Now we go to the inevitable question. How are these Less Developed Countries getting themselves into such poverty and atrocities? There are four reasons:
Wars
One reason for the decreasing wealth of Less Developed Countries is the many wars fought by them. Civil wars create havoc with the countries economy and can result in the starvation of the people. When a war is started, governments usually sacrifice the resources and food for the people for arms and ammunition. When large empires break up and the small countries become independent, the new state cannot support itself and its people. With financial stability from its empire gone, the new countries government can't create its own stable economy and soon enough will result in starvation and becoming a Less Developed Country. Dictators are also a reason for a rise in Less Developed Countries. A dictator does not care for his people and expends the wealth himself. This was the common case in Iraq with Saddam Hussain.
Natural Disasters
Another reason for the growth of Less Developed Countries is the geographical situation the countries are in. Most of these countries are situated on earth plates where earthquakes are likely. Tornadoes, hurricanes and floods are also natural hazards that cause havoc for the country by destroying thousands of homes and killing hundreds of people. This costs the country' government billions of pounds in compensation and repairs, putting the country in massive debt.
Debt
Debt is yet another reason for the increasing rise in Less Developed Countries. For a country to develop there must be money to make this happen. The country's government will then borrow money from banks in foreign countries, usually federal banks. The amount of money is into the billions. However, banks charge interest and if the country cannot pay the money quick enough it will be in troublesome debt. This happened in Chile, when it borrowed £3.8 Billion, gave back £12.8 Billion and is still in debt. Developing is a major risk and most Less Developed Countries prefer to make a steady development instead of risking massive debt.
Cash Crops
When countries are in massive debt or need to develop they will use their raw materials and crops to sell on the market, instead of feeding its people. This is one of the easiest causes of Less Developed Countries in our world today. Coffee, cotton, tea, tobacco and oil are not used, but sold to make money. This causes increasing starvation to the people and will ruin the country.
Nevertheless, world development is out of control in the world today. The rich countries are getting richer, while the poor countries only getting poorer.
Religious teachings on wealth and poverty are the reason for many charities such as Christian Aid and Muslim Aid. This section will focus on Christian and Muslim teachings from the Bible, a Modern Church, the Qur’an and the Hadith. Quotes from these places will then be explained on what they mean and how a Christian or Muslim would respond to it.
Christianity teaches that money can be used for good or evil, so it is not all bad. However, many biblical teachings show that if people have the wrong attitude to money, wealth can lead them away from God. These desires are the true evil. When a person has wealth, they believe that this money can look out for them, so ‘they don’t need God’. Christians can only gain money in lawful and moral ways, and as so should use it for helping the poor and needy. In the New Testament it says,
“If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3: 17, 18)
This is explaining how wealthy people who do not use their wealth to help their brother, as we are all ‘the children of God’, do not have God’s love. It also implies that suggestions are pointless, and that it is through actions that charity should be expressed. A Christian would respond to this by helping and donating to charities so that the poor can be helped through aid.
The Modern Church also shares the view that wealth should be used effectively.
It has said:
“Rich nations have a grave responsibility towards those which are unable to ensure the means of their development by themselves.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church)
This tells wealthy nations, like the G8 countries, that they have the responsibility to help the other nations develop. A Christian would respond to this by attempting to persuade governments to aid lesser-developed countries more through protests and petitions. This was done in 2002 when over 750,000 people marched in London and persuaded the British Government not to supply Israel with weapons that cause havoc in Palestine. Though this may not be directly aimed at poverty, wars, as I mentioned before, are a huge cause of Less Developed Countries.
Too much wealth, and the desire for wealth, is looked down upon by Christianity. In the New Testament, it says,
“People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” (1 Timothy 6: 9-10)
This evidently claims that the desire for money leads people into evil and wrongdoing. A Christian would respond to this by using their money effectively, throughout life, and also setting an example by not desiring wealth. If there is money left over, they would save it and not spend it all. It seems that religion has predicted the troubles of the modern world, i.e. debt, and has warned followers of it.
