Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I The Rise of a New Global Civilization
- Part II The New World Order and Christianity
- Chapter 7 The World Crisis from the Ethical and Political Perspective of the South
- Chapter 8 The Roots of the World Crisis
- Chapter 9 Towards a New Alliance
- Chapter 10 How Much does Christianity Help with the Construction of the 21st Century?
- Chapter 11 Conclusion to Part II: We are all Eagles
- Part III Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography and Further Reading
- Index of Subjects
- Index of Names
Chapter 7 - The World Crisis from the Ethical and Political Perspective of the South
from Part II - The New World Order and Christianity
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I The Rise of a New Global Civilization
- Part II The New World Order and Christianity
- Chapter 7 The World Crisis from the Ethical and Political Perspective of the South
- Chapter 8 The Roots of the World Crisis
- Chapter 9 Towards a New Alliance
- Chapter 10 How Much does Christianity Help with the Construction of the 21st Century?
- Chapter 11 Conclusion to Part II: We are all Eagles
- Part III Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography and Further Reading
- Index of Subjects
- Index of Names
Summary
From what kind of perspective are we to tackle this crisis? I am strongly convinced that this crisis must be tackled from an ethical perspective, and not from a merely political one. It is important to make use of a perspective with principles. The perspective with principles is the one that allows reality to reveal itself; and as such, it is the one that does not conceal reality from those large numbers of people who are suffering, are desperate and dying before their time. This ethical perspective is the one that is currently being politically developed in the South, where two-thirds of humanity live, and are being crucified, and who are partners of those who live in the rich countries of the North.
This ethical perspective, however, is just the starting point. For the final stage, for the global solution, we need to incorporate the perspectives of those who live in countries of the Northern hemisphere. In this manner we can combine ethics with politics.
What is the situation of humanity in the South? The data is well known:
• More than a billion people (three times more than the whole population of the European Union) live in absolute poverty, living on less than a dollar a day.
• More than two billion people have only two dollars a day to attend to all their necessities.
• About 900 million adults are illiterate.
• About two billion people do not have access to drinking water.
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- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Global CivilizationChallenges to Society and to Christianity, pp. 48 - 51Publisher: Acumen PublishingPrint publication year: 2005