Christianity and Ethical Consumerism

"Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless;

maintain the rights for the poor and oppressed. " -Psalm 82:3

"If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor,

he too will cry out and not be answered." -Prov. 21:13

"Do not exploit the poor because they are poor

and do not crush the needy in court,

for the Lord will take up their case

and will plunder those who plunder them. " -Prov. 22:22-23

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,

for the rights of all who are destitute.

Speak up and judge fairly;

defend the rights of the poor and needy." -Prov. 31:8-9

Education and awareness are the only ways to bring about justice to the social atrocities that plague our world. God calls Christians to not turn a blind eye to the injustices of the poor and needy--yet in many ways we unknowingly promote it by the choices we make in our daily lives.

Let me use coffee as an example--not because I'm insanely passionate about coffee, rather, coffee is the 2nd largest traded commodity in the world and by simply choosing a coffee product that is produced by a socially responsible company, we can have a significant effect on the economies and livelihoods of these poor farming countries.

The fact that many of us know this, yet still choose otherwise I believe is directly ignoring God's word. If people are uneducated/unaware, they have an excuse, but if we know that the $6.00 cup of coffee we are lackadaisically enjoying came from the hands of a poor, uneducated farmer who pulled his 8 year old son out of school or the chocolate candy bar we consume came from the hands of a 7 year old child slave, shouldn't we chose differently? What has to happen before we become advocates of ethical consumerism?

Learn more about how you can support the cause by shopping here.