Islam teaches that wealth is given by Allah to humanity and therefore is not owned by anyone. Wealth is seen as a test for humans to see their approach towards money and how rich should help the poor. Allah instructs Muslims to give charity to unfortunate people, like those poverty-stricken. There are three main forms of giving:
- Sadaqah is something done to help someone for Allah. Most of it involves money but some simply giving their time, talents, or prayer instead.
- Zakat is the third pillar of Islam and involves a Muslim, with reasonable wealth, to give 2.5% of their income to the needy. Zakat is a test to Muslims. Wealth is Allah’s and Muslims have to use money efficiently; Zakat is the perfect thing to do or it would be considered stealing from Allah. Most Muslims, including myself, believe that 2.5% is far too little to donate and donate more. This sign of charity has originated from Zakat and that is why it is so important in teaching the values of a religious Muslim.
- Zakat-ul-Fitr is an additional payment at the end of Ramadan. Muslims donate on the festival Id-ul-Fitr to the poor. This usually represents the cost of a meal for each family member. As I mentioned before, Muslims usually donate more than what is required. Zakat-ul-Fitr is commanded because it comes after the month of Ramadan; the month of Muslim fasting. After a month of fasting and realizing the pain & hunger of the poor, most Muslims donate out of kindness.
Islam undoubtedly considers wealth and charity a very large part of judgment by God. In the Qur’an it states:
“Those who in charity spend of their goods by night and by day, in secret and in public, have their reward with their Lord.” (Surah 2:274)
This testifies that spending wealth, publicly or privately, on charity will be rewarded by God. A Muslim responding to this Surah would donate more charity and think more about poverty and the troubles of this world.
Charity is seen as fundamental if a person wishes to enter Heaven.
The Hadith says:
“He is not a believer who eats while his neighbour remains hungry by his side.”
This means that people who are wealthy, but don’t donate charity are not considered Muslims. A Muslim would respond to this by constantly making sure that they are giving as much as they feel is necessary to charity.
Islam attempts to involve charity in everyday life and normal actions.
The Qur’an states:
“If the debtor is in a difficulty, grant him time to repay. But if ye remit it by way of charity, that is best for you if ye only knew.” (Surah 2:280)
This states that the reward for this would be even greater than when normally helping those who are less fortunate. A Muslim would respond to this by allowing people who owe money to them to not have to pay it back and never charging interest. Interest is forbidden in Islam because of the selfishness of charging someone for being given or borrowed money as charity.
Christian Aid is founded on Christian teachings, and one of the Ten Commandments, that you must ‘help your neighbour’. Christian Aid bases their help on many teachings and believes that the best aid is to allow people help themselves, without constant aid. Christian Aid helps the neediest countries in various methods, ranging from sending immediate disaster-relief (Emergency Aid) to sustaining long-term development work. Development work involves sanitation, improving health, and the standards of literacy. Christian Aid is helping Less Developed Countries all over the world as a branch of their development work and provides disaster-relief in emergencies, such as the Asian Tsunami Disaster. Christian Aid was first established in 1944 in Britain and Ireland as the BCERC (British Churches Ecumenical Refugee Council) helping all the people left homeless from the Second World War ‘pick up their feet’. It became Christian Aid in September 1945, as a department of the British Council of Churches to provide aid for poverty stricken people in less developed countries.
Christian Aid is funded through many different ways:
This pie chart represents a usual financial year for Christian Aid and how the money for Christian Aid comes in. It shows that around one fifth of all the money is from public donations, although the notorious Christian Aid week is mostly supported by the public too. This accounts to nearly another fifth of all income coming in for Christian Aid. Emergency appeals rely significantly on the kindness of the public, making up nearly a quarter of all income collected. Only 22% of income is actually from Governments and grants, and the rest is from mostly the public and churches.
This money is spent in many ways throughout the world and in the UK:
This pie chart represents the percentage of money used for aid and how it is spent to help others. It shows that over a half of the money collected is used for the main development work in Less Developed Countries. Emergency relief comes second but this can differ from different years depending on the frequency and severity of disasters. In this present year there will be considerably more spent on Emergency Aid than other years, due to the Boxing Day Tsunami. Educating about world development and fundraising are imperative as well and take up over one fifth in total. Only 2% of the money actually goes to the Administration; namely Christian Aid.
