Rt Rev David Arnott: A moral vision must underpin our economy

Each year, the Moderator visits the Scottish Parliament. This offers the Moderator an opportunity to meet party leaders, attend hearings, talk with politicians and staff, and bring the thinking and the thanks of the Church to and for their work.

I am grateful to the presiding officer, MSPs and staff for the welcome I received.

This year I wanted to reiterate the Church’s view that one of the most pressing concerns is to establish what kind of society we want; to lift children out of poverty; to care for the vulnerable; and to find homes for the homeless and health for the sick, all against the background of our Scottish identity.

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I also made sure that those I met knew about the Church of Scotland’s Special Commission on the Purposes of Economic Activity. This report has been produced by a commission of leading thinkers from right across civic Scotland called together by the Church. It issues a clear and urgent call to change our social and economic life, to bring a new social and moral vision to underpin our economic system.

It is a two-year piece of work and the commissioners make the case that economics should be about reducing inequality, ending poverty, ensuring sustainability and promoting mutuality.

The report covers a lot of ground, but the commission’s convener, Professor Charles Munn, gained most support at an evening reception when he spoke about payday loan companies. Prof Munn made the point that if governments can set minimum prices for alcohol then, surely, they can set maximum prices for credit.

Some of these payday loan companies charge in excess of 4,000 per cent interest. That is wrong and it is keeping those who use them in a spiral of debt that could be impossible to break free of.

Economic relationships do not sit apart from human relationships. Wealth creation at the expense of others’ well-being is destructive and inhuman. These concerns are not new concerns. In the New Testament people are warned about the dangers of wealth and are called to bring good news to the poor. A failure to feed and clothe those in need is seen as a failure to act as Jesus did.

The Right Reverend David Arnott is the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland