trade ethics
I've already been talking to some people about the role that English Christians played in abolishing the slave trade. If I could find a copy of the article that set me off on this, I'd give you more details, but as it is I'm relying on memory (it was an article in the Banner of Truth sometime in the middle of last year). It named six people, including William Cowper the poet, who campaigned tirelessly against slavery; one of them at least took the drastic step of deciding not to take sugar in their tea any more in protest (sugar being contaminated with the blood of fellow human beings).
Then the other day I was dipping into old church magazines, and right alongside articles on things like the inspiration of scripture, quotes from the Puritans, and sermons preached at Highland communions, there were repeated comments and observations on the opium trade with China which was going on at the time (1906-ish). The magazines were inveighing against this as a degrading and immoral practice, and they were every bit as vehement against it as against, say, the evils of Higher Criticism. On a nearly monthly basis there was some comment or other, either applauding the efforts of the Chinese to stop it, or exhorting the British government to get more diligent about taking their part (eg in clamping down on the trading companies, who were taking advantage of some loophole I couldn't quite follow). They also kept a close eye on legislation to do with 'sweating': they slated it as oppression and they were scathing about employers who didn't save their workers from atrocious conditions like that. Also, of course, they loudly championed the right of postal workers (among others) not to have to work on the Sabbath.
The point of mentioning all this is because it adds to my suspicion that it's only relatively recently that people have started divorcing doctrine from social practice - making out that people or churches who care about doctrinal issues are uninterested in the welfare of others round about them, or expecting those who are active in social causes to only have a vague and fluffy kind of theology behind them. It's maybe most evident when you implement the fourth commandment that closely adhering to the truths in the Bible actually obligates you to take an interest in the bigger social issues. If you really believe in the connection between the sabbath and redemption, just say, then it has to be a concern that other people are free to make use of the sabbath too. 'In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant.' Even at that level, regulating and safeguarding the amount of time that people have to spend working, is an outworking of a doctrine.
The other thing I wondered was what today's predominant ethical issue is. Your first instinct is to name abortion and euthanasia, but in a way, these are maybe issues in the lives of individuals, who have the ability to make a choice. On the grand scale, in the realm of things that are outwith their victims' control, I would suggest that it's unfair international trade practices that call loudest for attention - tarriffs and subsidies affecting Third World farmers say. When there are means and tools within our reach which might help to reduce or challenge the negative impact of trade injustices (just say for the sake of argument, buying goods that are fairly traded) then I'm feeling an increasing obligation to use these. 'Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the LORD your God.' Leviticus 25.
Then the other day I was dipping into old church magazines, and right alongside articles on things like the inspiration of scripture, quotes from the Puritans, and sermons preached at Highland communions, there were repeated comments and observations on the opium trade with China which was going on at the time (1906-ish). The magazines were inveighing against this as a degrading and immoral practice, and they were every bit as vehement against it as against, say, the evils of Higher Criticism. On a nearly monthly basis there was some comment or other, either applauding the efforts of the Chinese to stop it, or exhorting the British government to get more diligent about taking their part (eg in clamping down on the trading companies, who were taking advantage of some loophole I couldn't quite follow). They also kept a close eye on legislation to do with 'sweating': they slated it as oppression and they were scathing about employers who didn't save their workers from atrocious conditions like that. Also, of course, they loudly championed the right of postal workers (among others) not to have to work on the Sabbath.
The point of mentioning all this is because it adds to my suspicion that it's only relatively recently that people have started divorcing doctrine from social practice - making out that people or churches who care about doctrinal issues are uninterested in the welfare of others round about them, or expecting those who are active in social causes to only have a vague and fluffy kind of theology behind them. It's maybe most evident when you implement the fourth commandment that closely adhering to the truths in the Bible actually obligates you to take an interest in the bigger social issues. If you really believe in the connection between the sabbath and redemption, just say, then it has to be a concern that other people are free to make use of the sabbath too. 'In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant.' Even at that level, regulating and safeguarding the amount of time that people have to spend working, is an outworking of a doctrine.
The other thing I wondered was what today's predominant ethical issue is. Your first instinct is to name abortion and euthanasia, but in a way, these are maybe issues in the lives of individuals, who have the ability to make a choice. On the grand scale, in the realm of things that are outwith their victims' control, I would suggest that it's unfair international trade practices that call loudest for attention - tarriffs and subsidies affecting Third World farmers say. When there are means and tools within our reach which might help to reduce or challenge the negative impact of trade injustices (just say for the sake of argument, buying goods that are fairly traded) then I'm feeling an increasing obligation to use these. 'Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the LORD your God.' Leviticus 25.
posted by cath at
1:41 pm
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