DAVID ADAMS speaks with Dutch philosopher Evert-Jan Ouweneel, during a recent visit to Australia, about how the West can come to terms with the growing uncertainty in the world today…
Faced with growing insecurity and uncertainty, the Western world needs to find a new resilience and look to put aside nationalistic differences to address problems of a planetary scale. And Christian communities can play an important role in helping to replace the fear and discontent seen in many Western nations with hope and compassion.
That’s according to Dutch philosopher Evert-Jan Ouweneel, a senior advisor on faith and development to World Vision’s fundraising offices around the world, who was recently in Australia to address local staff.
Evert-Jan Ouweneel.
“We’re very afraid of losing grip on our own country. But…the big vision we need for the future is ‘What kind of planet do we want to live in?’…We are all world citizens whether we like it or not. The well-being of Africa, of South America, affects our well-being…”
– Evert-Jan Ouweneel
Speaking with Sight during his visit, Mr Ouweneel explains that planetary-wide issues like climate change, terrorism and human trafficking have resulted in rapid and drastic changes in the world, creating “turmoil” in Western nations and prompting a response often characterised by fear and discontent.
He says these responses have resulted in a push, in many countries, towards nationalism and protectionism as people attempt to hang on to what they have amid perceptions of threats.
“The basic message is close the curtains, pretend the rest of the world doesn’t count, stick to your tribe, defend what you have, no matter the cost for the rest,” he says.
But Mr Ouweneel says countries – and their leaders – need to move beyond “national sovereignty thinking”.
“We’re very afraid of losing grip on our own country. But…the big vision we need for the future is ‘What kind of planet do we want to live in?’…We are all world citizens whether we like it or not. The well-being of Africa, of South America, affects our well-being…”
Taking the issue of mass migration, for example, which is now being seen in many parts of the world, Mr Ouweneel says it’s unhelpful for countries to look at the issue purely in terms of their national context.
“The issue is not that we protect ourselves against immigrants. The issue is that the whole world economy, the whole planet, is one big system right now and that just protecting one element, just one country in it, won’t fix it. You can’t close the curtain. Even if you fixed the ‘immigrant issue’, if I can say it in that way, you still have the climate change issue, you still have the risks of pandemics, of nuclear [arms] – all these things still maintain. The planet is very patient. If we don’t solve particular planetary issues today – we will have to solve it next year with a higher bill. And that’s exactly the kind of thing we need to consider right now.”
Mr Ouweneel says the underlying cause of the fear and discontent being seen in the West is the loss of the “grand narratives” which once bred resilience.
“[I]n the past, as a Christian you would hope for either the afterlife or Messianic Age; as a Communist, you would hope for revolution. The big strength behind these narratives was that you were not alone; it was a community of people believing the same thing and it helped you cope with misery and set-backs and risks.
“Well, what we did was, we gave up all these narratives…because they didn’t offer us anything better than what we already had…We have simply reached a state in Western society where people are living [at] such a high level of well-being, wealth and health that these narratives couldn’t compete anymore with reality. They couldn’t offer a better future…”
Mr Ouweneel says the shift has left people in the West “basically empty-handed” with the only ‘Gospel’ being that it’s up to each individual to control their own life and make something of it – an approach which world events have quickly moved beyond.
“[T]his pep-talk of controlling your life, making something out of your life – it doesn’t work because a lot of people in the West face issues they don’t control. And right now that’s the fear and the discontent that we see, leading to all kinds of political movements. We are in a situation where we have to deal with loss of control – with more difficulties and uncertainties – and we have difficulty coping with it in a positive way.”
And while Mr Ouweneel says the church has the opportunity to being hope and compassion into the situation, he notes that “unfortunately the church has been the voice of fear and discontent too many times, expressing support for politicians that build their careers from fear and discontent”.
“If there is one thing that the church can do right now, it is to express resilience. And resilience is not expressed in measures and decisions built on fear, it’s having a hope and compassion that resists biological responses. And that kind of resilience, I’m afraid, I don’t see that in an overwhelming way in the church. Personally I find the church response to the insecurity to be quite disappointing.”
– Evert-Jan Ouweneel
“And that is very sad. If there is one thing that the church can do right now, it is to express resilience. And resilience is not expressed in measures and decisions built on fear, it’s having a hope and compassion that resists biological responses. And that kind of resilience, I’m afraid, I don’t see that in an overwhelming way in the church. Personally I find the church response to the insecurity to be quite disappointing.”
He says the 21st century needs inspirational figures – inside and outside the church – like 20th century icon such as Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King, Jr, to help inspire change.
“We need the equivalent for the 21st century,” he says. “Christians having the spiritual strength to have a voice, a compassionate voice, at a time when everyone seeks their own self-interest. Where is the one having the strength to overcome their known biological self-defence mechanisms and, in the storm, look around for the ones who are hit the most by the storms?…Where is the church responding to the most vulnerable in society rather than supporting politicians that only want to seek nationalistic and protectionist solutions.”
In America, for example, he says it’s hard to reconcile how the church in the US can support someone like US President Donald Trump who is “promoting egoism on a national level” with his ‘America First’ mantra.
“I can tell you from the Bible, God is not a nationalist, He is a globalist. And there is no way you can defend nationalism, meaning defending your own nation no matter the cost to other nations – there is no way you can defend that based on the Bible…There is no way you can get smaller than a planetary vision when you read the Bible.”
In a call for the church to step up, Mr Ouweneel says now is the “perfect time” for Christians to show the beauty of the God they worship to others.
“What does it mean to be Christian? It’s only this: it’s knowing, somehow believing, that God looks at you with favourable eyes. And it gives you the inspiration to look at others with favourable eyes. And that means you’re a human being, knowing who you are and that gives you the strength to be human with anyone else.”
“I would say this is the perfect moment for us to rediscover being human among humans. And who can be human among humans, who is not afraid to connect with everyone? A person who knows who he is. A person with a clear identity.”
