Or at least the churches that I have been to, do.
Allow me to explain.
Aristotle famously said that some people are "natural slaves," or in other words, that they are born to be slaves. What he meant was that some people are not as capable of rational thought as others. These people should do manual work so that the more intellectually talented people are freed to pursue their intellectual labours easily.
In this post, I want to argue that although this is a deeply problematic belief, unfortunately, many Indians (including Christians) hold to it.
Work as a curse
Why does Aristotle hold to such a view?
The Ancient Greeks viewed work as a curse. In their mythology, the golden age in the past was a time when humans did not have to work. Since work was a curse, it was delegated for the slaves to perform. This freed up the free citizen to pursue a life of virtue — by engaging in 'pure exercises of the mind' — art, philosophy and politics.
The pure exercises of the mind were not considered work. And therefore, it was honourable for the gentleman to engage in them.
Let's think about our cultural values today. We may say that we don't believe in slavery. But the idea behind Aristotle's "Natural Slavery" is an idea that is alive and well in our culture.
Think about a person facing the choice between being a cab driver and being a bank teller. Suppose the remuneration is the same for both roles, which job would be preferred according to our cultural values? My guess is that most of us would prefer the bank teller job. Perhaps our value system is not so removed from an Aristotelian mode of thinking after all.
White-collar office work is preferred over blue-collar physical work because we believe that intellectual labour is the more 'honourable labour.' It is not as cursed as physical labour.
However, this belief goes contrary to what the Bible teaches. The Biblical teaching is that God created work and work is good. Even before sin entered the world, humans were created to work the garden and keep it.
In fact, God himself works. He works with his hands. The creation account specifies that God took dust and made man (Gen-02:7). He later physically removes the rib of man and forms woman (Gen-02:21,22). When God comes down to us as a human, he comes as a carpenter, who works with his hands — he comes as a blue-collar worker.
Perhaps we Christians have become far too conformed to the values of this world when we think that engineering is more 'honourable' or less cursed than carpentry.
But is it money and not honour that drives such decisions?
One possible objection to the claim that we hold to slavery could be that we prefer intellectual labour not because it is more honourable, but because it pays more.
Even if people choose jobs solely because of the pay, that is still a reflection of an Aristotelian worldview — that work is a curse.
When we pick a job only for the money it provides, we are indirectly saying that work itself is evil. We say that work is not good, only the money that it provides is good. The good I do is not the spreadsheets I analyse or the sofas I create, it is the money I earn to provide for my family.
But the Biblical understanding is that God created man for work. And work is good. Even before sin, in Eden, humans worked the garden. Work helps us realise our full humanity.
Signs of belief in slavery
Here are some signs that will show us if our church culture holds to an Aristotelian idea of slavery:
Are there young people who would enjoy physical labour and don't enjoy looking at spreadsheets who still feel pressured to choose careers looking at spreadsheets because blue-collar work would be beneath them? If yes, perhaps our culture believes in slavery.
Are there people struggling to find their preferred work, and instead of providing value to society by doing whatever work is available (such as being delivery agents or waiting tables at restaurants), they choose not to work? Perhaps the culture still believes in slavery.
Do our churches have people engaged in a wide variety of work and trade — both physical and intellectual work? If not, is it not possible that we have bought into the world's lie that people who do physical labour are beneath (like slaves) people who do intellectual labour?
Good article sir caleb