Written by: gfesadmin on January 25, 2013

A news article in one of India’s leading dailies this past week along with my reading of Cavenaugh’s Being Consumed – Economics and Christian Desire, has driven me to a lot of Introspection,  pushing me to  answer questions such as:  ‘How much is enough?’  What extents will my consumerism reach?   When and where will the lines be drawn? 

The news item concerns the growing surrogacy industry known as the ‘Baby Factory ‘ in India.   Since India legalized commercial surrogacy in 2002, in vitro fertilization centers have multiplied attracting aspiring parents from around the globe.  “Government makes visas for surrogacy tougher” reads the headlines, indicating that for the first time the Indian government is taking steps to regulate this ‘industry’ in India.  The fact that ‘renting a womb’ has been labeled as an industry makes me cringe.  Surrogacy till now remained unregulated and open to individuals and gay couples and even advertized as such.  With new legislations being introduced to regulate the industry, foreigners  seeking surrogates require a medical visa and the benefit is offered to male-female marriage couples alone.  The present value of surrogacy industry in country is close to $2.5 billion.

What makes India the leading choice for this industry is the  low cost of ‘renting a womb’  with 42 percent of the population living below the international poverty line of $ 1.25 a day, according to UNICEF, combined with the availability of latest assisted reproductive (ART) techniques.    Gujarat a state in western India, is considered to be the unofficial ‘surrogacy capital of the world’.  While hundreds of babies are discarded, abandoned and orphaned due to economic, social and cultural reasons there is really no dearth of babies for adoption.   What is even more distressing is the fact that women of means in India and abroad capable of bearing children themselves take this avenue to escape the hassles of pregnancy and motherhood.

Is this some form of skewed Globalization, distorted free market and consumerism gone awry? Is this just another example of third-world exploitation of poor women for a fraction of the price by those who are unwilling to pay the high costs in their own countries?   With any stretch of imagination, can this form of consumerism be explained as a mutually beneficial relationship?  Cavanaugh rightly puts forth his premise that justice can never come to the hungry through self interested consumption. (Cavanaugh 2008, 94)

It may not necessarily be to such magnitude as surrogacy, nevertheless we are all consumers in varying degrees.  Therefore should consumerism be passed off as an indispensible evil over which one has no control?  Are we in bondage to a system without freedom?   What is the right response?  What is the Christian response?  What is the call and challenge to Christian leadership?   Cavanaugh offers a few practical and encouraging thoughts to ponder:  

a.       True freedom is found not in the uncontrolled pursuit of one’s wants and cravings but through the harnessed nurturing of the right desires.  (Cavanaugh 2008, 11).

 b.      Drawing on insights from the Eucharist, Cavanaugh posits that as the Body of Christ, we also must be willing to become food for others.   This cannot be realized without a willingness to be    pushed out of our levels of comfort and our closed commununities. (Cavanaugh 2008, 55) 

c.       We are called upon to take a ‘sacramental view’ of the world.  This will lead to a vision of everything as a part of God’s creation that has the potential to glorify God.   Taken this view, everything brings meaning to life and remains less disposable.  Consumption finds fulfillment in as much as it builds communion with God and with people  (Cavanaugh 2008, 58) 

d.      Economics is deficient when it is emptied of anthropology and Theology. (Cavanaugh 2008, 60)

The Church and Christian leadership needs to wake up to the reality that very little measures are taken to  create an awareness among their constituents,  often driving consumerism themselves, not with malicious intent but more involuntarily. 

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