The Shakertown Pledge

The Shakertown Pledge originated when a group of religious retreat center directors gathered at the site of a restored Shaker village, near Harrodsburg, Kentucky. A number of us were personally moved by the global poverty/ecology crisis we saw all around us, and we covenanted together to reduce our levels of consumption, to share our personal wealth with the world’s poor, and to work for a new social order in which all people have equal access to the resources they need. We have since been joined by others.

We believe that all people of faith should consider this pledge. We have taken it not just because it is the right thing to do, and not just out of enlightened self-interest, but because of our deep, religious conviction. We know from the scriptures that God commands God's people to make the cause of the poor and the oppressed their own. If we are truly to practice our faith, then we cannot sit idly by while others starve. It’s as simple as that.

THE SHAKERTOWN PLEDGE

Recognizing that the earth and the fullness thereof is a gift from our gracious God, and that we are called to cherish, nurture, and provide loving stewardship for the earth’s resources,

And recognizing that life itself is a gift, and a call to responsibility, joy, and celebration, I make the following declarations:

1. I declare myself to be a world citizen.

2. I commit myself to lead an ecologically sound life.

3. I commit myself to lead a life of creative simplicity and to share my personal wealth with the world’s poor.

4. I commit myself to join with others in reshaping institutions in order to bring about a more just global society in which each person has full access to the needed resources for their physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual growth.

5. I commit myself to occupational accountability, and in so doing I will seek to avoid the creation of products which cause harm to others.

6. I affirm the gift of my body, and commit myself to its proper nourishment and physical well-being.

7. I commit myself to examine continually my relations with others, and to attempt to relate honestly, morally, and lovingly to those around me.

8. I commit myself to personal renewal through prayer, meditation, and study.

9. I commit myself to responsible participation in a community of faith.

WHY TAKE THE SHAKERTOWN PLEDGE?

Because people are hungry, that’s why. Because on this planet that nearly 3 billion people call home, the vast majority toil to stay barely alive while a small minority live in affluence undreamed of by our ancestors.

The picture is very simple--and not very pretty: One billion people live on the equivalent of $4 a week each.

Of every 100 babies born, 40 will die before age 6. Another 40 risk permanent physical damage because of malnutrition. Only three out of that 100 will get the education and skills they need to perform creative and meaningful work.

And, in the midst of suffering, where do we stand? We are part of a nutritional “upper class” of 450 million people who consume as many calories per day as the 1.3 billion people at the other end of the scale.

We are 6% of the world’s population and we use 33% of the world’s energy. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that we overeat by 30% and produce 100 pounds of garbage per person per year. We are clothed in highly wasteful ways in which annual “model” changes have become as required and as senseless as in the automobile industry.

Paul Erlich has pointed out that “Each American has roughly 50 times the negative impact on the earth’s life-support system as the average citizen of India.” The addition of 75 million Americans (current population increase projections for the year 2000) “from the standpoint of ever-scarcer non renewable resources … will be the equivalent to more than 10 billion Nigerians, or 22 billion Indonesians.”

WHAT TO DO?

We believe that there are two important steps that can be taken:

--First, we must commit ourselves to work for a globally just society in which no one goes without.

--Second, we must be willing to simplify our own lifestyles and begin to move toward a just World Standard of Living.

This is what is “new” about the Shakertown Pledge. Declarations of world citizenship are not new. Devotional and worship commitments are important--but hardly new. No, what is “new” in the pledge is the firm declaration that personal piety, social conscience, and a simple lifestyle are all essential parts of a religious life that possess integrity.

But is this a new idea, after all? Really, it isn’t--at least not if we use the scriptures as our guide:

“… if you feed the hungry from your own plenty and satisfy the needs of the wretched, then your light will rise like dawn out of darkness and your dusk be like noonday ....” Isaiah 58:10.

“But if a man has enough to live on, and yet when he sees his brother in need shuts up his heart against him, how can it be said that the divine love dwells in him?” 1 John 3:17

When this article appeared, Adam Finnerty was national coordinator for the Shakertown Pledge.