Abroad, relieving poverty and the disaster-stricken is a vital role for Christian Aid. They are organised like this:
Emergency aid involves Christian Aid sending immediate help such as food, antibiotics and shelters to the victims in Sri Lanka of the 2004 tsunami, sending food to drought-stricken Mozambique, and sending blankets, tents and food to war refugees in Bosnia and Rwanda. This takes priority over long-term aid and is between 10-15% of Christian Aid’s funds spent each year.
Education takes up about 5% of Christian Aid’s spending on educating the people about the need for world development and how to help achieve it. A quarterly newspaper is published to notify on what Christian Aid does and about world development. One article claims that what the world spends on arms in a fortnight would give the world enough food, education, water and shelter for a year.
Long-term aid is designed to help people help themselves and it involves the funding projects in a basic drug factory in Bangladesh and a Christian agricultural school in Lesotho. Noticing that this is most of Christian Aid’s spending, they spend it efficiently so that the countries they aid maintain the expertise gained and their overall need can be repaired by the people who were taught.
“There should be no rich as long as there is poverty in the world”
I disagree with the above statement.
The primary reason for my view is that some people have not worked hard and strived in life to become rich. The either were not hard-working in school, or they chose the wrong role or job in life. This is obviously most common in Developed Countries. After realizing that they are not succeeding or have gone bankrupt, they start living on the streets; ask for help or start committing crimes (i.e. mugging). Some people might argue that these people were not born into a successful family and did not have a decent chance of becoming successful in life. However, I argue that there are many cases, such as the well renowned entrepreneur Mohammed Al-Fayed, were a person was born into poverty, but has ended up very successful because of his hard work and commitment to his ventures. On the other hand, I do understand that some people do live on the streets after fleeing incidents like domestic violence. These people are not the people pointed out because the fault is not theirs that they are poor.
My other reason for keeping my view is that, as a follower of Islam, money is a test for humanity and each person is being observed on their attitude towards money. I also believe that people should not look at the wealth as something enviable. I thank god for not letting me be outrageously wealth, like people such as Bill Gates, because with wealth comes responsibility. I always think that, perhaps, I had that wealth I would not handle the responsibility that came with it. Islam teaches that wealth should be used to help the needy and that it is our duty to care for them. Wealth belongs to Allah and He commands that Muslims give help through money. Some would argue that wealth is achieved by hard work and therefore due to the labour given, the money belongs to you. I argue that as God is the one that created you, you belong to God and therefore, so do your possessions and your money.
Other people might also disagree with my attitude towards the statement because they believe that all people are born equal and therefore should have the same equal opportunities as anyone else, regardless. This has a strong relevance to wealth, as some people are born poor and therefore do not have the same opportunities as other people. Unfortunately, most people in the third world will have massive obstacles to climb, or even never, be able to escape from the trap of absolute poverty.
Countries in Africa and Asia, such as Ethiopia and Bangladesh, have to rely on aid from the outside world to help survive. These people would presumably hardly notice any change in their life, let alone have the same opportunities as people in a wealthy country such as the UK and the USA. The Bible and Qur’an suggest that we were all born in equality by saying that Adam and Eve were born equal. This would mean that everyone in life has the same chance as anyone else for jobs and money.
I do not agree with this argument because I believe that people who are too strict about their religion are strict of their own accord. Islam and Christianity do not literally teach that you should give away everything you own, only some to help people who are poor. People may also be born equal in the sense that we are all humans but not in the sense of traits such as intelligence and strength.
Therefore, I still believe that people who are wealthy because they have talents and have been successful in life should be allowed that wealth because they deserve this and have earned it.
In conclusion, I believe that there will always be a link between religion and wealth & poverty. This is because I believe that wealth is designed to test humanity to see if they can enter Heaven or not. Religion is not the only reason to help each other, however, as there are many non-religious groups around the world helping the poor and needy. This is because humans are born with a conscience and I believe that God has created us this way so that we would help each other, and not just the worst poverty stricken people but also everyone we meet; humanity is all one community and everyone is a part of it.
