If you are attentive to the news, there is a lot of pain to feel in the world today.
Income Gaps. Loneliness. Housing Affordability. Health Care Availability. Unemployment. Child Poverty. Gross Domestic Product. Tax Rates. Youth Suicide. Refugees. Homelessness. Fossil Fuels. Vaccination Rates. Broadband Speed. Mathematics Literacy.
It goes on and on.
The data is collected. It is graphed. The analysis is made. Then we start hearing about how the country we call home, has the ‘fifth highest ____’, ‘the second lowest ____’, ‘the seventh slowest ____’, ‘the third largest ____’ … and so we become alarmed at the state of our country.
But when you dig a bit into the data, often it is data collected from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). And who is the OECD, you might ask? Its ‘roots lie in the rubble’ of World War II, with The Marshall Plan that helped rebuild Europe. It does many good things, like its recent advocacy of a global agreement to tax the super-rich.
It is hard to find an accurate, current map of the member countries in the OECD. This is the best I could do. It seems there are 38 member countries. However they work to progress their various causes, like democracy and free-market principles, among 70+ other non-member countries.
My critique here lies not so much with the OECD itself, but with the careless way in which people can engage with the data it produces. For example, consider the conversational laments about how “We have the second highest level of ____ in the world” when, in fact, it is “in the OECD”, with its 38 member countries. That omits a lot of countries! Goodness me, the medal table at the recent Olympics managed 112 countries, while the Corruption Perceptions Index ranks 179 countries.
When this happens, the OECD data becomes a subtle, even sinister, way to erase the very poor from our minds. The world starts looking like football in the UK, with its 20 clubs in the Premier League (not to mention the sub-group of five elite clubs that always finish at the top) — and then, in the lower divisions, forgettable names (for most of us, anyway!) can be found, with the bottom three of the lowest league currently being Oldham Athletic, Carlisle United and Scunthorpe United.
Here, let me try and demonstrate what I mean, but you’ll need to pretend that you haven’t read this far in this post :). Here are some of those cool timeline graphs that pop up on social media. I love them. ‘Data Visualization’. This one is an obvious starting point for us —Average Wages:
I wonder what you thought, as you watched?
Here is another one. It compares the quarterly GDP figure, in the years before, and during, the COVID-19 pandemic. Watch it right to the end…!
I wonder what you thought, as you watched?
One more. Here is the Gender Wage Gap across different countries.
I wonder what you thought, as you watched?
Go on, look me in the eye and tell me that the OECD data, especially when visualized this way, isn’t a subtle, even sinister, way to erase the very poor from your mind? Of course, it is. Here is a map which begins to capture what happens. Look carefully, very carefully.
It’s bad, very bad.
So how do we respond?
Here are a few random suggestions, clustered around some biblical couplets:
Psalm 137.1-4 and Jeremiah 29.7
Start where we are, in the place and among the people whom God has put us. As with the exiles in Babylon, let the lament flow — but, at the same time, work for the “welfare” (NASB, shalom, 3x in Jer 29.7), the flourishing, of these people. The issues at the top of this post need to be engaged where we are. It is inconceivable that God would want us to start anywhere else.
But we don’t stop there…
Genesis 1.26 and Acts 17.26
Share God’s perspective on the peoples of the world. Each person is ‘made in God’s image’ and ‘from one person he made all nations’. The significance of these phrases cannot be overstated. They affirm so much — from the unity and diversity to the equality, dignity and value of the peoples of the world. It. Is. True. For. Every. Single. Person. God doesn’t have a Premier League. Nor should we — and this should be clear, not simply by the assertions of our lips, but by the demonstrations of our lives.
1 Peter 2.9-10 and 1 Corinthians 12.22-23
Peter writes to small, scattered, suffering groups of God’s people and yet he refers to them with single nouns. They are one people, only one. It is profound. Paul writes about the people of God as a single body, but with many parts — and the parts that feel most overlooked, maybe even erased, are to be treated as ‘indispensable’ and with ‘special honour’. Wow. There are suggestions here of ‘affirmative action’, of interdependence, of reciprocity, of Scunthorpe being as prized as Chelsea — even of fellowship. Sure, we are talking about the people of God here, but imagine if the leagues of nations grasped a bit of this concept? I wonder if the members of the OECD have ever considered what they might receive from their non-members? Hmmm.
