Faith Leaders Call for 'Jubilee for Justice'
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Faith Leaders Call for 'Jubilee for Justice' Following the year of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, we recall the ancient custom of the Jubilee Year, in which debts would be cancelled. The Hebrew scriptures speak of a Jubilee Year in Despite these achievements, over the last thirty which unpayable debts should be cancelled. The years there has been a series of debt crises Gospel writer, Luke, records that Jesus began his culminating in the present one in Europe. A self- public ministry with a call to restore the just serving financial system has brought the global economy of Jubilee where all have enough. Jesus economy to its knees and we are now seeing the also tells those who have assets, to lend without poorest people in our own society and around the expecting a return. The Holy Qur’an condemns usury world paying the price for this excess. and requires zakah (almsgiving) as an essential duty to prevent wealth being accumulated only among That is why we ask people everywhere to join in the rich. calling for a renewed Jubilee. Finance must be put back in its place as a means to human well being. The Dharmic faiths from the Indian sub-continent We need far reaching changes in the global also teach the same principle. In the Anguttara economy to build a society based on justice, mutual Nikaya, Buddhists read, ‘One holds wealth not for support and community. We need economic and oneself but for all beings.’ Sikhs believe in earning political as well as spiritual renewal in our society. ethically, being benevolent and they pray for the We applaud the efforts of citizens across Europe and common good of all. Mahatma Gandhi, from his the world to engage in democratic audits of their Hindu roots, famously said, ’Earth provides enough national debts as a first step towards reclaiming to satisfy everyone’s need but not enough for public control of national finances. We call on everyone’s greed.’ people in the UK to unite in support of this vision of Jubilee, and to make this cause a lasting legacy of In recent times, the idea of Jubilee has been applied 2012. to the need to cancel the unfair debts of many ‘Third World’ countries. This does not represent charity A Jubilee for Justice today would mean: towards the impoverished but a call for justice: to • Cancelling the unjust debts of the most reform the basis of the global economy and renew indebted nations relationships between high and low income • Promoting just and progressive taxation rather countries. This call for Jubilee since the 1990’s has than excessive borrowing led to the cancellation of $120 billion of debt (£80 • Stopping harmful lending which forces billion), bringing education and healthcare to many countries into debt millions of people. Rt Rev Peter Price, Bhai Sahib Bhai Mohinder Singh, Chairman, Guru Nanak Bishop of Bath and Wells Nishkam Sewak Jatha Rabbi Sybil Sheridan, Vice-Chair of Rabbinic The Revd Dr Mark Wakelin, President of the Methodist Assembly, Movement for Reform Judaism Conference Rt Rev Bernard Longley, Archbishop of Birmingham Joel Edwards, Director, Micah Challenge International Rowan Williams, Master, Magdalene College, Val Morrison, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Cambridge United Reformed Church Dr Omer El-Hamdoon, President, Muslim Ernie Whalley, President Elect, Baptist Union of Great Association of Britain Britain Paul Parker, Recording Clerk, Quakers in Britain Anil Bhanot OBE, Managing Director, Hindu Council UK Arvinder Jain, President, International Mahavir Jain Derek McAuley, Chief Officer, General Assembly of Mission Unitarian and Free Christian Churches Revd Bob Fyffe, General Secretary, Churches Cllr M Afzal Khan CBE, Chair, Manchester Council of Together in Britain and Ireland Mosques J. Edmond-Smith, Chair, UK Network of Engaged Rt Rev Paul Butler, Buddhists Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham Malcolm Deboo, President, Zoroastrian Trust Funds Bishop Dr Joe Aldred, Executive Secretary, Minority Ethnic of Europe Christian Affairs, CTE Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Patricia Rogers, Vice Chair, British Humanist Association Orthodox Church in the UK And 412 more, continued overleaf Bishop Doye Agama, Apostolic Pastoral Association, St Rev Victoria Bravette, Minister, Birmingham Methodist John's Rectory, Moston Circuit Rukmami Agarwal, Committee Member, Arya Samaj Gerald P.S. Breen, Parish Priest, St Chad's Cathedral, Ajay Aggarwal, Secretary, Faiths Forum for the East Birmingham Midlands Rev Gwynne Brindley, Minister, Methodist Church Nasreen Akhtar, Islamic Awareness Week Coordinator, Rt Revd Pete Broadbent, Bishop of Willesden Islamic Society of Britain Peter Broadley, Methodist Church Minister, Reading Cllr Rabnawaz Akbar, Secretary