Defence equipment⤒🔗

Just imagine that you are working as an employee of a company that makes defence equipment. You do not object at all against the word “defence,” which means “to defend” oneself. You also readily cooperate in producing weapons, for you are not a pacifist. Your own country is to be protected, and the same applies to other friendly nations. This is impossible to do without weapons.

But now you are working for a company that perhaps also supplies defence equipment to… aggressors. You do not know all the details, but you do know that dictators like to use “defence” equipment in an aggressive manner. And you would not like to earn your daily bread by assisting these regimes in any way.

In the past, a subordinate would just obey the instructions of his superior — a command is a command — but nowadays the worker may speak up. Also, law-abiding Reformed people know that the worker’s position is regulated via a contract, and therefore has a voluntary character. The times that the lord had a slave, or that the master had a servant, have passed. Of course, you are to stick to a contract (per the ninth commandment), but the contract itself has a limited character. If you have worked somewhere for a while, and you say: I can no longer work here because very unchristian things are happening here, you can then terminate your position.

Cultural Mandate←⤒🔗

But yes, that is easier said than done. New jobs are not that easy to find, and before you know it, there are also unchristian things happening in your next job that cause you grief. Again, you are being confronted with the question: What am I doing, and what is the purpose of me working?

This question is posed quite regularly, especially by our people. They know of the “cultural mandate.” The earth is to be subdued, according to the command in Genesis 1:28. That is a beautiful goal, and there are many people who are indeed able to place their daily work in that perspective. But there are also thousands of people who are unable to do so. How does “subduing the earth” and meaningful “culture” tie in, if the defence equipment you help make not only lands in good hands, but equally lands in the hands of those who have evil purposes? Those who struggle with this question would like to know from an ethicist about the length and breadth of the employee’s responsibility. What, in the place where he is employed, can he “accept” and what must he object to?

Spiritual Pacifism←⤒🔗

There is an answer to this question which I will not give, but I do want to mention it. The easiest solution (on paper at least) would be to shrink back from all problems! You quit your job in the defence equipment factory, for you refuse even the chance that communists would use any materials that are produced by you. You leave the police force, because you do not want to be at the motor races in Zandvoort on a Sunday, or on that day have to maintain order in the Ajax soccer stadium. You quit your administrative job at the local newspaper, because the paper contains bad editorials. You quit your job at a publisher, who publishes good reading materials, but also publishes liberal articles. You are tired of working for a pharmacy where you sometimes have to work on prescriptions for “medicine” that supports euthanasia.

I do not recommend this solution to anyone, and not because it would be hard to find a new job in this time of rampant unemployment. It is better to go through life without work, but with a clear conscience, than to keep working at a job where God does not want us to be. But is this what God wants? Paul says that we are to interact in this world with prostitutes, the greedy, scammers, and idol worshippers. Not in the church, but in the world. For otherwise we would have to step outside of this world. And that is quite impossible. In the world of the cultural mandate we cannot escape a variety of godless situations.

Prostitution and idol worship are found everywhere — in many factories, in many activities. If you want to avoid all of this, you are looking for a monastery instead of the world. I would like to say that if you try this, you end up in the trap of spiritual pacifism. A pacifist does not want to manufacture any weapons, not even to protect his own country. But also a spiritual pacifist does not want to take up the weapons in the place where he must use them: in the world, with all the prostitutes, tax collectors, and idol worshippers.

Where Is the Border?←⤒🔗

Can we then just go everywhere, and it does not matter how bad the company is where someone works? That is the other extreme. There are companies and businesses where a Christian should stay out. No one should be working in a sex shop or a porn store. And it is also wrong if someone can never attend church on Sundays, because his job or sports activities do not allow him to do so.

Also, those who cannot attach any redeeming value in any way to the work that they do should quit their job. Precisely because we are not slaves and can also say “no” to a job, we must be able to make a connection between what we do and what benefits our neighbour, for subduing the earth, for the protection of the environment, or however it can be worded in a positive manner. If we are able to do this, even when it is flawed, then we should think twice before we switch to another job.

