The Times calls on Archbishop to have more faith in free trade

By Alex Singleton | 26 April 2005

A leader in tomorrow's issue of the Times of London says that Archbishop Rowan Williams was too lukewarm towards free trade in his speech today:

The Archbishop, like Pope Benedict XVI, is wary of shallow materialism. Dr Williams wrongly implies that this is the inevitable by-product of market economics. Capitalism, though, like Christianity, is a matter of free will and not determinism. The resources it generates can be employed for multiple purposes. Many of these will have - by design or not - a profoundly positive impact on the human condition. That some souls will be less wise with the bounty that trade brings is not a reason to condemn the system. The lessons of experience must not be neglected. The present campaign to "Make Poverty History" should not involve invoking a distorted sense of history in the process. The Archbishop should have more faith in free trade.