Concilium

2001 / 4

In Search of Universal Values

Introduction

Karl-Josef Kuschel and Dietmar Mieth

The complexity of the world situation, which has been intensified by the globalization of the markets, has sparked off a lively inter-cultural discussion about the possibility and urgency of universally valid moral values, norms and rules which are recognized by all peoples and states, cultures and religions. More markedly than ever, the representatives of the world religions are confronted with expectations that they should utilize the resources of spirituality and wisdom to further peace and justice world-wide. The Peace Summit of Religious Leaders to be held in New York in September 2001, to which the General Secretary of the United Nations, Kofi Anan, has issued invitations, is impressive evidence of these expectations.

In this issue of Concilium we want to make a contribution to such discussions of universal values. We begin in Part I by documenting how they are reflected in churches and movements. Thus in an address to the Papal Academy of Social Sciences on 27 April 2001 the present pope, John Paul II, argued for a common ethical code for humankind. Here he was guided by the conviction that the norms of social life must be sought in human beings themselves, in universal humanity as it emerged from the hand of the Creator. Such a quest is unavoidable if globalization is not just to be another name for the absolute relativizing of values and the homogenization of lifestyles and cultures. We have included the text here in full.

We have similarly included a noteworthy statement by the World Council of Churches at its Eighth General Assembly in Harare in 1998. In his report, the President, Katholikos Aram I, called for the development of a fundamental shared ethic. For such an ethic he referred to the 1993 Declaration of the Parliament of the World's Religions. We have quoted the most important passages from this report. We are particularly grateful to the present General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, Dr Konrad Raiser, for being ready to expand his contribution on the theme of ‘Global Order and Global Ethic’ in the light of the most recent developments at very short notice and making his contribution available to Concilium.

As is well known, the 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions issued a first programmatic declaration on the question of a global ethic. This declaration, the origin of which is described by Dr Christel Hasselmann in her contribution, is a point at which complex global efforts at inter-religious dialogue and comparative research into religions crystallize. Here is evidence that regardless of the claims to truth that they continue to maintain, religions can from their own sources of faith make an effort to make the ambivalence of the process of economic globalization visible by referring to the resources of the religions in their spirituality and wisdom and by mobilizing forces against a takeover on the one hand and relativism on the other. Dr Günther Gebhardt shows how impressively the Chicago Global Ethic Declaration was developed at the Assembly of the Parliament of the World's Religions in Cape Town in 1999 and implemented in the face of global challenges.

Part II contains contributions from the perspectives of fundamental theology and ethics. It opens with a reflection by the moral theologian Hille Haker on the motive of compassion as a global programme for Christianity projected by J. B. Metz. While this is a religious motif, it can be translated into an ethical concept. Then follows a contribution by Francis Schüssler Fiorenza on questions of universal justice in relation to pluralism and cultural autonomy.

Part III contains contributions towards the application of universal values. Hans Küng and Friedhelm Hengsbach, one indebted to a Christian ecumenical theology and the other to a Christian social ethic, analyse in different approaches the problems of the global economy in the age of globalization, especially the problems of the international networks of trade and the international financial markets. Both are concerned to demystify globalization and discover the real balances of power by reflecting on social ethics in the interest of the well-being of humankind and asking about possible real improvements. Though they both have different approaches to the problem of the global economy and put forward different views, they agree that an improvement of the social situation in many countries cannot come about without constructing international treaties and without strengthening or change in international institutions. Whereas Hans Küng argues that the global market economy achieves its effect only when it is based on an intact democratic civil society which has its foundations in basic values and fundamental standards, Friedhelm Hengsbach emphasizes the importance of the critical public character of the NGOs; these ensure that a global public consciousness comes into being and takes form in global agents in civil society like Amnesty International, Greenpeace, the trade unions and the local churches. Just as important in this context are the reflections by the Protestant expert on religious education, Johannes Lähnemann, on the practical implementation of the idea of an ethic of humankind for a programme of inter-cultural and inter-religious learning.

Our documentation section has two parts. It seemed important to us in the first part to reflect the theme of universal values in a concrete case relating to medicine and health in an inter-cultural and inter-religious perspective. The medical specialist Dr Ilhan Ilkilic reflects as a Muslim on the theme of the autonomy of the patient, which at present is being much discussed, and the consequences of it for a Muslim patient in a society with pluralist values. The Muslim tradition too, in connection with norms and values, faces the fundamental problem of universality and particularity. People who come from different cultures and live in different cultures must live with this tension in their own consciences, a tension which often subjects their own identity to a hard test.

The second part bears the title ‘Whither Moral Theology?’ and examines the specific practice of the Catholic magisterium and its refusal to discuss questions with a moral background. The Roman notification issued against our former Concilium colleague Marciano Vidal makes it clear that despite the words of the pope quoted in Part I the church finds it difficult to consider the common universal values from the perspective of research.