Fight Poverty with Jobs, Not Prayers

Religious leaders from various faiths in Bulgaria held three days of special prayers requested by the country's president because of a spate of suicides.

It seems like Bulgaria really does need a miracle.

The cases of self-immolation, five of them fatal, are unprecedented for a European country.

Statistics show that Bulgaria's suicide rate is among the highest not only in Europe, but in the whole world. Not to mention surveys about gloomy demographics - we have a surfeit of them.

No matter how good the intentions of the president are, no matter how much the church wants to inspire hope among the desperate, prayers will not get us out of the economic, social and spiritual crisis we are stuck in.

We need jobs.

All measures should aim first and primarily at creating new jobs, revive the small towns where people are struggling to make end meet every single day. Most cases of self-immolation were a cry of despair - no work, no money, no hope for a normal life.

Of course, we need faith too. But here we are talking about people who simply find it hard to survive, literally.

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