued that: "Patients having decision-making capacity who are severely and irremediably suffering from incurable diseases sometimes ask for assistance in dying. Such requests for active termination of life by a medical act which directly and intentionally causes death may be morally justifiable and should be given serious consideration." Thus, they supported assisted suicide in specific circumstances.
86. The international situation on euthanasia is changing very fast. The Netherlands has the most permissive legal climate, agreeing not to prosecute doctors as long as they consult with one another, with patients and with families and adhere to guidelines. The Northern Territory in Australia passed active legislation allowing for assisted suicides, but this has now been overturned by the Federal Parliament. A few states in the United States have also drafted legislation in this area, but are waiting upon a verdict from the Supreme Court. Given public opinion in the developed world it does seem that in some countries there is now some support for at least for medically assisted suicide (that is involving the co-operation of the patient) for the terminally ill. This is an issue which is already confronting bishops in several countries and is likely to emerge soon in several more.

Theological Reflection

87. In this area bishops may need to show a mixture of pastoral concern and wise caution both for those who suffer and for their families. Euthanasia in its various forms involves people in their most vulnerable state. Most of us fear that we may one day we ourselves may be suspended between life and death. However protective we may be of PVS patients, few of us wish this to happen to ourselves.
88. It is "care" (in the form of agape), not simply the automatic relief of pain per se, which is central to pastoral theology in this area. For the Christian, Christ is seen to identify with our sufferings but not always to relieve us of suffering. In Christ we believe we can see meaning and value beyond our sufferings, even if we cannot always see meaning and value within these sufferings. This is not to welcome pain and suffering, but it is to be guided by the belief that instant relief is not in itself the highest good.
89. For the Christian, life on earth is not the only life. Life perceived as God given is always to be treated with respect, with gratitude, and with responsibility. While such a truth must make Christians cautious about sanctioning the deliberate taking of life, it might also discourage them from clinging pointlessly to it. A Christian understanding of death does have important implications for the euthanasia debate.
90. The 1996 Diocese of Washington Report observes: "Paradoxically, those Christians who accept and those who reject assisted suicide and euthanasia begin with similar convictions. Both have a sense of the sovereignty of God. Both want to protect human dignity and to preserve the freedom of individual persons to choose how to confront human finitude and death. They view life as a gift that is good, but not entirely at the disposal of humanity ... They recognise that human life, especially in situations of death and dying, often confronts us with a conflict of goods in which physical life clashes with other purposes or goods of life. Moreover, they are aware that advances in medical technology may be used to preserve and extend life apart from other goods in human life. They agree that among the goals of medicine are to relieve suffering and restore health, not simply to extend physical life."

Putting into Context

91. Euthanasia involves a very different cluster of ethical issues from abortion, but the politics of the two have a certain affinity. On the issue of abortion (and on divorce) in the 1960s the Church of England's Board of Social Responsibility supported changes in law, but discovered later that the actual changes de facto were far more permissive than it had intended. Whatever is now thought about the British Abortion Act, and other similar Acts around the world, any ecclesiastical support for permissive legislation on euthanasia will need to be far more astute and perhaps cautious at a political level.
92. Choosing between the two dominant metaphors in the current euthanasia debate, "crossing the line" might be preferred to that of the "slippery slope". To object to something simply because it might give rise to something else is an objection to the "something else" and not to the original "something". It simply means that one has to be very careful to preclude the "something else". Thus, agreeing to the proposals of voluntary euthanasia does not mean that society has committed itself to adopting universal euthanasia for the terminally ill or the chronically mentally ill. Once aware of possible abuses, a society should be able to guard against them more effectively.
93. "Crossing the line" suggests that, however traumatic the particular cases, allowing or encouraging doctors actively to take life puts them into a new and possibly damaged relationship with their other patients.
94. One of the advantages of the "crossing the line" metaphor is to draw attention to the limitations of the increasing use in medical ethics of the concept of "autonomy". Most might agree that patient autonomy is important since many people do value freedom and are suspicious of the "State" attempting to run their private lives. Yet the concept of autonomy when used in isolation is ethically limited. It can lead to a demand-led rather than needs-led health service. In the process the inarticulate and vulnerable will be overlooked. Those who demand most in the name of personal autonomy are not necessarily the most needy, and vice versa. In the euthanasia debate, patient demands are important, but are not the only factor that should be considered.
95. From this it might be concluded that Living Wills should only be seen as morally binding for withholding or withdrawing treatment and not for assisted death. They could become relevant to a decision, for example, about whether or not to continue invasive treatment on a PVS patient. But it might be very damaging to society at large, and to doctor-patient relationships, if they ever became directly related to medically assisted death.

Practical Application

96. For a large part of the Anglican Communion which lacks access to advanced medical treatment and medicine, the thought of assisted suicide is not an issue, it is actually morally reprehensible. This illustrates the chasm of resources between member churches of the Communion, that, while some churches should be considering whether it is right to assist people in dying, others have insufficient resources to keep people alive. For bishops in those countries where euthanasia is a pressing issue, however, the Lambeth Conference could be an important and timely occasion:

> > > To compare stories about different attempts to legalise various forms of euthanasia

> > > To work together on a more comprehensive theological response to these attempts

> > > To examine, encourage and promote alternatives to euthanasia such as the Hospice Movement and palliative care more widely

> > > To work out a pastorally sensitive way of caring for those confronted with euthanasia

Further Reading

Hays, R. B., The Moral Vision of the New Testament, HarperCollins, San Francisco, 1996, and, Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, "Christian Moral Perspectives" The Washington Report' Morehouse, Harrisburg, PA, 1997.

Gill, R., Moral Leadership in a Postmodern Age. (T. & T. Clark, 1997. Paperback).

Theme 6: INTERNATIONAL DEBT AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE

The Situation:

97. The measure of the economic crisis that engulfs many developing and underdeveloped countries of the world on the eve of a new millennium can be judged by the fact that all the provinces of the Anglican Communion placed the issue of International Debt as a matter for urgent discussion at the Lambeth Conference 1998. The reason is not difficult to understand. A recent World Bank Report states that in 1995, 1.3 billion people in the developing world still struggle to survive on less that $1 per day and the number continually increases. Every year 8 million children die of diseases linked to impure water and air pollution; 50 million children are mentally and physically damaged because of poor nutrition and 130 million children, 80% of them girls, are denied the chance to go to school. At the same time one-fifth of the world's population enjoys 85% of the world's income.
98. The alarming fact is that despite higher levels of international co-operation since the establishment of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, 50 years ago, populations of the developing world are sliding into a spiral of increasing poverty. For example, World Bank figures show that the gap between the rich and poor is widening; the richest fifth of the world's people had 60 times more income than the poorest fifth in 1991, up from 30 times in 1960. Oxfam is one among the many voices of development agencies who maintain that debt repayments contribute heavily to this tragedy of escalating poverty. A 1996 Oxfam Briefing Report states that it would be possible by the year 2000 to make social investments which would save the lives of around 21 million African children and provide 90 million girls with primary education, for less than is currently being spent on servicing international debt.
99. The trigger for the current debt crisis was the increase of oil prices by OPEC countries. Some of the new oil income was lent to developing countries, with little attention paid to how viable the loan was. The borrowing governments used the loans for varying purposes, depending on the nature of those governments. Then world interest rates rose dramatically, and prices of developing countries' exports fell. The debt became unpayable. Accordingly, the debt is further impoverishing the poorest countries' citizens. The debt servicing bill of many poor nations is often the highest budget item, several times more than is spent on basic needs like health care and education. In reality, the debt payments now being paid by the poor countries of the world, are usurious interest repayments which have escalated well beyond what could have been anticipated at the time when the loan agreement was entered into. The amount of the original capital loan, in most instances, was paid off. But interest payments have accumulated, and the sum still owed has risen. In order to keep paying interest, debtor nations find they have to borrow more. It is a vicious spiral which, critics have noted, amounts to a new form of slavery.
100. A recent World Bank forecast on African economies has encouraging news. It reports that half sub-Saharan African countries have had economic growth of at least 5% in the past two years. And that overall economic growth in Africa is forecast at 3.8% over the next decade. The report, however, insists that such growth will not benefit the people of Africa unless Africa is relieved of crippling debts.
101. The debt crisis is a symptom of a breakdown of the management systems of the global economy. First among the causes of this breakdown is globalisation that undermines power of national governments. National economies are now interlinked as they have never been before. Flows of money, technology and trade make nations more and more inter-dependent. A trillion dollars cross national boundaries through electronic transactions every day. Trading nations are now grouping together into economic and trading blocks to effect ease of movement of goods and capital across boundaries and also to protect themselves against competitors. On this basis, the world economy is being dominated by a few countries, mainly the Group of Seven the most successful trading nations of the world. These are the creditor nations and, as they have an interest in the economies of the poorer nations of the world, they also have power to dictate how those economies are managed. Australia and New Zealand, for example, have suffered from the consequences of the formation of the European Union as tariff increases mean that their agricultural produce is no longer competitive. Ironically, globalisation is designed to achieve exactly the opposite result.
