Of Pots and Kettles
First it was the Bankers and their greed and recklessness. This has been rightly identified as a major factor in the global financial crisis. So this week a report from the Commons Treasury Committee made it clear that the bonus structures and remuneration packages they developed produced "a lethal combination of reckless and excessive risk-taking". In a previous report this Committee had said, "Bankers have made an astonishing mess of the financial system." But the Committee also had to recognise that there were failures by Government ministers which also contributed. What the Bankers did was very wrong, but they have clearly been scapegoated while other factors have not been adequately recognised.
Now it is the Members of Parliament. What can we say about this shambles? Again greed has raised its ugly head and what we are seeing is quite unacceptable to most of the population. Some of our MP’s have exploited the expenses system to an unbelievable degree. And even members of the House of Lords have been found trying to take financial advantage of their position. It is clear that many ordinary people have been profoundly shocked. The tragedy and danger is, of course, that every MP is now considered utterly untrustworthy. That is very unfair, and the stability of our political system is suddenly under great challenge. What some of our MP’s have done is certainly very wrong, especially seeing they have misused public funds, but again we should be asking if the condemnation is not too one-sided?
Apparently, in the global financial crisis we must ignore the other factors: The impact of the policies of many Governments around the world, especially including our own, has surely had a very significant impact. They encouraged the excessive growth in the financial markets, in the housing markets and in the levels of personal debt. Then, as even the Treasury Committee has acknowledged, there was a massive failure of regulatory systems and structures which were supposed to be in place to prevent these excesses. But there was also the avarice of many ordinary people who were out to get that special offer which appeared to be too good to be true and in fact was. Yes Bankers have behaved appallingly, but they are part of a wider malaise affecting our society that needs to be acknowledged. Is there not an element of the ‘pot calling the kettle black’?
That same malaise can now be seen in the behaviour of some of our MP’s. Are they so much worse than most people? I always feel uneasy when I read and hear journalists accusing others of dishonesty and manipulation of expenses. I have met a few journalists in my time and sadly I have to say that their stories were too often inaccurate for it to be an accident. They wanted to make a point and the facts were there to be adjusted to help get that point across. I am assured they are not all like that but I have met a good number and they all were exactly like that. And what can we say about expenses? Some organisations are very strict, but many people I have dealt with over the years were very open about claiming the maximum amount irrespective of the exact costs. I can vividly remember two men who boasted quite openly that they financed their holidays on their expenses, and they worked for Government agencies! Again there is the element of seeing our own tendencies being carried out by others and feeling a double indignation - firstly at their crimes, and secondly that they did what we would have tried to do if we had opportunity.
What we are seeing is the moral vacuum that now affects our nation. I heard several interviews with ordinary people on radio and television and the people said the same thing - “where is their morality?” It is a good question. But what is the morality of our society? If we look at some of the other events of this last week - and there were other events - what we will see is that there is a distinct absence of any clear morality.
Is tolerance part of the public morality? It is certainly one of the boasts made about Western Civilisation. Well apparently if you do not agree with gay adoption you are simply a “retarded homophobe” according to the Government sponsored adoption body, the British Association for Adoption and Fostering. So much for words like equality, diversity and tolerance!
Is respect for others and their traditions part of the public morality? That is one of the supposed emphases in much education. Well the BBC have shown a strange sort of respect to Christians since the new head of religious broadcasting is now a Muslim, the producer of Songs of Praise is a Sikh and the new religion board has a Muslim, a Hindu, a Humanist and no Evangelical Christian. Similarly the Foreign Office is uncertain whether to send Christmas and Easter greetings, although it will send greeting at Ramadan and the Jewish New Year, because of the Foreign Secretary’s known disdain for Christianity. So much for showing respect!
Is personal respect and value a part of public morality? Again these themes feature highly in many educational and social welfare programmes. Well, now the situation is that more than half the teenage pregnancies in the UK end in abortion with all the physical and emotional damage that early pregnancy and abortion do to teenage girls. The young have been deliberately sexualised in our culture and they will tragically pay a high physical and emotional price. So much for personal respect and value.
So we could go on. But I think the point is made. There is a malaise in our society.
What do the financial crisis and the MP’s expenses scandal have to teach us? They teach us that, as Lord Acton said in 1887, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.” More especially as the Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:10, “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”. Such is the nature of the human heart that we all fall into these sins according to our opportunity. All these events show us how, when materialism receives no challenge, and when humanism has no check, a society will begin to fall apart. They are an inevitable part of the moral decline and spiritual bankruptcy of our culture. Quoting again from the Bible, Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no prophetic voice the people cast off restraint.”
Here then is the answer to the plight in which our nation finds itself - a prophetic voice. That does not mean one that tells the future, but one that speaks out about what is right. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is that voice. He calls men and women, people of every strata of society, to come to Him, and to repent of their sins and to turn to righteousness. He offers full and free forgiveness and a new way of thinking that is honouring to God and so much more satisfying than any lifestyle or way of thought we have known before. There is a voice that calls us in another direction. Who will listen to that voice?