For immediate release September 29, 2008

Bishop links global financial crisis to NZ election choice

An Anglican Bishop believes the global financial crisis has thrown up principles that ought to guide New Zealand voters at the November election.

In a sermon preached at the Wellington Cathedral last night to mark the 10th anniversary of the Hikoi of Hope, Bishop Richard Randerson said greed, idolatry, and social injustice were fundamental causes behind the financial crisis gripping the world now – just as they had been when the prophet Isaiah forecast a national convulsion in 8th century BC Israel.

Bishop Randerson linked the Global financial meltdown and the questions posed by the 1998 Hikoi – which had been called to protest the increasing misery and desperation of those at the bottom of the pile – to the forthcoming election.

And he suggested principles that could guide people’s choices in the voting booth in November:

“First,” said Bishop Randerson, “we must ask: what’s happening to the poorest? A nation’s moral strength is measured by the how the poor are faring…

“Second… (we) should not be whom to vote for – but what we should vote for. We should examine policies on the basis of what they do for the well-being of all citizens…

“Third we should recognise that insufficient regulation of the market gives rise to naked greed and corruption…

“Finally, we should look out for the human greed that lurks in each one of us…”

To read the full text of Bishop Randerson’s sermon, go to http://www.anglicantaonga.org.nz/Social-Justice/global.

ENDS

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