102. Favouring globalisation is the argument that consumers now have the possibility of choice and, through greater competition, market factors maintain lower prices. It is also argued that globalisation makes possible the development of a mechanism for regulating the markets, thus ensuring stability. For the poor nations of the world, however, globalisation means deregulation which can lead to cheap imports being dumped in their markets to the detriment of the domestic producers, with the consequent loss of jobs. In practice, the "hidden hand" of macro-economic markets was intended to benefit the lowest strata of society by a process known as "trickle down", but this has not materialised. Instead it maintains a vice-like grip over the destinies of ordinary people.
103. The other factors Iying at the root of the critical state of the global economy are corruption and militarism. Some national credit agreements are made available to finance the purchasing of goods and services from particular creditor nations. This arrangement was not totally innocent. It also provided a facility for corrupt and despotic leaders to trade in arms from Western arms manufacturers in order to engage in wars they cannot afford, thereby disturbing the peace of neighbouring nations and oppressing opposition within their own countries. In situations of conflict, the military expenditure bills, the loss of lives and skills, the direct damage to property and production facilities, disruption to education, all have a devastating effect on the economy and life itself. A military culture inevitably breeds corruption and abuse of power and the violation of human rights. It is an excuse for suspending democratic rights and civil liberties and it makes government unaccountable to the people.

Theological Reflection

104. Economics is a matter of life. The Greek etymology of the word can be broken down as, oikos and nomos, meaning the law of the household. It is the management of the household that ensures that "the mountains yield prosperity for the people and the hills, in righteousness" (Psalm 72:3). Christians cannot avoid engagement with economic issues. The WCC Study on Economic Life, Christian Faith and the World Economy (1992: 4-15) makes an impregnable case that Christian people and churches must be critically involved in the economic debate and in the formation of economic policy.
105. Christians have a duty to steward the resources of Creation, preserve their renewable capacity, meet the requirements of life for those in need and share with the destitute and poor. Stewardship is a fundamental obligation for Christians. The health of the natural order must be preserved and the environment sustained. In order to maintain this eco-balance, it is essential that rampant consumerism be restrained and production kept at sustainable levels. Christians must question price manipulation arrangements whereby production is curtailed in order to decrease supply and increase demand and schemes that promote production of cash crops in a way which limits food production for primary consumption. Good stewardship demands that banks and donors take corrective steps when their use of resources lead directly or indirectly to poverty.
106. Economic theory and practice are morally sustainable only if they promote the justice of God and the well-being of humanity. God, in Christ, came to live among us and took our nature upon himself, calling humankind to care for one another and to bear one another's burdens.
107. The call for the remission of debt has strong biblical authority. The Book of Leviticus requires that, in the promised land, the abode of those who are called to holiness because the Lord their God is holy, inhabitants must regularly order their society afresh, in keeping with the holiness of God. God's holiness mandated the people to set limits on the gains of the rich, to minimise hardship on the poor and indebted. During the Jubilee Year balances in nature and in human relations had to be restored. There is no evidence that this ideal society was ever achieved, though the practices of returning land and cancelling debt were widespread at the time. The devastation and human breakdown we are experiencing from the magnitude of world debt, merits our advocacy of the application of these biblical values to the present circumstances.
108. As we approach the end of the millennium, it is fitting that the Church challenges the developed world to the remission of debt. Debt remission means that the poor nations of the world can make a fresh start. This is the Year of Jubilee. For those in debt, this would be an occasion to experience the redeeming love offered by Jesus on the Cross as he personally, spiritually and physically embodied the values of mercy, forgiveness and reconciliation, recognised in the sacrificial love in the true unity of humanity, thereby being liberated from the weight of the burden of guilt from the oppression and poverty they helped foster.

