蜜芽传媒

Good morning. I used to be a university chaplain and so quite often found myself out of my depth in discussions on subjects in which I had no expertise. When totally bemused I found it useful to interject, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 as simple as that鈥�. That at least gave me thinking time whilst my companion patiently went over the same argument again. It seems to me that in the meeting of European finance ministers on Tuesday, the new Greek finance minister was using the same tactic. When asked why he hadn鈥檛 brought any clear proposals for Greece to begin to put its financial affairs in order he replied, 鈥淚t鈥檚 more complicated than that.鈥� Well that seems to have bought him another couple of days thinking time but now it seems that clear decisions really will have to be made if a bail-out programme is to be put in place.

The other members of the Eurozone have mostly lost patience with the Greek strategy of endlessly kicking the can down the road whilst expecting others to come to the rescue. It seems that at least 15 countries are now pushing for Greece to leave the Eurozone with only France, Cyprus and Italy giving firm support. Of course following last Sunday鈥檚 referendum the Greek government believe that they have a democratic mandate for their stance, but leaders of other countries haven鈥檛 been slow in replying that they too have been democratically elected and must consider the interests of their own tax payers who鈥檒l be ultimately funding any rescue package.

So where is the faith perspective in all of this? I鈥檓 tempted to say, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 as simple as that鈥�. On the one hand there鈥檚 the consistent Christian message of responding to the generosity of God by imitating God鈥檚 generous spirit, leading to forgiveness of past failures, turning the other cheek to present provocations, and all working together for the common good. But there鈥檚 another strand in Christian teaching, particularly in the Protestant tradition, which sees responsible hard work as being the correct response of the individual Christian to the generosity of God, and it was that Protestant work ethic which was the engine which drove much of the economic development in Britain, Western Europe and America during the last couple of centuries. I find it interesting that it鈥檚 those nations in the north of Europe which in the past have been most influenced by Protestantism who are taking the firmest stand in insisting that Greece now lives up to its responsibilities.

I suspect that it is after all rather simple. The circle can be squared. If Greece comes forward today with clear plans for economic reform and a bailout programme demonstrating that its citizens are prepared to play their part in rebuilding their economy, then Greece, if it makes the first move, may be surprised at how generous the other nations are willing to be in striving to keep Greece within the Eurozone. God鈥檚 justice and generosity can go together.

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