June 1998
Archbishop of Finland supports Citizen’s Income
Citizen’s Income emerged in the news headlines in Finland when Dr John Vikström, the Archbishop of Finland, publicly embraced the idea. Vikström sees Citizen’s Income as a possible solution to social exclusion. According to the Archbishop’s model, CI could give everyone the basic economic security they need, which could then be augmented by other income, to achieve an adequate standard of living.
"In this way", says the Archbishop, "even working a little would be possible and would make sense. The system would not push people into idleness and divide citizens into winners and losers as cruelly as is the case now. I look at the question from the point of view of human dignity. A basic income paid to everyone would be less humiliating than the present benefit system can sometimes become. Basic income would send every citizen the following encouraging and motivating message:
"You are important, you are not a burden, but a resource. You are important by being a human being for others. Whatever work you do, in whatever situations, whether or not you are paid to do it, you still contribute to building our society."
See also:
- The end of work or the end of wage slavery? (June 1998)
- Citizen's Income model
- 6+6 hour model
- A social welfare state which encourages job creation
- The decline of the 'employment society' (January 1999)
- Citizen's Income stirs debate (September 1998)
- Enforcing right to work proposed as a way to create jobs (August 1998)
- Lutheran worries about the dismantling of the welfare state. The Archbishop of Finland at the Finnish Institute (March 1997)
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