There have been a lot of boycotts encouraged by Christians of various stripes whether it be Disney World or Abercrombie and Fitch or what have you. Thus Joe Carter of the Gospel Coalition sets out to answer whether this is something Christians should engage in or not.
Here is an excerpt–one where Carter happens to quote our very own Alan Noble:
To clarify, the term boycott here refers to the act of refusing to use, buy, or deal with a business as an expression of protest or as a means of economic coercion. The concern, for Christians, should be with the coercion part. Simply refusing to participate in an economic transaction with an individual or company is not a boycott. Our choosing not to spend money on lottery tickets is a values-based economic decision, but it is not a form of coercion. As Alan Noble recently said, “Whether it is through votes or dollars, coercing someone to accept our position is nihilistic: it suggests that real change—change of heart and mind—is impossible, or unlikely, and so the safest bet is to make it profitable to adopt our beliefs.”
Forcing someone to adopt our beliefs—whether by violence or economic threat—is a questionable use of our economic power. “Nonviolent resistance,” Tinder writes in his book Political Thinking, “is a way of using power and is thoroughly political.” Tinder’s claim brings to mind the claim of the brilliant Prussian strategist Carl von Clausewitz: “War is nothing but a continuation of politics with the admixture of other means.” Nonviolent resistance may sometimes be a legitimate political act. But by mixing in the coercive tactic of boycotts we may be turning away from righteousness toward an unjust form of economic warfare.
If you haven’t done so already, be sure to check out Alan’s feature, Two Can Play at That: What Komen can Teach us about Boycotts.
Of course, changing people’s hearts is always the best option. But if that’s not immediately possible, I think the least we can do is help the people they’re hurting. If somebody boycotts chocolate that is not fair trade, i.e., chocolate that uses unpaid child labor, it’s not to say that they wouldn’t like to change the hearts and minds of people who think that’s an acceptable thing to do for profit. I would love to see corporate executives experience a true conversion of heart and investigate the sources of their chocolate themselves, but if we wait for that to happen, we would be allowing countless suffering to occur. However, if boycotters succeed in forcing companies to stop turning a blind eye to their methods, they are still helping to free child slaves. And I can never consider that to be a bad thing.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that we as the church should hold the state accountable for making sure laws are just and encourage the passing of ethical laws, if that doesn’t work then we are to serve and help those who suffer as a result of said unjust laws and if things continue – If we love God, we must actively fight against the Government to force change.
I think something similar could be said to how we deal with business. We are to encourage business to have good practice and not to exploit anybody in order to do so. That hasn’t worked with companies like Nestle, for instance. The church already does a stellar job in humanitarian work for third world countries, helping those whom companies like Nestle are abusing. Non violent protesting, boycotting and spreading awareness are ways I believe that we as Christians can fight against such companies.
It should be our last resort, and companies should want to do the right thing because it’s the right thing – but it’s not always the case.
Because of negative media attention, and boycotting, companies like Cadbury, Nestle and Mars have started to change their actions.
The gospel requires action, not just faith, not just prayer and not just words.
Blessing