Interfaith Voices
More than 40 delegates, including a dozen Muslims, church officials, economists and secular social activists met at the end of September 2011 in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, to address the question of structural greed.
Dr Chandra Muzaffar, head of Global Studies at the University of Malaysia, was one of the participants at the Department for Theology and Studies consultation.
What were your expectations of this event?
I see this dialogue as a continuation of a conversation that started a long time ago between Christians and Muslims and people of other faiths who are committed to the holistic transformation of the existing world.
What have you learned from this event?
Regarding the [first] two presentations, mine and that of Dr Ulrich Duchrow, I was particularly struck by the fact that while we come from different religious backgrounds there was so much affinity in the positions that we took. If one looks at the questions the participants—many of them Christians but also some Muslims–asked and also at their concerns, they were also very similar. That is something wonderful.
How can Muslims and Christians help one another to live lives less touched by the structures of greed?
As individuals, especially those of us who are middle class or part of the intelligentsia, we can begin by changing our own lifestyles if we have been overconsuming in terms of attire or in some of our habits or the way in which we live.
I think that it is time to change now. The reason why we should do so now more than at any time in the past is that we have are heading towards a precipice and we all know it. Each and every human being, especially those who are conscious [of the problem], should do what is necessary in order to prevent this collective suicide of the human race.
Interview conducted September 2011
See also:
- Develop Interfaith Networks to Combat Greed
- Education Key to Tackling Greed
- Act Together at the Community Level to Combat Greed
- Think Globally, Start Small and Act Now
- Message of Hope to Transform Greed
- Bringing About Contextual Change
- Issue of Justice for All of Society
- Global South Perspectives Change Face of Luther Scholarship
- Special Attention to the Poor
- Faith Basis for Just Economic Practices
