Swiss Evangelical Church Alliance Releases Christian Perspectives on Globalisation

The Swiss Evangelical Church Alliance (SEK) has issued a position paper entitled “Globalance – Christian Perspectives for a Socially Just Globalisation”, in which it calls for globalisation “in service of the people”, reports the Swiss Livenet.

|TOP|The paper, issued yesterday by the SEK, makes numerous recommendations to churches, politicians and those involved with the economy on how to transform globalisation into an ethical balance of values.

“Globalisation is a trigger word that polarises. The SEK wants to make a contribution with ‘Globalance’ to the formation of opinion within the church, economy and politics,” said Thomas Wipf, President of the Council of the SEK, at a press conference.

“It wants to outline positions and areas of conflict and thereby turn toward basic values to which the process and effect of globalisation can be measured against,” he added.

The Council of the SEK presented five sets of values as standards for an ethical globalisation, including freedom and justice, empowerment and responsibility, and unity and diversity.

“With these in mind, globalisation should be placed in the service of people. Globalisation needs a global balance of values with the goal of strengthening the weak and to deconstruct injustices along with their causes,” said Christoph Stueckelberger, head of the SEK Institute for Theology and Ethics.

|QUOTE|The position paper also called for work to be fairly distributed, financial markets to be stabilised, a just world trade system, public goods such as water to be secured, and gender equality established.

The Council of the SEK wants to set a dialogue with decision makers in politics, the economy and public through the paper.

The SEK will put the paper forward to its members at its November conference before presenting it at the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Porto Alegre in February 2006.