Should Christians work in the arms industry?

Q. Should Christians work in the arms industry?

Like many things in life, this is a complicated issue. A Christian mechanical engineer helps his company design equipment used in military systems. The devices he works on are not inherently violent, but they may power equipment intended to be used as weapons of war. With military spending increasing, at what point does doing one’s job become participation in something a Christian cannot support?

Perhaps the place to begin is with the question of why countries have a defence system in the first place. At home, I have a lock on my front door. In some places that my family have lived, we have had a burglar alarm. We know that break-ins can sometimes be violent, and a lock or a burglar alarm offers protection. 

Likewise, a country has a responsibility to protect itself and its members, and that may mean having appropriate defensive equipment in order to ward off hostile attack. But, of course, this is where the grey areas begin.

You may possess equipment for defensive purposes, but what happens if a government is tempted to use this aggressively rather than defensively? To take territory belonging to somebody else, for example. The person who made the equipment may have done so in good faith. But they might find their equipment is used in ways they deeply disapprove of.

I have great respect for the conscience of somebody who asks these sorts of questions. I suggest seeking counsel and wisdom as a good first step. It may be that, in consultation with a wise spiritual adviser, you decide that you need to find an alternative job.

I have met people who worked in the tobacco industry and were perfectly happy to do so. Some were smokers and were ignorant – whether wilfully or otherwise – to the fact that cigarettes kill people. Today many people might decide that they could not work in that industry because more is now known about the effect on human health.

The same questions could be applied to gambling, alcohol and other industries. There are many things that human beings manufacture which can be used in ways that do not glorify God.

Perhaps future generations will look back at some of the things we presently see as ‘good’ and ask uncomfortable questions. They may say we knew perfectly well that cars pollute the atmosphere and damage ecosystems, and yet we went on making and driving them, for example.

There isn’t a simple rule which settles every case. Christians need wisdom, prayer and good counsel as they navigate them.

But perhaps more of us ought to ask about our work: “Is what I am doing revealing the glory of God and contributing to the building of His kingdom?”

If, in good conscience, we eventually decide that the answer is “no”, we should all be prepared to ask what God might be calling us to do instead.

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