In the reasoning of Amartya Sen, the Indian economist who was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to welfare econ… - Azza Karam

To date, we, development practitioners, researchers and policy-makers, have focused the responsibility for development action rightly mostly on governments. More recently, we began to pay attention to the private sector and to assess corporate social responsibility. When we finally woke up to the role of civil society, we focused almost entirely on secular members of civil society.

How can you defend the human rights of a person who takes actions which are deemed harmful by society and governments, but this person believes that he/she is acting out of religious convictions? This actually opened for me the door to a conversation about convictions and faith. This evolved into learning about other people’s beliefs and trying to understand what it is that moves people to behave in certain ways. This is how I got interested in the “pulse of faith” inside each of us

The best scientific evidence shows, that one tree is killed, the forest can be endangered. The best scientific evidence shows with COVID-19, that one person is infected, and the entire nation can become a hostage. This is an important lesson for all of us. In case some of us are still doubting the value of working together, let COVID-19 be a lesson that we can afford. We cannot afford to not work together. We must.