Take the factory making defence equipment. Whoever would quit his job there, based on the fact that the company delivers to good but also to bad customers, does not act wisely. If all employees would leave, what will happen to the good customers’ orders?

Humble Responsibility←⤒🔗

Where we can exert influence, we ought to do so. If we are spiritually resilient and not spiritually pacifistic, we will use the possibilities that are available in these modern times. If something goes awry and it hurts our conscience, we must speak up. We should not say too quickly that we cannot exert any influence. By utilizing, for example, the work council, or the trade organization who will plead our case, certain matters can definitely be influenced.

But it does not always work out to modify a wrong policy. An important factor then is that the responsibility we have often has a limited nature. Also this we have to soberly admit. I would almost say: we should be happy with that! More and more labour contracts contain clauses for those who object for matters of conscience, by which persons can be exempted from certain tasks. If other people determine the policies, or do tasks from which I can remain exempt, I am not responsible for all these things.

I do not need to know everything, and I do not need to ask about everything. A pharmacy assistant can think whatever she wants about a certain medicine she is giving out, but she is not the doctor who prescribed this medicine, nor the pharmacist who in the end is responsible for giving the medicine, and she is not the customer who will take this medicine.

A nurse can sometimes be very clear about not wanting to work here or there — for example in a ward where abortions are performed. But also in other hospital wards it can at times become difficult for her, in being confronted with modern medical views. She is not to be quiet then when the team is discussing matters. But at the same time, it is very well possible that she can remain as a Christian in her subservient role. A nurse can forward objections against a euthanasia procedure, but if she does not have to do this procedure herself, it is quite possible that she may continue to do her (good) work in said ward.

Someone who works for a publisher and has to attract authors has a greater responsibility than the person who corrects or processes the copy received. And the person who wants to work for a daily newspaper as editor should think about how (s)he can do this as a Christian. This is much more difficult than the boy who wants to earn some extra money by delivering The Daily Mail to subscribers every morning. Also, a Christian letter carrier delivers a lot of mail which he would not want to receive in his own mailbox.

If someone would ask me then, where exactly are the borders, and what is still allowed, and what is not, then I have to say: I do not have the answer. And not just me, but everyone. It is completely impossible for all Christians in all their “worldly” situations, to determine where they can and where they cannot work together with other people, who have “worldly” thoughts and lead “worldly” lives.

Here you can only give general guidelines. And then I would like to summarize these as follows: Be a Christian in word and deed in the place where you work, and only leave when you are sure that staying would result in your own actions being against what God commands.

Questions and Assignments←⤒🔗

1. In 1978 The Netherlands ratified the European Social Charter, by which it also agreed to article 6 paragraph 4 of this Charter. Article 6 is about the right to bargain collectively: “With a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right to bargain collectively, the Contracting Parties undertake: (paragraph 4) the right of workers and employers to collective action in cases of conflicts of interest, including the right to strike, subject to obligations that might arise out of collective agreements previously entered into.”
   If you read the above, can you say then that striking is sinning against the fifth commandment? Do you think that striking is sinning against the ninth commandment?Support your answers.
2. In 1952, the Reformed Civil Covenant was founded (Gereformeerd Maatschappelijk Verbond – GMV), a trade covenant of employees and employers together.
   Could you name a principled argument why the RCC did not want separate organizations for employees and for employers?
   The RCC is against striking, unless continuing to work is a sin. What do you think about this? Include in your answer what RCC’s thoughts against collective action have to do with labour relations.
   Try to figure out what the position is of the Reformed Political Party (Gereformeerd Politiek Verbond – GPV) with regards to striking and other collective actions. In their election brochure “On Course for Tomorrow” (1986) you can find information about this. (Op koers naar morgen – 1986).
3. a)   What does Prof. Douma mean with “spiritual pacifism,” and how should one judge this?
   b)   What can you learn in this regard from 1 Corinthians 5:9-10?
4. Can you give examples of legitimate work on Sundays?
   Think about necessary services, works of mercy, religious services.