CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Thirty-two Lutheran ethicists explored economic globalization from several perspectives Jan. 9-11 in Canada at the Rosemary Heights Retreat Centre, Surrey, British Columbia. Speakers opened conversations around a 28-page publication of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) -- "Engaging Economic Globalization as a Communion: An LWF Working Paper."
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Division for Church in Society sponsors gatherings of Lutheran ethicists prior to annual meetings of the Society of Christian Ethics. The ELCA is one of the 133 member churches of the LWF, which represents more than 60.5 million of the world's 64.3 million Lutherans.
"There was an emphasis on recognizing the complexity of globalization," said the Rev. John R. Stumme, director for studies, ELCA Division for Church in Society. "There is a mixture of good and evil involved, and ethicists want to recognize both in what is happening and in the decisions that are being made and have to be made."
"It is the responsibility of the church and others to recognize and to name and to struggle against those evils that are present in the inequalities," said Stumme. "Massive starvation and the millions of people who are suffering were vivid reminders and very much present within our discussion."
"Ethicists would have to say economic globalization is a complex phenomenon with aspects that commend it and aspects that are not commendable," said the Rev. Roger A. Willer, associate for studies, ELCA Division for Church in Society.
"I had only a general awareness of the economic globalization issues," said Willer. A series of presentations and discussions took him quickly to a second and a third level of understanding about the diversity of the issues, he said.
A panel of speakers -- including Anglican priests, the Rev. Melvin Cook and the Rev. Larry Durdy -- represented the Tataskweyak Cree Nation, Split Lake, Manitoba. They presented a case study of economic globalization and some of the complex, concrete issues involved, said Willer.
In October 2000, the Tataskweyak Cree Nation entered into an agreement with Manitoba Hydro, an energy utility company based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The agreement creates a partnership in the generation of hydroelectric power along the Churchill and Nelson Rivers in the Split Lake Resource Management Area.
The partnership is "very complex because it involves environmental issues, economic issues and cultural issues," said Willer. Conflicts over the agreement still exist among the aboriginal people of Canada, within the energy company and within the government, he said.
Dr. Gary Teeple, associate professor of sociology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, followed the panel presentation. Teeple authored "Globalization and the Decline of Social Reform."
Teeple suggested that economic globalization is driven by many of the same principles that developed the nation-state back at the dawn of the modern age, said Willer. If Teeple is right, Willer added, economic globalization is more than a new form of corporate enterprise; it's a revolutionary stage of human development.
Fred McMahon, director, Centre for Globalization Studies, Fraser Institute -- a Canadian free-market think tank based in Vancouver, British Columbia -- gave the Lutheran ethicists a presentation on the benefits of economic globalization.
The Rev. David Pfrimmer, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and director of the Lutheran Office for Public Policy, Waterloo, Ontario, "raised some of the questions the church can raise probably better than others about who's benefitting from this, what are the realities and so forth," said Willer.
"The meeting fit into part of the Lutheran communion-wide discussion of globalization," said Stumme. The LWF working paper provided a focal point for the discussion, he said. Responses to the document will inform the LWF's next world assembly, which will be held July 21-31, 2003, in Winnipeg.
In the Society of Christian Ethics, the president is a member of the ELCA. Dr. Gene Outka, professor of philosophy and Christian ethics, Institution for Social and Policy Studies, Yale University, New Haven, Conn., gave his presidential address to the society's annual meeting following the gathering of Lutheran ethicists. He is the author of "Agape: An Ethical Analysis."
The next gathering of Lutheran ethicists will be Jan. 8-10, 2003, in Pittsburgh. Their topic will be war in the Christian and Islamic traditions. -- -- --
The Division for Church in Society maintains information about the annual gathering of Lutheran ethicists at http://www.elca.org/dcs/le.gathering.html on the ELCA Web site. The division also publishes the Journal of Lutheran Ethics at http://www.elca.org/jle/ on the Web.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
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