of Manchester Council Richard Bromley, Reverend of Mosques and Manchester City Councillor Rev Brian Brown, Minister, Methodist Church Rev Christopher Aldridge, Retired Priest, Birmingham Patrick Browne, Parish Priest Rev David Alford, Methodist Minister Robert Bryce, Deacon, Baptist Church Jenny Allen, Member of Moseley Interfaith Forum Rt Rev Christopher Budd, Bishop of Plymouth Rabbi Neil Amswych, Bournemouth Reform Synagogue Revd Adrian Bulley, Minister, City United Reformed and Chair of Interfaith Dorset Education and Action Church Cardiff Rev Bill Anderson, Chair, Birmingham Methodist Sarah Bullock, Rector, St James' Moss Side and St District Edmund Whalley Range Rt Rev Geoff Annas, Bishop of Stafford Sue Burchell, Vicar, Church of England Rt Rev John Arnold, Chair of CAFOD and Auxiliary Revd Mark Burleigh, President, College of Health Care Bishop of Westminster Chaplains Mohammed Arshad, President of UK Islamic Mission Elizabeth Burroughs, Local Preacher, Methodist Church Gyanesh Arya, International Preacher, Arya Samaj Rt Rev Peter Burrows, Bishop of Doncaster Fr Nigel Asbridge, Priest Missioner, St Mary with St Hugh Burton, Team Rector, Church of England John, Upper Edmonton Alan Butler, Anglican Parish Priest Rev M. A. Ashby, Minister, Durrington Community Julian Booth, Parish Priest Center Church Rev Andrew J Brazier, University Chaplain Mark D Ashcroft, Archdeacon of Manchester Revd Dr Nicholas Bundock, Rector, St James and Saphia Aslam, Head Female Scholar, Muslim Education Emmanuel, Didsbury Centre Canon Garry Byrne, Roman Catholic Dean of Coventry Rev Richard Atkinson, Bishop of Bedford Carol Cahill, FEED Manager, Vineyard Church Rev Vicki Atkinson, Minister, Birmingham Methodist Vibha Cale, President, Arya Samaj West Midlands Circuit Jan Cambridge, Assistant Clerk, Wirral and Chester Area Deacon Gill Atkinson-Heck, Methodist Chaplain, Quaker Meeting University of Huddersfield Rev A. P. Camper, Unitarian Minister Q Amaruzzamnn Azmi, Imam, North Manchester Philip Carlin, Minister, St John's Hurst Mosque Colin Cartwright, Minister, Trinity Baptist Church, Rt Rev Nick Baines, Bishop of Bradford Chesham G Bamford, Deacon, Methodist Church, Redditch Isabel Carter, Chair, Operation Noah Rev Warren Bardsley, Methodist Minister Anne Cash, Retired Methodist Minister Revd Peter Barnett, Retired Priest Canon Peter Challen, Christian Council for Monetary Jonathan Bartley, Director, Ekklesia Justice Dale Barton, Parish Priest Bradford Carole Challis, Methodist Presbyter Rev Peter Bates, Superintendent Birmingham Circuit, Rev C A Chaplin, Minister, Methodist Church Methodist Church Krishan Chopra, Trustee, Arya Samaj West Midlands Lotifa Begum, Development Education Coordinator, Revd Beryl A Chatfield, Retired United Reformed Church Islamic Relief Minister Rev Goh Peng Beh, Minister, Chinese Methodist Church Rev Richard Church, Synod Moderator, North Western Rt Rev James Bell, Bishop of Knaresborough Synod, United Reformed Church Rev Peter Ball, Ecumenical Development Officer, Rev John Churcher, Minister, Methodist Church Churches Together in Oxfordshire Professor Bill Clegg, Baptist Chaplain, Newcastle Rabbi Miriam Berger, Rabbi of Finchley Reform University Synagogue Ray Collier, Priest, St Catherine of Siena, Birmingham Anil Bhanot OBE, Managing Director, Hindu Council UK Christopher J. Collins, Student Presbyter, Methodist Jatinder Singh Birdi, Warwick District Faiths Forum Church Mark Bitel, Clerk, Edinburgh Central Quaker meeting Rt Revd Edward Condry, Bishop of Ramsey Canon Ian Black, Vicar of Peterborough & Canon Ann Conway-Jones, Chair, Birmingham Council of Residentiary Peterborough Cathedral Christians and Jews Rt Rev Richard Blackburn, Bishop of Warrington Rt Rev Stephen Conway, Bishop of Ely Rev Bev Boden, Methodist Church Minister Barrie G Cooke, Methodist Church Minister Pamela J Bolas, Chaplain, Glenfield Hospital, Leicester Nigel Cooper, University Chaplain, Anglia Ruskin Julian Bond, Director, Christian Muslim Forum University, Cambridge Revd Andii Bowsher, Anglican Chaplain, Northumbria Paul Cornelius, CEO, Food for the Hungry UK University Linda Craig, Clerk, Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, Birmingham Elisabeth Cranfield, Minister of Methilhill and The Rt Revd Christopher Foster, Bishop of Portsmouth Denbeath, Church of Scotland Mia Fox, Catholic Chaplain, Newcastle University & Matthew Creber, SPEAK Network Northumbria University Rt Revd Steven Croft, Bishop of Sheffield Cassius Francis, WKFM coordinator, Mosley Wesleyan Dr Michael Cross, Secretary of All Saints Social Justice Holiness Church Group, Birmingham Simon Franklin, Prebendary in Church of England Pastor Peter Cunningham, Chairman, Green Pastures Rabbi Paul Freedman, Principal Rabbi, Radlett Reform Moses Dakunivosa, Steward, Methodist Church Synagogue Jessica Dalton-Cheetham, Fellowship of Reconciliation