Public Faith and Finance: Faith responses to the financial crisis

The report, Public Faith and Finance, highlights the role and contributions of faith organisations in responding to the financial crisis and austerity politics. Based on research carried out by Dr Therese O’Toole and Dr Ekaterina Braginskaia at the Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship at the University of Bristol, the report examines how faith organisations from across faith traditions are: providing forms of assistance to those experiencing financial hardship; engaging in activism and campaigning to reform financial products and services; advocating or providing alternative faith-based or ethical forms of finance. In a context of welfare retrenchment and increasing financial exclusion, faith organisations, including from minority faiths, are not just plugging the gaps, but setting out alternative and often innovative approaches to welfare and economic justice.