We can carry out a health check on our society. So let’s start with:
The seven social sins, according to Mohandas Gandhi;
- Politics without principle,
- Wealth without work,
- Commerce without morality,
- Pleasure without conscience,
- Education without character,
- Science without humanity,
- Worship without sacrifice.
Judge for yourself. How many out of seven does our society get?
The United Kingdom, and also the European Union, is built on the twin pillars of democracy and a free market economy.
Joseph Ratzinger pointed out in 1992 that these freedoms were not bringing about a renewal in moral virtue and responsibility. Democracy is not perfect and only works when it is responsible and based on absolute and unchanging core values which are ethical, such as the sanctity of all human life or the rule of just and reasonable law. A free market economy that denies any of its citizen’s access to the essentials for playing their part in society is not just.
Pius XI stated, “It is the function of social justice to require of each individual that which is necessary for the common good.” and “The common good of a society cannot be provided for unless each individual member, a human being endowed with the dignity of personality, receives all that he needs to discharge his social function.”
In order to promote the common good of humanity those core values must be a shared vision out of which a common agenda can be agreed.
The rejected European Union Constitution proposed a unity based on diversity when adversity or disharmony was more of a reality. How do we measure up?
In terms of the UK nothing that has been put in place is sustainable. Our society is crumbling; our civil liberties are being eroded; our political system is undemocratic; our economy is built on quick-sand; our public services are failing; our natural environment is being destroyed; our communities have been allowed to wither; our cohesion has dissipated; our traditional values have been derided; our leaders are morally bankrupt; our standards of behaviour have been corrupted.
