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Richard Littledale

Richard Littledale's
Views on the News: March 2002

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Jose and Ana

More sinners please!


Carlos and Eve

In an economically driven society, failing to make a profit is a sin and saving money is a virtue. Furthermore, in such a context, unbidden generosity is a vice and altruism stands at the top of the slope to economic ruin.

For the next two weeks, as you stand at the supermarket shelf teetering on the brink of sin, Views would love to push you over the edge. Throw caution to the wind, slap another few pence on the shopping bill and enjoy the delicious sensation of economic wickedness as you do so!

As with all sin, your actions will affect not only you but those around you. Every penny which you add to the bill is a penny which is not in your pocket. You have stolen it from the bank account which pays for the shopping. However, it can be in the pocket of someone else thousands of miles away. It might be in the pockets of Jose and his wife Ana - banana farmers in Ecuador. Alternatively, it might find its way into the pockets of Carlos and Eve, orange growers in Cuba. Their fairly traded foodstuffs (see Fairtrade Foundation UK) will cost you more to buy in this country than other bananas and oranges. The money you lose as a small fraction of your saving on the shopping bill will help to ensure that they earn a decent wage.

As you read this, supermarkets throughout the UK will be displaying stands of fairtrade goods to entice the potential economic sinner into parting with their money. Their intention is to draw attention to fairly traded goods, from fruit to coffee and chocolate, which will benefit growers like Jose and Carlos instead of extorting them. Like many such schemes, the hope is that, once caught, you will go on to set the economic habits of a lifetime. The effects of this fairtrade fortnight will last far longer than two weeks!

One of Jesus' more unusual and disturbing parables is told about a man who uses money to buy friends and influence - a very modern story, you might think! The most surprising element of the story is that its chief protagonist is held up as an example. Jesus says of him "use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings". The first two weeks of March present an unparalleled opportunity to commit economic sin in the present and to win friends for the future!

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