{"id":1754,"date":"2012-05-15T20:07:37","date_gmt":"2012-05-15T19:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/?p=1754"},"modified":"2012-05-15T20:07:37","modified_gmt":"2012-05-15T19:07:37","slug":"onwards-to-the-past-especially-when-slavery-is-involved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2012\/05\/15\/onwards-to-the-past-especially-when-slavery-is-involved\/","title":{"rendered":"Onwards, to the past! Especially when slavery is involved…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wow.<\/p>\n

Steve Fouch has, on the Christian Medical Fellowship’s blog, offered advice\u00a0on how to vote<\/a> in the BMA ballot on industrial action. \u00a0Now, Fouch isn’t the same as the CMF, and I don’t suppose what he writes indicates the CMF’s position any more than what I\u00a0write here represents the BMJ’s.\u00a0 Even so, what he suggests is pretty remarkable; and, in keeping with a lot of stuff from the CMF, the general advice is that the solutions to all modern problems can be found in a set of writings\u00a0edited and selected – highly selected – around 1900 years ago by men with beards.<\/p>\n

Notably,<\/p>\n

I would lay out the following biblical framework for thinking through the way we approach this dispute:<\/p>\n

Firstly,\u00a0industrial relations<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Col 3:22 \u2018Slaves obey your earthly masters in everything\u2019<\/p>\n

1 Peter 2:18 \u2018Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.\u2019<\/p>\n

1 Timothy 6:1 \u2018Let all who are under a yoke as slaves regard their own masters as worthy of all honour, so that the name of God and the teachings may not be reviled\u2019.<\/p>\n

Philippians 2:14-16\u00a0also encourages us to not be grumblers and moaners in the workplace, but to be a positive influence.<\/p>\n

It is clear that Paul and Peter, in writing these messages were urging slaves not just to do their jobs, but to be exemplary, going over and above the call of duty, and to have a positive attitude and spirit in so doing. While this is referring to the institution of slavery, the principles apply equally to modern employment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Do<\/em> they apply equally to modern employment?\u00a0 There’s no obvious reason to suppose that they do – not least because modern employment practices don’t generally rely on slavery.\u00a0 And the implication that people should just\u00a0grin and do what they’re told seems to be, at least,\u00a0open to question, irrespective of the prevailing management culture.\u00a0 (The Philippians verses give the instruction to\u00a0“Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless”; the implication is that not complaining is a criterion of goodness, and it’s the same sentiment as the\u00a0“Christian children all must be\/ mild, obedient, good” line in Once in Royal<\/em> – and\u00a0one\u00a0that I’ve always struggled to accept; but until today, I thought it was just Victorians being… well… Victorian. \u00a0I hadn’t realised that there was an apostolic precedent.)<\/p>\n

More importantly, if the institution of slavery is morally insupportable (a\u00a0claim that I don’t intend to dispute here), it’s not wholly clear why we should take our guidance about industrial relations from someone who clearly had no problems with it. \u00a0If there’s any moral criticism here, it’s not of slavery, but of slaves that get a bit uppity.\u00a0 That’s like taking lessons in community relations from Jan Smuts while insisting that his views on race don’t really matter.\u00a0 Oh, but they do.<\/p>\n

There’s more.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Romans 13, Paul urges the early church to see the governing authorities as instituted by God for the sake of all people, and therefore to act in obedience to them. Clearly Paul is not saying that we go against what is right in being subject to the government of the land \u2013 there are examples throughout scripture and the history of the church of God\u2019s people challenging the authorities when they went against God\u2019s way, and standing up for justice and righteousness in an unjust society, but we must be clear that we should not be challenging the Government unless it is failing to act in the interests of justice and peace.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It might be that Paul is a kind of Kantian avant la lettre<\/em>, (“Only a ruler who is himself enlightened… may say what no republic would dare to say: Argue as much as\u00a0you like\u00a0and about whatever you\u00a0like, but obey!<\/em>” (What is Enlightenment?, Ak 8:41))\u00a0but\u00a0I doubt it.\u00a0 Besides:\u00a0isn’t the essence of the dispute a claim that the government’s offer isn’t just?<\/p>\n

And isn’t it a bit strange to state so boldly that we should not be even challenging the government – we’re really not talking about bloody revolution –\u00a0unless certain conditions are met<\/em>? \u00a0If the proposals are just, then isn’t it still the case that the onus is on the government to show that?<\/p>\n

If medics reading this are undecided about how to vote, I’m sceptical that any Biblical readings will be much help; but I’m pretty certain that these ones in particular won’t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wow. Steve Fouch has, on the Christian Medical Fellowship’s blog, offered advice\u00a0on how to vote in the BMA ballot on industrial action. \u00a0Now, Fouch isn’t the same as the CMF, and I don’t suppose what he writes indicates the CMF’s position any more than what I\u00a0write here represents the BMJ’s.\u00a0 Even so, what he suggests […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1240,475,407],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogosphere","category-politics","category-wtf"],"yoast_head":"\nOnwards, to the past! Especially when slavery is involved... - Journal of Medical Ethics blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2012\/05\/15\/onwards-to-the-past-especially-when-slavery-is-involved\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Onwards, to the past! Especially when slavery is involved... - Journal of Medical Ethics blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Wow. Steve Fouch has, on the Christian Medical Fellowship’s blog, offered advice\u00a0on how to vote in the BMA ballot on industrial action. \u00a0Now, Fouch isn’t the same as the CMF, and I don’t suppose what he writes indicates the CMF’s position any more than what I\u00a0write here represents the BMJ’s.\u00a0 Even so, what he suggests [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2012\/05\/15\/onwards-to-the-past-especially-when-slavery-is-involved\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Journal of Medical Ethics blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-05-15T19:07:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"BMJ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"BMJ\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2012\\\/05\\\/15\\\/onwards-to-the-past-especially-when-slavery-is-involved\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2012\\\/05\\\/15\\\/onwards-to-the-past-especially-when-slavery-is-involved\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"BMJ\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe\"},\"headline\":\"Onwards, to the past! 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