- As both the United Nations Year for the Eradication of Poverty and an election year, 1996 is a time of great opportunity for Christian people to focus our energies and our strengths on addressing the social structures and policies which create or worsen poverty.
These structures and policies are not inevitable or outside our control, but are based on choices that we have made as individual citizens acting collaboratively through the democratic process.
Until now, as a nation, we have chosen to tolerate the growth of poverty in our communities. We can equally choose to reverse this trend.
- Relative poverty exists where people do not have enough income to provide what most of us would consider a minimum standard of living. For one in every five New Zealanders, and three out of ten NZ children, this kind of poverty is a harsh fact of life.
- Being poor in NZ means not having enough food for three meals a day, living in houses that are damp, crowded or unsafe, and going without basic things such as a telephone or a washing machine. It means putting off medical care when you need it, and being unable to heat your house, or provide adequate clothing for your family.
Poverty also means missing out on the social life of your community, and opportunities to develop your talents. Children's schooling can suffer through untreated illnesses, an overcrowded home with nowhere to study, and not having enough food. They often cannot afford to take part in school activities, or to go on to further education. Adults cannot maintain the social contacts needed for good emotional and mental health.
- Over time, the effects of chronic poverty tend to snowball. Families that manage to cover their basic living costs are forced into debt by unexpected expenses. Others slowly get further and further into debt as each week's income is not sufficient to cover their costs. Many experience a loss of dignity and social isolation when they are unable to make ends meet, which erodes their self-esteem and motivation and damages their relationships.
- A just society cannot be achieved when individuals pursue what is best for them alone, but only when the community works together for the common good. The common good is not what is best for the majority, nor what brings the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. It is what is best for each and every member of the community.
The common good is not being served when one in five people live in poverty. Offering charity to the poor, while failing to address the causes of poverty, does nothing to promote community or justice.
Source -- Open Letter about Poverty in New Zealand, 18 August 1996, the full letter and a biblical-based study-guide on poverty, are available from the NZ Council of Christian Social Services, P.O.Box 1937, Wellington.
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From an OPEN LETTER
on POVERTY
by NZ Church leaders
LAST MONTH, CHURCH MEMBERS from the Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian Churches and the Salvation Army, received an open letter urging greater action on the problem of poverty in NZ. It was signed by 148 well-known church members, including most Anglican and Catholic bishops, the heads of the Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist churches, and leaders of social service organisations.