Putting into Context

109. It is demonstrable that the present arrangements of the global economic system are not sustainable. Restructuring the world's economy presents the greatest challenge before us, our Church and our nations. Debt results in a spiral of poverty. The international banking system and modern technology makes for ease of speculative currency dealing and can lead to bankruptcies like the one of the London-based Barings Bank. The laws of the modern market economy stimulate individualism and greed. Two-thirds of the world must not be condemned to a life of debilitating poverty without hope of relief. The Church must address the underlying immorality that has rendered all of this both possible and desirable for many.
110. Recognising that its own policies to date have made only marginal impact on reducing world poverty, the World Bank has reassessed its strategies and begun to take its own measures to address the situation. The Bank has devised a new strategy based on promoting broad-based economic growth, developing human capital and providing safety nets for vulnerable groups. The vehicle for this strategy is the Structural Adjustment Programme(SAP). The report states that "this learning process must involve the participation of the poor themselves so that they can better understand and have input into the government's programme to generate growth and reduce poverty." SAP, which goes under the slogan, "short-term pain for long-term gain", has been subject to severe criticism, for example, for failing to create jobs or promote processing of raw materials at the point of production. Neither has it dealt with the problem of corruption. As a result, critics say, commodity prices have continued to fall. However, a new and welcome debt-relief programme has been introduced, but it is insufficient and its implementation has been sluggish. Its first beneficiary is Uganda, but observers point out the arrangement will make only a minimal contribution to relieving Uganda of its debt (FT, 25 April 1997). Unfortunately, its spending on debt repayments remains twice its health spending.
111. Ultimately, we must return to the proposal to cancel international debt. It can be argued that there are three compelling reasons for doing so. First is a moral imperative, recognising that no community that claims to be civilised should tolerate a world situation where unpayable debt burden fosters the evils of mass malnutrition, disease and illiteracy. By making basic human rights and opportunities available to poor people, debt relief would encourage human dignity at the close of the 20th century. Second, is the economic argument. Debt reduction will release the productive potential of marginalised communities and help create a framework for more self-reliant growth. Third, is the argument of prudence. It is not in the long-term interests of the world, and certainly not of the richer countries, that so many people be pauperised.
112. Proposals to cancel debt must also address how to prevent the problems recurring. The Archbishop of Cape Town has put forward proposals for both lenders and borrowers, limiting the extent and use of loans and increasing the influence of the general public in the borrowing country.
113. In conclusion, it must be noted that economics should never disregard its impact on the lives of people or theological and ethical considerations. Neither should those who manage the economy on our behalf be left unaccountable. The economic system must always be alive to public criticism and be ready to reshape itself to meet the needs of the people. Economics is not independent of the laws of nature or ethical responsibility. Basic economic literacy will help the church to address these issues.

Practical Application

Further Reading:

Christian Faith and the World Economy, A Study Document from the World Council of Churches, Geneva; 1992.

Jubilee 2000: The Debt Cutters Handbook, London, 1996.

Ndungane, Njongonkulu: "Seizing the New Millennium: reshaping the World's Economy", Address at Southwark Cathedral, London, 24 April 1997.

John Paul II, Tertio Millenio Adveniente

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