Thursday, 2 January 2014

Faith and Finance: is finance a morality free zone?

Last year, I attended a one-day conference on Islamic Finance.  I learned a lot.  The Abrahamic faiths - Judaism, Christianity, Islam - each have injunctions against usury yet only Islam, now in these modern times, refuses to have anything to do with the levying of interest.  How this is handled across the world in Islam is most interesting - and it is attracting increasing interest from the mainstream non-Islamic world.



The world has suffered much during the Global Financial Crisis. One would have to go a long way in the world to find societies and individuals who have remained unaffected by the GFC.  This means that communities of faith have had to live out their beliefs, consider their beliefs in the light of the impact of the GFC on the world.  There are periods when matters of money are put to one side and remain in the shadow of more emphasis on the core teachings of faith and spirit.  However, communities of faith have highlighted during this dismal economic period issues of justice and ethics and the living of a good life.  Communities of faith have hardly tried the financial centres of the world at a religious court but they have increasingly, around the world, spoken out on the GFC and related economic matters.

Taking a hint from the last of the links above,
is it time for a wide-ranging interfaith dialogue 
on the topic of
Faith, Morals, Finance?

Faith & Finance: Value Guided Pursuit of Interests


THINKING POINT >>>
Religion does think about money.
based on a the search terms
faith finance
Mixed messages?

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