"What would Jesus buy"? God for sale from a Chinese Sweatshop

Shouldn't the Association for Christian Retail be asking themselves, "What would Jesus buy"?

The embarrassing fervor of selling has turned some Christian groups into a 'Den of Thieves', but even I didn't think it would include sweatshops.

Ed Brayton of "Dispatches from the Culture Wars" just broke a story on the use of child labor in Chinese sweatshops to produce items sold in Christian stores. Conditions in the shop mentioned don't even come close to meeting minimum standards as required by Chinese law, never mind meeting basic human rights.

From the first part of what seems to be a multiple part story:

The crosses are marketed in the United States by the Association for Christian Retail (ACR, founded as the Christian Booksellers Association). ACR supplies nearly all of the nation's Christian specialty stores with a wide range of items, including Bibles, Christian books, apparel, music, videos, gifts and greeting cards.

Perhaps its largest client is Family Christian Stores, a Grand Rapids-based company that is the biggest Christian retailer in the nation with more than 300 stores. ACR did $4.63 billion in business in 2006, at least a portion of it from the crosses made by workers at the Junxingye Factory in Dongguan, China.

So although I'm somewhat forgiving of sweatshops, I find this story upsetting. Conditions in the Junxingye Factory in Dongguan, China don't even meet minimum standards by Chinese law!

From the article: "Workers are paid just 26½ cents an hour, which is half of China's legal minimum wage (already set at a below-subsistence level) of 55 cents an hour. After fees deducted for room and board, the workers take-home wage can drop to just nine cents an hour."

I'm realistic in that I know how difficult it is for a consumer to determine where and how products are made. I would attach little or no blame to the owners of these crosses. However, as an engineer, I am well aware of the amount of research I do to determine how a product is made, and I'm also aware of the research done by our Procurement department to insure that products we purchase don't violate human rights. We fly our people to other countries in order to see their factories first hand.

And we are just some electronics company, ya know? Dedicated to our customers, and not particularly holy.

I would expect a company in the business of selling Christian goods would be much more careful than the company that I work for... Read more from Calladus on Culture

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Haase Comments: Holiday Consumption - Purchase from ethical companys and manufactures, the savings you reap may be the price of your soul.