Don’t you love it when someone tries to argue for one thing by distracting your attention to another? Consider the claims of Barclay’s CEO, John Varley. I mean, really now, while there may be a few diehards who would make the rather stark claim that “profit is satanic,” there are not many, statistically speaking.
The issue is rarely profit per se, but rather the conditions under which it is earned, the fundamental justice of the profit-taking, and the inequities created by injudicious profit-taking. So, while one would be inclined to agree that profit-taking per se is not satanic, one can imagine numerous scenarios in which a particular case of profit taken is, well, if not satanic, at least demonic.
You have to love Varley’s argument, steeped as it is in scripture. Consider this gem:
Is Christianity and banking compatible? Yes … And is Christianity and fair reward compatible? Yes.
Well, there you go! That settles that. Oh, wait … those are just naked assertions — no scriptural evidences to back up his claim (notice too, how he simply assumes the fundamental question in play, whether or not the rewards being paid out to bankers are fair). One wonders what texts Varley has in mind to support these assertions. Perhaps if he took time to consider, oh, say, St. John Chrystom’s take on the obligations that attend wealth, he would have found a somewhat different position.
My favorite distortion, however, had to be this one (this from Goldman Sachs International Advisor Brian Griffiths):
The injunction of Jesus to love others as ourselves is an endorsement of self-interest.
Now that is some clever exegesis! If one looks carefully at the teachings of Jesus (and scripture more broadly), what one finds is a consistent call to overcome the natural human tendency toward self-centeredness by elevating the interests of others above our own interests. The minimal standard is to love our others as ourselves.
Even here, though, one has to be stunned at the idea that the level of bonuses given out by banking companies such as Goldmans are good exemplars of biblical self-love! The biblical standard is not “self” interest, but rather “other” interest (consider the second half of Matthew 25, Luke 12, Luke 16, the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5-7).
No, profit per se is not satanic, but that affirmation serves in no way to justify the injustices embodied in much of contemporary banking practice, including these outrageous bonuses. I think Vince Cable got it more right when he commented that “people are very, very angry at the gross iniquities of rewards in society.” Perhaps he meant “inequities,” but I’m good either way. Iniquity seems a good description, from a biblical perspective.
Chuck Gutenson is the chief operating officer for Sojourners.
