A MORAL PERSPECTIVE OF ECONOMIC INEQUALITIES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7391445Keywords:
economic inequalities, poverty, private charityAbstract
A Moral Perspective of Economic Inequalities.
The issue of economic inequalities is an old and intensely debated one in both the academic and the decision-making environment. When we talk about economic inequalities, we are actually talking about differences that go beyond the economic realm - for example, differences in access to education or health care, and the recent COVID pandemic has shown us, once again, that poverty also means lack of medicines, medical equipment, poor or late access to treatment, illness and death. This paper aims to address the issue of economic inequalities from a Christian moral perspective, in order to identify the valuable contributions of this perspective to a problem to which mankind has not found a solution. The Bible recognizes the reality of economic inequality as a mark of a world influenced by the presence of sin. Biblical wisdom should not be neglected when we address the issue of economic inequality. Even if the complexity of contemporary society is much higher than that of biblical society, the model of individual involvement in helping others remains valuable and deserves to be applied on a larger scale. There are no standard recipes for combating economic inequalities. Within certain limits, they are normal and acceptable. But when they cause suffering and deprivation, intervention is needed. Looking at this problem from the perspective of Christian morality, the first step to solving it is voluntary individual intervention, which has a dual purpose - training for the helper and easing the burden for the helped one. The major challenge is to find effective ways to encourage this involvement, the effectiveness of which could be spectacular. The methods used by non-governmental organizations in fundraising and in motivating the involvement of volunteers can be useful in this regard - transparent and impactful communication of identified needs, accountability in the use of resources, correct information on the results obtained. In fact, these organizations could be the most recommended to manage projects to combat poverty and reduce economic inequalities.
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