Week 6: Slogans, Labels and Priorities

WEEK 6 PowerPoint (click here)

There are so many labels out there. What do they all mean? Can I trust them? How do I support the causes that are important to me without get caught up in the hype of a particular campaign?

It is a tangle. To help with separating the slogans, we need some priorities. We need to establish which concern(s) and associated labels take precedent over others. So, labels aside for a moment, here is a list of priorities (in order of most important to least) that Wally and Eowyn use to guide our consumer decisions.

1. Slavery. Avoid purchase of goods and services produced or delivered by salves.

2. Wages. Avoid goods and services produced or delivered by workers who are under paid for their labor or product.

3. Work conditions (safety and respect).

4. Health of our family. Avoid food or products that are harmful to our family's health.

5. Treatment of Animals. Avoid goods and services rendered under conditions that constitute mis-treatment of animals.

6. Preservation of the environment. Avoid goods and services that are produced or delivered at the negligence of the environment (global or local.)


Recommended application of these 6 weeks: 

• Apply some priority list to your shopping practices.
• Start with one type of shopping: groceries, clothes, electronics and see how it goes.
• Be willing to wait on a purchase that seems to challenge your important priorities.

Week 5: Conflict Minerals Sources and Waste

Conflict Minerals

Week 5 PowerPoint Presentation

So, do you have a TV, a cellphone, a computer, a microwave, a programmable thermostat, any other electronics? Where did the internal components originate? Were they mined under gunpoint and other means of force and extortion? Were the proceeds used to purchase weapons?

Introduction from the ENOUGHproject


Conflict Minerals Company Report Card 2012


E-Waste
After you've used it up, HOW do you throw it away? Is it really recycled? Are others harmed by it? 

E-Waste Recycling Report Card Hands

Don't Give in to the "Hype"

Romans 12:3 (ESV) says, "For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned."

If you research some of the topics that we have discussed in this Sunday Morning Community, you will most certainly run across a healthy dose (or should I say unhealthy dose) of "hype". You will find bloggers condemning corporations and calling for violent activism. You will find warnings of great harm and imminent death for consumption of various products. 

Some of these statements may have some truth to them and maybe even a lot of truth, but, as believers, we need to be on our guard against the "hype" surrounding a particular topic.

We should use faith-filled, sober judgement to consider the argument, the research studies, the pros/cons, etc. We should not be caught up in one movement or another. If we are a part of a "movement", let it be the advancement of the Kingdom. The Kingdom reign of Jesus Christ covers every single aspect of our lives and our world. 

When we are convinced, even passionately convinced that we have a part to play in promoting justice in the context of our consumer decisions, we  must continue with sober judgement as we act, share, argue, etc. in response.

Week 4: Grocery Shopping

PowerPoint presentation (click here to view)

Think about it...

From http://sojo.net/magazine/2006/05/shopping-justice

The typical supermarket contains 30,000 different items, according to Frances and Anna Lappé in their book Hope’s Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet. How did I choose only eight on my last Super Giant run? Just for fun, I try recalling the split-second, subconscious deliberations.

I shove aside the FEB 22 milks to find one labeled FEB 27. I pick up five loaves of bread and choose Arnold, for the sunflower seeds. Gala apples, because the Romes look waxy. Welch’s grape juice, for the attractive label. Quaker oats, because that’s what mom buys. Collard greens, because the sign says “Locally Grown.” (I ignore the rubber band that reads “Buy Texas.”)

I am stumped by the eggs. You can get white eggs or brown eggs; small, medium, large, or jumbo eggs; vegetarian-fed (but not cage-free) eggs, or soy-fed (but not necessarily vegetarian) cage-free eggs. I choose cage-free, even though I suspect it means barn-floor. En route to the register, I also choose some Oreo cookies, because—ahem—the display case is in my way.

In retrospect, my decisions were a shot in the dark. I couldn’t tell you where anything began, how it ended up at Giant, who baked or picked or laid it, or how they were treated. For all I know, everything sprouted in the aisles. My choices, then, were based on appearances, mostly, and any other information provided on packages or signs.

Consider: Does my grocery shopping warrant a more careful evaluation of "from whence it came?" :-)

Try this:

J. Matthew Sleeth lists the following criteria (based on Biblical principles) in his book, Serve God, Save the Planet. 

1. In the case of a food shortage, Christians should be careful to limit their intake to a "fair share".

2. Christians should refrain from eating food obtained immorally: stolen, produced by slave labor or unacceptable child labor, or from mis-treated animals.

3. Christians should refrain from eating food that is harmful to ourselves.

4. Christians should refrain from food when the growing, harvesting, storing, or cooking of it is harmful to others.

Think about it, look at it from several angles, argue with them, play devil's advocate and see if you agree. Don't throw all 4 away when 1 of them does not seem to line up with Biblical principles. Consider each one.

