THE TIME OF THE ANTI-CHRIST

The atrocious massacres of innocent people in Iraq, Palestine, and Rusia bring to mind two Biblical expressions that Christians use when confronted by staggering injustice or a degree of perversity that stuns reason and obliterates human sensibility: \'\'the abomination of desolation\'\' and the \'\'second coming of the Anti-Christ\'\', writes Leonardo Boff, a Brazilian theologian and writer. There are times, like the present, in which the Anti-Christ seems to prevail. It erupts so fearfully that it paralyses us and almost strips the just of any hope. The category of Anti-Christ has been wielded throughout history by those who would demonise their adversaries. For this reason we must be cautious in using it and avoid facile labelling. But today, when the perversity at work in the world is so great, we must use it both to denounce and to give warning. The Anti-Christ is among us and is active on both fronts, politics and religion. Both have in common a disregard for human life and a lack of pity for the innocent. And both are cold-blooded killers.

EXCHANGING DEBT FOR DEVELOPMENT – A NEW WEAPON AGAINST POVERTY

Speaking on September 20 at the Summit against Poverty, in New York, Spanish president Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced that his government will be actively involved in exchanging debt for social development initiatives, and especially in the field of primary education, writes Antonio Vereda del Abril, president of the Iberoamerican Foundation for Development (FIDE). In this article, the author writes that exchanging foreign debt for development co-operation amounts to freeing up resources so that poor countries can invest in the education and health of their citizens, fund microcredit operations that can result in the creation of great numbers of jobs, and in general, have the resources to spur their own development. Through foreign debt, finance has become an instrument of domination and inequality. Many countries have to channel 30 percent of their budgets to service their foreign debt, thus becoming exporters of capital, which prevents them from investing in their own development.

IS THERE STILL HOPE?

Generalised terrorism, whether that of Al Qaeda, of Sharon in Israel, or of US President Bush, arouses very real fears of calamity in the near future, writes Leonardo Boff, a writer and theologian. At times it seems we haven\'t yet seen the worst that could befall us. This situation raises a philosophical question: can we still place any hope in human beings? Are we capable of improving our social behaviour, our sense of humanity and morality, or are we condemned to live this tragedy to the very end until we destroy ourselves? It is always possible to improve, Boff writes, but humanity will improve only if the majority of its members do so. If this does not happen, we are finished. We will increase our destructive capabilities until tragedy is inevitable. But for this not to happen, one must assume the existence of a second factor: a philosophy of hope.

TOWARDS A BROTHERHOOD OF ALL CREATURES

Walking down my street, where almost nothing even happens, I counted 58 dead beetles in just fifty meters. As we don\'t see ourselves in these our smaller brothers and sisters, we step on them and run them over with our cars. Were Saint Francis still alive he would weep with compassion, writes Leonardo Boff, a writer and theologian. In this article, Boff tells a myth of the Maue indians of Brazil. When the world was created there was no night. There was only day and light penetrated every space. The Maue, as much as they wanted to, couldn\'t sleep. They were always tired and their eyes hurt from too much light. One day, one of them got up his courage and went to talk to the Great Cobra, the sururiju, completely dark, which was considered the high master of the night. The Cobra agreed to make a deal: you give me poison and let me distribute it to my defenceless little relatives. This way you will watch where you\'re going and not step on the little creatures. They will be able to defend themselves. And in exchange I will give you a coconut full of night.\'\' In the end they lived peacefully together and in mutual respect. Why is it that we big creatures don\'t look out for the small creatures?