Applying a religion such as
Hinduism to business is laudatory. Undercutting any benefits of doing so,
however, is the advocation of religious principles that are so unrealistic in
the business world that they undercut the credibility of the project itself.
John D. Rockefeller was a Baptist who taught Sunday school at his church even
as he pushed competitors out of business who refused to be bought out by Rockefeller’s
refining monopoly, Standard Oil Company. To be sure, after retiring, he gave
away about half of his $800 million (1913 dollars), but he did not claim that
his personal generosity justified his earlier restraint of trade as a
monopolist. Rather, he claimed to be more of a “Christ figure” as a monopolist
than he was next as a philanthropist. In my study on Rockefeller, I concluded
that he was delusional, yet to some extent well-intended, given the destructive
competition that was ravaging small businesses in the refining industry during
the 1860s. Rockefeller thought of his giant as saving the otherwise
presumably drowning competitors, but Jesus in the Gospels does not drown people
who are unwilling to be converted. Clearly, the application of religion to
business can be abused, including in being much too idealistic, even utopian,
and in being used to justify egregious economic tactics and even greed itself.
The full essay is at "Hinduism Applied to Business."
