Challenge greed with accountability, WCC leader urges The world financial crisis has given greed a new face and a new dimension, the newly installed general secretary of the World Council of Churches, the Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, has warned.

In a World Economic Forum publication, the Lutheran theologian from Norway says that while greed will never disappear, it must be challenged with a new kind of leadership that is accountable and focuses on right relations.

“In our relations with one another we should be realistic and admit our weaknesses, and even our sinfulness,” Mr Tveit argues in Faith and the Global Agenda: Values for the Post-Crisis Economy.

“Most of all, we should focus on attitudes that maintain patterns of behaviour that build up open and accountable relations in a just community, preparing for a sustainable future,” says the WCC leader, who began his five-year term with the organisation this month.

“We can work together to define what kinds of attitudes build a sustainable global economy in a sustainable global community. The financial crisis had the greatest and most damaging effect on those who live on the margins of the economic world. The poor have become much poorer”.

He adds, “We cannot continue — none of us — to live in a global context where there is no attitude of accountability to those who experience the most dramatic effects of what others are doing.”

In his article, “Attitudes Before, During, and After the Crisis,” Mr Tveit says that if the driving force of economic growth is not accountability to all who need its benefits, then it places all people and the planet in danger.

Accountability implies openness, reliability and solidarity, the WCC leader argues, adding that religious leaders today must be prepared to “walk in the shoes” of the poorest people on the planet. “Leading the worship of God must include accountability to all God’s creatures,” Mr Tveit concludes.

The WCC gathers 349 churches — principally Anglican, Orthodox and Protestant — and represents some 500 million Christians worldwide. Mr Tveit was elected to the WCC post in August during a meeting of the church grouping’s main governing body, its central committee.

John Asling, ENI

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