In a world marred by wars, violence, and deep-rooted divisions, Pope Francis and other leaders urge a shift towards moral leadership and selflessness to heal our fractured societies and promote the common good.
Pope Francis once said, “Often it seems that God does not exist; all around us we see persistent injustice, evil, indifference and cruelty.” Truly, what we see all around us today is alarming: a world divided by wars and violence, selfishness, and resentments based on old and new divisions.
When Afghanistan is forgotten for a while, Ukraine moves to the centre. If Iraq and Syria fail to win our attention, Palestine and Gaza have stepped forward to daze us.
Where lies our future? Neither Trump nor Biden seem to give us hope for a peaceful world. The annual world expenditure on arms is estimated to be $1.6 trillion a year. Today, the greatest profit makers are the arms-producing companies and nations. More and more national economies have become dependent on the arms industry.
Those nations need the arms industry, and the arms industry needs war. The poor are killed, women are left abandoned, and children starve, but the economies of prosperous nations grow sturdy. Now, turning our attention to national situations, democracies are increasingly in peril. Populist leaders are winning admiration even in countries with long democratic tradition.
Some years ago, research showed that one in six in America thought that army rule would be good. Similar sentiments were expressed in Europe. Thus, where democratic structures are in position, democratic values are often missing. Structures of accountability are manipulated; participation is made ineffective.
Where will remedies come from? Alert citizens must plant self-questioning habits into established democratic structures and invite them to be more attentive to human situations in diverse contexts, unemployment, price rises, failing education and health systems, social tensions, ethnic hatred, religious fundamentalism.
Adam Smith argued that the economic dynamism stimulated in a society by the self-interest of individuals can come to benefit the entire society, even when this is not intended. However, Nobel Laureate Liu Xiabao points out that to make the self-interest of the majority purposeful, we need a minority of moral giants who can make ‘self-less sacrifice.’ “The appearance of a single martyr can fundamentally turn the spirit of a nation and strengthen its moral fibre. Gandhi was such a figure”, Liu admitted.
There must be a great stock of self-lessness somewhere so that the natural selfishness of ‘the many’ may be healed and made productive. Here is where Christian thinking can shape culture exploring “how best to bring the Gospel message to different social contexts, addressing diverse needs. Alert thinkers keep studying issues in a holistic manner, proposing correctives and offering cooperative support. Merely criticizing the government is inadequate” (Evangelii Gaudium, n. 207).
Christians must make every effort to bring healing to damaged relationships and forgiveness and reconciliation to historic injuries to the extent that is within their possibilities (EG, n. 99-100). The tragedy is that there are people who deliberately seek to keep alive negative memories in a society, such as in Kosovo.
On the contrary, Obama (US) and Abe (Japan) sought to heal World War memories by visiting Hiroshima and Pearl Harbor together. Christian believers have often held prayer services on the battlefields of the World Wars. Responsible thinking will seek to bring healing to such wounded memories.
In this context, I would like to emphasize the strategic importance of a category of people with whom dialogue ought to be initiated by responsible Christian activists for the promotion of values in the interest of the common good: I am referring to those who influence public thinking and take the rising generations towards new horizons.
In this list, I would put thinkers, writers, poets, artists, educators and speakers of special ability who give a self-understanding and self-pride to society and provide a living philosophy for the social movements of the day.
If you wish to exert influence in society, you need to keep close to such persons, learn from the positive contribution they make, and initiate a dialogue with them, suggesting correctives where you feel they are required. Those with vested interests like opportunistic politicians and self-serving media men belong to another category.
Amidst the problems described above, Pope Francis says, “We need to provide an education which teaches critical thinking and encourages the development of mature moral values” (EG, n. 64). The Church is generally considered a credible institution by public opinion. In several contexts she has acted as a mediator in finding solutions to problems affecting peace, social harmony, the defence of life, the land of indigenous people, and human rights. She must continue to do so even in the most difficult circumstances (EG, n. 65).
We, as Christian believers, have a great deal to contribute. Of this we are certain: not one of our acts of love will be lost, not one act of concern. Not one “generous effort is meaningless, no painful endurance is wasted” (EG, n. 279). Rushing to situations that call for our assistance, we will be like Mary who went in haste to help Elizabeth. She made evident the “revolutionary nature of love and tenderness” (EG, n. 288). (Thomas Menam Param, former Archbishop of Guwahati, India).
