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| Ethics and politics: God, mammon and Mr Miliband | Ethics and politics: God, mammon and Mr Miliband |
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| The ideal advertising campaign bears no fingerprints. The product is endorsed independently by (tick as appropriate) celebrities, royalty or leading figures in the church. In those terms at least, this has been a great week for Labour: two archbishops and the pope weighing in powerfully on traditional progressive concerns about selfishness, greed and injustice. For the churches, obviously, it's a reiteration of the founding principles of their faiths. But the impact is the more powerful from being voiced by three figures who have an authority that owes more to what they bring to their jobs than to the jobs themselves – and they are showing a readiness to pitch into the fight with what is beginning to feel like game-changing energy. | The ideal advertising campaign bears no fingerprints. The product is endorsed independently by (tick as appropriate) celebrities, royalty or leading figures in the church. In those terms at least, this has been a great week for Labour: two archbishops and the pope weighing in powerfully on traditional progressive concerns about selfishness, greed and injustice. For the churches, obviously, it's a reiteration of the founding principles of their faiths. But the impact is the more powerful from being voiced by three figures who have an authority that owes more to what they bring to their jobs than to the jobs themselves – and they are showing a readiness to pitch into the fight with what is beginning to feel like game-changing energy. |
| The week began with the archbishop of York's attack on what he called the "national scandal" of low pay. Then from Brazil came the pope's broadside on the "ephemeral idols of money and power", followed by a clearly deeply felt criticism of the culture of selfishness and individualism, from the threshold of a Rio favela. And then came the archbishop of Canterbury's assault on Wonga, and his commitment to out-compete the payday loan sharks by lending the church's support, and facilities, to credit unions. He brought to the challenge both the practical approach and the authority of a member of the banking commission, as well as an authenticity passionate enough to survive, only slightly scarred, the embarrassment of discovering that a small part of the church's £5bn was itself indirectly invested in Wonga. | The week began with the archbishop of York's attack on what he called the "national scandal" of low pay. Then from Brazil came the pope's broadside on the "ephemeral idols of money and power", followed by a clearly deeply felt criticism of the culture of selfishness and individualism, from the threshold of a Rio favela. And then came the archbishop of Canterbury's assault on Wonga, and his commitment to out-compete the payday loan sharks by lending the church's support, and facilities, to credit unions. He brought to the challenge both the practical approach and the authority of a member of the banking commission, as well as an authenticity passionate enough to survive, only slightly scarred, the embarrassment of discovering that a small part of the church's £5bn was itself indirectly invested in Wonga. |
| Old school Anglicans, and Conservatives, struggle with what they see as a wrong-headed prioritisation of social witness over saving souls. The rest of us can only cheer. In the face of growing poverty and the bewildering spectacle of bankers returning unblushing to the bonus bonanzas of old, an effective spokesman capable of capturing the news agenda for a more just society is welcome, whatever the doubts about other baggage. And although the success of his plan to offer a better choice to the millions of people whose savings are now smaller than their monthly pay cheque may be questionable, the strength of credit unions is not only about financial success. What they lack in risk-assessing algorithms and data mining capacity they can make up for by their more reasonable interest rates and their capacity to build social credit in distressed communities. | Old school Anglicans, and Conservatives, struggle with what they see as a wrong-headed prioritisation of social witness over saving souls. The rest of us can only cheer. In the face of growing poverty and the bewildering spectacle of bankers returning unblushing to the bonus bonanzas of old, an effective spokesman capable of capturing the news agenda for a more just society is welcome, whatever the doubts about other baggage. And although the success of his plan to offer a better choice to the millions of people whose savings are now smaller than their monthly pay cheque may be questionable, the strength of credit unions is not only about financial success. What they lack in risk-assessing algorithms and data mining capacity they can make up for by their more reasonable interest rates and their capacity to build social credit in distressed communities. |
| Justin Welby's role on the banking commission was only the latest in many steps the churches have taken to influence the development of practical policies that could be the basis of a fairer society. London Citizens' campaign for a living wage, supported together by churches and trade unions, is more than a decade old and has entered mainstream political discourse. Earlier this year, the Methodist church produced a powerful refutation of myths about benefit claimants, published by the Ekklesia thinktank. The churches can talk about ethics and they can critique policies without anyone questioning their motives. They can engage with people that politics doesn't reach. | |
| Labour is in on this conversation too. Low pay and interest caps on payday loans have been the focus of Labour policy and backbench campaigns. Ed Miliband has been quick to ally himself with them. Yet he struggles to be heard. That's partly because the party didn't make the argument against austerity successfully, and is still searching for a satisfactory response to the faint evidence of recovery. But it also owes something to Mr Miliband's own failure to develop an effective voice. It may be instructive to consider that, according to his friends, Welby's predecessor Rowan Williams could never have launched such a powerful attack. His was the voice of the intellectual wing of the church. Mr Miliband's weakness is that he too often sounds like the intellectual wing of the Labour party. | |
| • This article was amended on 31 July 2013. An earlier version incorrectly referred to the archbishop of Canterbury as Lord Welby. |