Why do social problems occur
What did Jesus die
for? Isn’t it to highlight sin. Sin blocks the fulfilment of human needs for
everyone, amongst other things. Sin causes inequalities so that countless
people are profoundly damaged or crucified by life.
Rob Seabrook’s
book, ‘Beneath the Tamarisk Tree’ is a wonderful and powerful reminder of the
lives suffered by so many people because of profound inequality and want. This
is a well written, heart wrenching story of a child who is deprived of his
mother, his family, access to shelter, food, drink, and protection from
violence. The picture which Rob Seabrook paints of the daily life of a street
urchin in Jerusalem is heart breaking. But the real power of the book is its
ability to help us to understand how Jesus saves the poor and glorifies them
because, through his crucifixion Jesus has a personal relationship, which no
philosopher can understand, with those who suffer in this life. The
dispossessed highlight sin and so Jesus brings them into an eternal love with
other people and with God in the Trinity. This is a book whose images will
remain in my mind for a long time.
‘The Spirit Level
– Why Equality is Better for Everyone’ is a book by epidemiologists Richard
Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. This book graphs all our various social problems in
Western societies against the levels of financial inequality and argues that
societies which are more equal have less physical, mental and social diseases,
(e.g., violence, heart disease, obesity, mental illness, drug and alcohol
addiction and imprisonment). Interestingly, these disease levels damage both
rich and poor in unequal societies because all members of an unequal society
are subjected to the stresses of inequality. The graphs in the book show that,
for Western societies, the improved well being produced in poor countries by
economic growth has plateaued and so economic growth without improved equality
will not lead to improved well-being in the UK.
In the parable of
the landowner who hires workers through the day, Jesus proposes generosity so
that all the workers are paid equally, (Matthew 20: 1-16). Although people are
not equal in their natural talents and their abilities to thrive, equality of
pay for workers leads to the peace which is required for talents to be
expressed. George Bernard Shaw puts it like this: ‘Only where there is
pecuniary equality can the distinction of merit stand out’.
Peter Coates, Lynn
News, Tuesday 7th February 2023.
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