Saturday, October 15, 2005
Corporate Spirituality & the Co-opting of Religion
Corporate Spirituality & the Co-opting of Religion
(Book Notes: Christianity Incorporated)
American churches have aligned themselves with American nationalism in a way that has caused Christianity here to be as "American" as it is "Christian" - sometimes as unlike European Christianity as it is unlike Islam. Nationalism, however, isn't the only force which has changed the nature of American Christianity.
In Christianity Incorporated: How Big Business Is Buying the Church, Michael L. Budde and Robert W. Brimlow write:
"By telling employees that spirituality properly pursued makes for happy corporate functionaries, a wealthy firm, and a stronger nation, corporations further the absorption of Christianity by the capitalist worldview and culture, in the process robbing the church of its prophetic and eschatological qualities. The church falls victim to idolatry on the installment plan. Such a state of affairs does not trouble the corporations — indeed, they profit from such tendencies — but it should trouble the churches more than it does.
It was not part of the original message of Christianity that becoming a Christian would make one a happier worker, a wealthier businessman, or a more powerful politician. These are, however, ideas which have become deeply ingrained in American churches and American Christianity.
I think that there is a connection between the influence of corporate capitalism and the influence of nationalism. So long as Christianity is an "underdog" religion, a religion of the poor and oppressed, it pays to portray itself as promising future rewards in the spiritual realm rather than immediate rewards in the material realm.
Once Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, though, matters changed. The wealthy and powerful aren't very attracted to a religion that teaches them to give up all they have so that they will be rewarded in the afterlife. To become attractive, Christianity had to start promising more rewards in the current, material world.
Corporations are, thus, taking up a banner which had long ago been erected by Constantine: In hoc signo vinces, now translated as "In this sign you will increase profits."
(Book Notes: Christianity Incorporated)
American churches have aligned themselves with American nationalism in a way that has caused Christianity here to be as "American" as it is "Christian" - sometimes as unlike European Christianity as it is unlike Islam. Nationalism, however, isn't the only force which has changed the nature of American Christianity.
In Christianity Incorporated: How Big Business Is Buying the Church, Michael L. Budde and Robert W. Brimlow write:
"By telling employees that spirituality properly pursued makes for happy corporate functionaries, a wealthy firm, and a stronger nation, corporations further the absorption of Christianity by the capitalist worldview and culture, in the process robbing the church of its prophetic and eschatological qualities. The church falls victim to idolatry on the installment plan. Such a state of affairs does not trouble the corporations — indeed, they profit from such tendencies — but it should trouble the churches more than it does.
It was not part of the original message of Christianity that becoming a Christian would make one a happier worker, a wealthier businessman, or a more powerful politician. These are, however, ideas which have become deeply ingrained in American churches and American Christianity.
I think that there is a connection between the influence of corporate capitalism and the influence of nationalism. So long as Christianity is an "underdog" religion, a religion of the poor and oppressed, it pays to portray itself as promising future rewards in the spiritual realm rather than immediate rewards in the material realm.
Once Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, though, matters changed. The wealthy and powerful aren't very attracted to a religion that teaches them to give up all they have so that they will be rewarded in the afterlife. To become attractive, Christianity had to start promising more rewards in the current, material world.
Corporations are, thus, taking up a banner which had long ago been erected by Constantine: In hoc signo vinces, now translated as "In this sign you will increase profits."