James 1.2 and 1 Thessalonians 5.18
Joy. Thanksgiving. “That is an odd couplet to include here, Paul.” Well, my quick response is to observe that while placing 38th in an OECD ranking might give cause for an absence of joy and thanksgiving, I wonder if that is the case when we recognise it is the same as being placed 38th in a global ranking? It is hard to generalise, probably even unwise to do so, but permit me to offer a more personal, reflective response. Time and time again, it is among the people of God in these non-member countries — countries without the same levels of personal freedom, or developed free-market economies, or functional democracies, or whatever — that I learn the most about joy and thanksgiving.
Goodness me, just last week I joined the livestream for a thanksgiving service for someone who died at a younger age from Covid in one of these countries. The joy and the thanksgiving, the hope and the faith, seeping into the service stirred me — yet again.
nice chatting
Paul
PS. I’ve been pondering this post for months and when I read that Nigeria was 2.8% fully vaccinated (at the end of October), it pushed me over the edge. Have you noticed how so many of the anti-vax protests take place in OECD countries? I wonder why this is the case?
About Me
the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.
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A provocative, eye opening blog for us Kiwi's lamenting our ranking in the OECD while ignoring the situation of the rest of the world! And Nigeria only 2.5% vaccinated while we get worked up about a vaccine certification system aimed at getting us well above 90% vaccinated!
This is a pet peeve of mine!! I always refer to the OECD as 'the club of the world's (40st) richest countries' – a mouthful, but it feels important to me. So we are 'in the bottom half of the club of the world's richest countries' for this and 'towards the bottom of the world's richest countries' for that. To remind everyone (including myself) that we're towards the bottom of the absolute riches – not the bottom of everything. And I generally refer to the rest of the world as 'The Majority World', too, to remind myself and everyone else that how we live is how hardly anyone else lives (not just in wealth, but in individualism and secularity, too!).
Thanks Paul – I'm on retreat and my word for today is "awareness". We're pretty narrow visioned – like when we buy a new model car and can only see the same make and model everywhere. I have been reading Sacred Fire (Ronald Rolheiser), a helpful book, however couldn't help noticing how his analogies of the Christian maturation are all so middle-class, Western-world viewpoint: "born in a hospital", "nurtured in a nursery", "a loving mother and father", "high school graduation", "the senior prom", "the Quinceanera", (had to look that one up!) and "a special weekend hiking in the forest with mum and dad". I don't relate most of those – let alone someone in say, South America. Yes, nice chatting.
Thanks, Ken — I hope these can be helpful comments. I can understand the media and much of governmental action keeping their focus within their own borders, but I just don't understand Christians being drawn into this kind of preoccupation with their own, alone. Best wishes — Paul
Actually, Heather, that first map had a title: Club of Rich Nations — but I cropped it out, because titles direct peoples' attention too quickly, I find. A bit like giving titles to parables, which can ruin them (and sermons, for that matter — one of my pet peeves!).
One of the ironies is that many of those countries outside the OECD don't even have the infrastructure to gather the data which fascinates OECD countries … which tend to focus on matters related to wealth and freedom and democracy.
I spent quite a lot of time on the OECD website before writing this post. They do a lot of good stuff — but the subtle 'erasing' is real and a mentality of helping, or resourcing, even out of generosity, is just not sufficient in today's world.
I'm sure there is even more fellowship around pet peeves to be had 🙂
Paul
Yes, Fred — so true, what you say. I do quite a lot of light editing of documents and see this so often…
I think it helps to refocus our reading and our watching to ensure they take us to live within different perspectives. Every single person can do this. Barby and I try to do this with Netflix options — and just yesterday I put in a big order to https://langhamliterature.org, which is a stunning resource for sourcing biblical-theological-missiological books emerging from perspectives so different from my own…
best wishes … a catch-up in-person can't be too far away 🙂
Paul