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Archbishop warns 'greedy' nations |
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Written by BBC News
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Sunday, 23 March 2008 |
The Archbishop of Canterbury has warned in his Easter sermon against nations'
greed for oil, power and territory.
Dr Rowan Williams said the "comforts and luxuries" we take for granted could not
be sustained forever.
He told worshippers we face a culture in which thoughts of death are "too
painful to manage".
But Dr Williams lightened the sermon's tone by reminding people of
Christianity's Easter message that death will be overcome.
'Inner deadness'
He said death was the end "in an important sense" and urged Christians to
prepare for it by constantly striving to let go of "selfish, controlling, greedy
habits".
The archbishop said: "We face a culture in which the thought of death is too
painful to manage.
"Individuals live in anxious and acquisitive ways, seizing what they can to
provide a security that is bound to dissolve, because they are going to die.
"Societies or nations do the same. Whether it is the individual grabbing the
things of this world in just the repetitive, frustrating sameness that we have
seen to be already in fact the mark of an inner deadness...
"Or the greed of societies that assume there will always be enough to meet their
desires - enough oil, enough power, enough territory - the same fantasy is at
work.
"We shan't really die. We as individuals can't contemplate an end to our
acquiring, and we as a culture can't imagine that this civilisation, like all
others, will collapse and that what we take for granted about our comforts and
luxuries simply can't be sustained indefinitely.
"To all this, the church says, sombrely, don't be deceived: night must fall."
Source: BBC News
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