Resources (directly from Everyday Justice)

The Ethics of What We Eat: a book by Peter Singer and Jim Mason

Food Inc.: a movie with a look at our industrialized food industry.

www.themeatrix.com: Short, smart-alec (but serious) spoofs of the Matrix Trilogy that encourage a careful look at corporate farms (animals).

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers: Website promoting justice for the farm help in Florida.

Week 3: What We Wear.

Class Materials
PowerPoint presentation (Click Here to view)


Give Thought:
Are you caught up in popular "excuses" for avoiding ethically sourced clothing?

1.Ethically made clothing isn’t stylish:

A.Be careful with placing style over loving others.

B.Myth. No true, anyway.

2.Ethically made clothing is more expensive.

A.Consider the hidden costs.

B.Consider having fewer items of clothing.

C.Be aware: This is even more challenging with kids. J

3.I can’t find clothing that is wholly or fully ethically made.

A.Beware the “charity donor” labels.

B.Are you up for the challenge? Make some calls, send emails: ask tough ?’s

4.If I don’t buy ethically made clothing, at least the workers in the sweatshops will still have jobs.

A.Take care to avoid assumptions that assume that “things can never change.”

B.Consider alternatives to boycott: Reform is possible. Ask, Demand, Campaign for it.

Slightly edited from Everyday Justice by Julie Clawson, Chapter 5 “Clothes”

Current Events (Sweatshops)

Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, aka The National Labor Committee

Want to Go Shopping?

Google terms: 

"Ethically sourced ___________ (shirts, pants, lingerie, pajamas, etc.)"

"Fairly Traded garments"

Free2Work website: scores various manufacturers and producers of many products. Includes apps for smartphones.

Conviction or Guilt-trip?

[This is a bonus post and this content is included in the Week 3 class.]

I want to highlight a concern that some of you may have, a fear that is common to all of us. We don't like feeling guilty and so, we sometimes avoid conflicts, discussions, research or other information that leads us on a "guilt-trip".

I would like to recommend to you that "guilt-trips" are not God-honoring. Conviction, however, is the direct and effective work of the Holy Spirit. Consider the following set of distinctions to draw the contrast between the two.

A "guilt-trip" demands primary attention. It eats at us, consumes us and requires that we either solve the problem or explain it away. We are unable to rest or focus on the other (usually more important) priorities of life until we have eliminated the feeling of guilt. For overwhelming "guilt-trips" that are not easily alleviated, we tend toward depression, despair and at the far end of spectrum -- suicide.

Conviction, on the other hand, is a part of a process. It is a wrestling in our souls. We are sanctified, uplifted and encouraged by the reformation that is at work within us.There is no rush or hurry. This is not to say that the Holy Spirit is easily put off or that convictions do not include urgency, but the Holy Spirit has called us to live a life that is constantly being made new. It is His process. He knows how it works. He knows that a rush to judgement, a quick resolution or an easy justification will only result in temporary change. The heart is not getting involved. Conviction by the Holy Spirit is working on our hearts. He intends for us to live and to live confidently and wholeheartedly out of our convictions. 

Convictions drive us to a joyful wonder. Think of it as a stroll with Jesus: head up, eyes forward.

"Guilt-trips" capture our mind and our feelings with immediate demands. Think of it as a frantic hopping, from one concern to the next: head down, consumed with the problems.

Week 2: Is it Worth the Price...

...of Poverty or Slavery?

Self-reflection Questions of the week: 

1. Do my purchases of coffee and sugar/chocolate promote justice, i.e. actively show love? Is it my responsibility to show love in every transaction? If not, when is it acceptable (i.e. pleasing to God) for me to be unloving?

2. Am I responsible for the wage paid to a worker who works directly for me? What about indirectly? How many middle-men does it take before I am no longer responsible?

3. When I buy a product, did the raw materials farmer, miner or producer “work for me”, in the sense of question #2?

4. IF I am convinced that the workers are not adequately paid or that slaves or children were forced to harvest the raw materials; does that amount to my promotion of injustice?

Intro Activity:

Write 5 key bullet points for a child labor law. Which criteria would your own personal law include if you were to ban child labor?

 -  Helper Question (think of it another way): Is it ever acceptable for a child to do some work?
    Why? Under what conditions or circumstances? (or Why Not?)


Week 2 Summary

Coffee Injustice: wages…kept back by fraud, defrauded laborers. 

Sugar/Chocolate Injustice: oppression of fatherless, wicked bonds.

(View PowerPoint presentation for details)

Resources and Links

The Price of Sugar (click here for webpage)

Fair Trade Chocolate


After the Harvest. Fighting Hunger in the Coffeelands


Fair Trade Resource (movies, teaching tools, etc.)

How Many Slaves work for you? Take the survey at slaveryfootprint.org