Archbishop Thabo Makgoba
Moral State of the Nation Address
3 February 2010
[Opening Greetings: Ladies and gentlemen, I’m glad to be with you this evening.]
Introductory Comments
I have just returned from the World Economic Forum in Davos. There, religious leaders contributed articles on ‘Values for the Post-Crisis Economy’ and helped lead discussions, as part of our interdisciplinary consideration of economic, political, social and technological developments.
This underscored how religious leaders are expected to express views on the moral questions that set the context for our lives.
So I am grateful to the Chief Rabbi for proposing that we should address the moral state of the nation, from the perspective of our particular faith communities.
My hope is that we may sow the seed of something larger for the future: that in years ahead, contributions will come from a fuller breadth of the faith communities – and that we will prompt a debate, in which all South Africans should share, on the broad questions shaping national life.
Nonetheless, I am aware that it might seem presumptuous to deliver a ‘Moral State of the Nation Address’.
