To work towards Economic Sustainability, the unsustainability of the current world economic order, which contributes to further poverty, must be transformed into a new world economic order where both material and non-material (moral) economic dimensions are taken into account.
The Universal House of Justice in its 1985 statement titled The Promise of World Peace wrote: “All too many of these [man-made] ideologies…callously abandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all too clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while enabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely dreamed of by our forebears. The time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether of the east or of the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give account of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is the “new world” promised by these ideologies? … Why is the vast majority of the world’s peoples sinking ever deeper into hunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the Pharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth century is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?”
Furthermore, the Bahá’i International Community (BIC) in its 2010 statement titled Rethinking Prosperity: Forging Alternatives to a Culture of Consumerism highlighted that: “The narrowly materialistic worldview underpinning much of modern economic thinking has contributed to the degradation of human conduct, the disruption of families and communities, the corruption of public institutions, and the exploitation and marginalization of large segments of the population—women and girls in particular. Unarguably, economic activity and the strengthening of the economy (a process that may include, but is not synonymous with, economic growth) have a central role to play in achieving the prosperity of a region and its people. Yet the shift towards a more just, peaceful and sustainable society will require attention to a harmonious dynamic between the material and non-material (or moral) dimensions of consumption and production. The latter, in particular, will be essential for laying the foundation for just and peaceful human relations; these include the generation of knowledge, the cultivation of trust and trustworthiness, eradication of racism and violence, promotion of art, beauty, science, and the capacity for collaboration and the peaceful resolution of conflicts.”
Despite all efforts by many nations, individually and collectively, the gap between poor and rich is bigger than ever. In 1820, the ratio between the income of the top and bottom 20 percent of the world’s population was three to one. By 1991, it was eighty-six to one. A 2011 study titled “Divided we Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising” by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) sought to explain the causes for this rising inequality by investigating economic inequality in OECD countries. The underlying challenge for this huge social ill is spiritual in nature. The planet earth has enough resources for human need but not for human greed. The gap between the poor and rich has to reduce if humanity is going to establish a peaceful, fair and equitable world. One of the main Bahá’í principles articulates the need to abolish the extremes of wealth and poverty through spiritual and social mandates. In not checked, economical challenges will eventually and adversely impact the rich nations of the world as well. Poverty is against human dignity.
The Universal House of Justice in its 2005 publication called One Common Faith wrote: “The fate of what the world has learned to call social and economic development has left no doubt that not even the most idealistic motives can correct materialism’s fundamental flaws. Born in the wake of the chaos of the Second World War, “development” became by far the largest and most ambitious collective undertaking on which the human race has ever embarked. Its humanitarian motivation matched its enormous material and technological investment. Fifty years later, while acknowledging the impressive benefits development has brought, the enterprise must be adjudged, by its own standards, a disheartening failure. Far from narrowing the gap between the well-being of the small segment of the human family who enjoy the benefits of modernity and the condition of the vast populations mired in hopeless want, the collective effort that began with such high hopes has seen the gap widen into an abyss.”
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The Promise of World Peace
Rethinking Prosperity: Forging Alternatives to a Culture of Consumerism -Bahá’í International Community
One Common Faith – Universal House of Justice, 2005.
Bahá’í International Community