Labor and Economic Freedom

 Labor and Economic Freedom Dignified[1]

 

“When Christ was born, the country of his birth was occupied by the Romans, who, like the Greeks, had an extremely low view of physical work.  In their minds physical labor was only suitable for slaves and lower classes . . . The Christian view of labor and work as honourable and God-pleasing was another of the value clashes . . . it undermined slavery . . ..”

 

“It would be helpful if people today knew and appreciated that the current practice of compensating workers, undergirded the belief that it is unjust to deprive them of fair remuneration, would not be in place today were it not for the fact that Christianity held up the norm that ‘a worker deserves his wages’.” 

 

“One’s work and economic life have little or no dignity when one lacks the freedom and the right to own property. Both are rooted in two of the Ten Commandments . . . Just as God does not want people to be coerced in spiritual matters, so too he does not want them to be coerced in earthly matters, for instance, in their economic activities. There is not a single reference in either the Old or New Testament in which God denies economic freedom to people, as do fascism, socialism, and communism.”

 

“In reality, capitalism is only a synonym for free enterprise or free market . . . An economic system which recognizes the fundamental and positive role of business, the market, private property and the resulting responsibility for the means of production, as well as free human creativity in the economic sector . . .  It does not coerce or compel individuals to make given economic transactions.  It permits individuals or companies to act voluntarily . . . The belief that the profit motive is evil and sinful does not come from the Bible.”

 

“[This system] based on economic freedom [affirms] that when people own their own property, they become animated and energetic rather than lethargic and dependent on others. Socialism could only work if human beings were totally sinless individuals.”

 

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[1] Schmidt, Alvin J., How Christianity Changed the World, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2001, Pages 194ff