SWS - Study
5.2 Churches as potential agents for change
When considering the possible contribution of churches to the sustainability debate, it is helpful to first look at so-called faith-based actors (FBBA), i.e. organisations that describe themselves as religious or spiritual in this discourse in general. Studies show that the public tends to attribute more legitimacy to civil society and also JCCs in political discourse than to businesses and politics. This is mainly because they are seen as having a greater interest in the common good. Some refer to this as moral legitimacy – as distinct from, say, the legitimacy that comes from being elected or holding office.68 Research on the role of JCCs at the United Nations has shown that JCCs are often recognised as having such a special authority in the context of value-based arguments and communications.69
Moreover, an analysis of the submissions in the run-up to the Rio+20 Conference revealed that JCCs tend to take a more holistic view of sustainable development than other civil society actors.70 In addition to the economic, ecological and social dimensions of sustainable development, for example, they also address spiritual perspectives (cf. chapter 5.1.). Similarly, they also understand the concept of quality of life more comprehensively. Moreover, JCCs place the question of justice even more at the centre, because they make fundamental principles of justice the starting point of their considerations and arguments. This becomes particularly relevant in current questions of consumption limits and sufficiency, the social organisation of responsibility for one another and the fundamental emphasis on justice and ethics, which can pose a challenge to the consumer culture and a sense of entitlement. The fact that these concerns are at the same time part of the core of Christian norms supports the power and authenticity with which the churches can represent them. These issues can be effectively represented in the social discourse if they are not appropriated by the church, but are brought to the public in partnership with other committed civil society organisations and realised in concrete lighthouse projects (cf. also chapter 5.3). Thanks to their strong structures and global networking, the Christian churches have a special potential to make not only their own, but also other marginalised voices heard and to highlight the perspectives of all those who have no lobby of their own.
This makes already clear that organisational aspects also play a role in determining whether churches can play a special role as agents for change in the transformation.71 An important distinction in this context is that between more hierarchical and grassroots organisations. The former have the potential to set far-reaching impulses comparatively quickly, as the necessary decisions can be made by a small circle at the top of the organisation. The strength of grassroots organisations, on the other hand, is that they are often more democratic and thus better able to "involve" their members. In terms of organisational theory, the Catholic Church thus has a particularly high potential, because it has both a visible top, which can make decisions and visibly announce them, and a world-church base, in which its members can actively participate in the congregations of the respective local churches and can thereby have a broad impact. Most recently, Pope Francis has made great efforts to bring these grassroots organisations into dialogue at the "World Meeting of Popular Movements" organised by the Vatican, to increase their worldwide visibility and ultimately to learn from them as a Church.
This also reflects the Catholic Church's claim to be a unity in diversity in a global perspective, which also shows the importance of the coexistence and togetherness of its members from different cultures, ethnicities, socio-economic, political and geographical contexts: The universal Church is not only a community of solidarity, but also a learning community.
Many perceive the churches as in principle less dependent than other actors in terms of material resources. There is ample evidence that, for example, the dependence of politics on business has increased. The Corporate Europe Observatory, for example, points out that business enterprises spent four times as much on lobbying in the context of European agricultural policy alone in 2011 as civil society organisations spent across the whole range of policy areas.72 The vast majority of civil society organisations, on the other hand, depend on their members or on donations. Finally, within the economic sector, many corporate decisions are driven by large investors. The relatively greater material independence of churches and comparable JCCs is therefore a resource that should not be underestimated in the context of political discourse.
The Catholic Church thus has significant potential in various respects and thereby a responsibility that is at least as great. Instead of being paralysed by the question of the extent to which the Church is allowed to exert political influence at all in a plural, secular democracy (a question that hardly any other participants in public discourse ask themselves), it should be understood that in the 21st century there are strong post-secular tendencies due to which religions continue to have social influence73. For the Catholic Church, the question is rather how it can bring its potential into the social discourse, and also what self-understanding and not least what credibility is necessary for this, as far as its own actions are concerned.
68 For an overview, cf. Bernstein, S. und Cashore B. (2007): Can non-state global governance be legitimate? An analytical framework. In: Regulation & Governance 2007-1, 347–371
69 Baumgart-Ochse, C. und Wolf, K. (ed. 2018): Religious NGOs at the United Nations. Polarizers or Mediators? London: Routledge
70 Glaab, K. und Fuchs, D. (2018): Green Faith? The role of faith-based actors in the global sustainable development discourse. In: Environmental Values 27(3): 289-312.
71 Fuchs, D. und Graf, A. (2015): Interessenvertretung in der Globalisierten Welt. In: Zimmer, A. und Speth, R. (Hrsg.): Lobbywork. Interessenvertretung als Politikgestaltung, Wiesbaden: Springer, p. 97-120.
72 Corporate Europe Observatory (2014).
73 Barbato, M. und Kratochwil, F. (2009): Towards a post-secular political order? In: European Political Science Review 1(3): 317–340.
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