Faith Meets Life: Original (Corporation) Sin
Many years ago I recorded some songs
and sold the recordings at performances. I
still have a box of 45 vinyl discs to prove it.
During that time I learned something about
business that I thought was very cool. If you
incorporate a business, it becomes a kind of
person. It can borrow money, own assets,
pay back loans, hire people and so on. A
business can carry the financial risk for new
ventures, a risk that the owner might not
have to take on herself.
Corporations are key engines for the creation of goods, services and wealth in the modern world. They are everywhere. They, apparently, feed, clothe, shelter and medicate us from the birth room to the palliative care unit. We can scarcely imagine a world without Nike, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Scotiabank, the CBC, Loblaws, Pfizer, Warner Brothers, Microsoft, Monsanto, and Molsons. (This, in spite of the fact that up till 100 or so years ago, we lived without them.)
We like corporations. We buy their products. Their advertisements are entertaining. They pay well. They teach us what to think. They help provide a tax base for our cities like London so the roads get paved. They determine what's hot and what's not. They try to show us how to imagine the future.
However, they also have a down side. The film, The Corporation, depicts the dangerous, even what it calls “pathological,” aspects of modern business. It traces the history of the corporation from small, temporary institutions to entities that embrace the planet and can seemingly never disappear.
The film documents how corporations are much like persons, not only in their abilities to borrow money, hire, buy, sell and so forth. They are also like persons in that they can mislead and pollute.
According to the film, corporations are guilty of pathological behaviours such as “callous disregard for the feelings of others,” “reckless disregard for the safety of others,” “deceitfulness,” and “failure to conform to social norms and laws.”
The film does hold out some hope for change. In one scene the CEO of a major carpet manufacturer confessed that his company had a disastrous environmental record. He called himself a “plunderer of the earth.” Since that confession, the company has, according to the film reduced its negative environmental impact by 30 per cent.
So corporations, also like persons, can confess their sins and repent. “Repent” in the original Christian sense means “change” as in “change the direction of your thoughts and actions.”
Critics and commentators have offered their own insights into how things should be changed. Perhaps having a different body of regulations will help. Perhaps there needs to be more public ownership of large business entities.
In recent decades the idea of “original sin” has taken more than a few hits. We tend to be offended by the teaching of Roman Catholic and Protestant churches that all of us are prone to be destructive and egocentric, contrary to the purposes for which we have been created.
Perhaps though, observing the behaviour of corporations can help us to re-examine the doctrine of original sin. The Corporation helps show that whatever economic and social structures we create, and whatever their benefits, none escapes being tainted by a deep-seated selfishness and the capacity to turn away from the victims of our way(s) of life.
The biblical-Christian accounting of life reveals that change must begin with me, with you, with all of us. Change/repentance from self-aggrandizing spending habits and pathological corporate behaviours depends, in the end on a change of heart and a will to speak and behave differently.
We are called to a life that does not conform to the numbing visions of life we foist on ourselves through our mutual commitment to corporation profits. Hope must begin with a recognition of the Creator and his (if you need to say “her” that's ok) summons to live creatively and compassionately, with our first priority not to make profits so we can live in a constant state of excess, but to care for our neighbour.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
Corporations are key engines for the creation of goods, services and wealth in the modern world. They are everywhere. They, apparently, feed, clothe, shelter and medicate us from the birth room to the palliative care unit. We can scarcely imagine a world without Nike, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Scotiabank, the CBC, Loblaws, Pfizer, Warner Brothers, Microsoft, Monsanto, and Molsons. (This, in spite of the fact that up till 100 or so years ago, we lived without them.)
We like corporations. We buy their products. Their advertisements are entertaining. They pay well. They teach us what to think. They help provide a tax base for our cities like London so the roads get paved. They determine what's hot and what's not. They try to show us how to imagine the future.
However, they also have a down side. The film, The Corporation, depicts the dangerous, even what it calls “pathological,” aspects of modern business. It traces the history of the corporation from small, temporary institutions to entities that embrace the planet and can seemingly never disappear.
The film documents how corporations are much like persons, not only in their abilities to borrow money, hire, buy, sell and so forth. They are also like persons in that they can mislead and pollute.
According to the film, corporations are guilty of pathological behaviours such as “callous disregard for the feelings of others,” “reckless disregard for the safety of others,” “deceitfulness,” and “failure to conform to social norms and laws.”
The film does hold out some hope for change. In one scene the CEO of a major carpet manufacturer confessed that his company had a disastrous environmental record. He called himself a “plunderer of the earth.” Since that confession, the company has, according to the film reduced its negative environmental impact by 30 per cent.
So corporations, also like persons, can confess their sins and repent. “Repent” in the original Christian sense means “change” as in “change the direction of your thoughts and actions.”
Critics and commentators have offered their own insights into how things should be changed. Perhaps having a different body of regulations will help. Perhaps there needs to be more public ownership of large business entities.
In recent decades the idea of “original sin” has taken more than a few hits. We tend to be offended by the teaching of Roman Catholic and Protestant churches that all of us are prone to be destructive and egocentric, contrary to the purposes for which we have been created.
Perhaps though, observing the behaviour of corporations can help us to re-examine the doctrine of original sin. The Corporation helps show that whatever economic and social structures we create, and whatever their benefits, none escapes being tainted by a deep-seated selfishness and the capacity to turn away from the victims of our way(s) of life.
The biblical-Christian accounting of life reveals that change must begin with me, with you, with all of us. Change/repentance from self-aggrandizing spending habits and pathological corporate behaviours depends, in the end on a change of heart and a will to speak and behave differently.
We are called to a life that does not conform to the numbing visions of life we foist on ourselves through our mutual commitment to corporation profits. Hope must begin with a recognition of the Creator and his (if you need to say “her” that's ok) summons to live creatively and compassionately, with our first priority not to make profits so we can live in a constant state of excess, but to care for our neighbour.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
