A WORD TO THE READER

This book was a long time in the making. Its genesis can be traced to the late 1990’s when a business I owned had strategic relationships with two companies that were very religious in their organizational cultures. The principals of each company prayed before meals, shut down operations for observance of religious holidays and openly discussed the importance of faith in daily life.

Their religions clearly promoted ethics that taught lying, cheating and dishonesty were wrong. I assumed that these standards would be put into action in everyday business practices. I was mistaken! When the microscopic veneer of faith was pulled away, I found far more dishonesty and unethical behavior than any I had dealt with in the past or would in the future. It was as if the executives had never embraced a moral code of conduct. I faced a conundrum.

I didn’t have to be an anthropologist or a sociologist to know that people sincerely hold religious convictions. But I didn’t have to spend much time watching the nightly news to see that religious faith didn’t always translate well into individual or corporate conduct. I explored this idea in my doctoral thesis entitled The Impact of Religious Worldview on Business Ethics and Practices in Twentieth Century Western Society. That thesis gave rise to this book.

Writing this book was an exhausting experience. The first draft was well over 1,500 pages with footnotes that were longer than the final published version. The subjects of worldview, religion and ethics are so wide-sweeping that I could have kept writing and writing and writing, only to produce a document so detailed in its analysis as to be completely unusable except as a doorstop. The businessperson in me decided there was not much of a market for doorstops. Therefore I rewrote and edited for a clean, clear practical guide—a jargon-free explanation of the world’s major religions and how those faiths intersect with business.

With exception of the first and last chapters, every other chapter covers a major religion and is broken into the following sections:

1. Introduction
2. History
3. Sacred Texts
4. Selected Readings
5. Core Beliefs
6. Branches
7. In The Marketplace

Sacred Texts offers a convenient summary of important writings. In order to aid appreciation of the tone and style of sacred texts, Selected Readings then follow. The excerpts come from public domain English translations and merely highlight the vast treasuries of religious writings. Formatting is purposely kept as close to the original documents as possible. This makes the reading visually similar to what the authors originally intended.

This book will frustrate some because I don’t spoon-feed the reader, as if you were unable to draw a conclusion for yourself. The sections applying religion to the marketplace are short compared to preceding sections. My reasoning is: once understanding is gained from a religion’s history, core beliefs and sacred texts, the market application is often straightforward and self-explanatory.

I do not decide the issues of the present day. I do try to lay out the bare bones of belief of the major religions, the basic ideas and values that many religions share towards business, and the most likely ways that people express their various faiths.

I hope I have kept The Gods of Business simple but subtle, letting you the reader draw your own conclusions.

Todd Albertson

CHAPTER 1: THE DILEMMA

PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR
Prince Henry the Navigator (1394–1460 C.E.) was the son of King João of Portugal. Henry organized and financed many sea expeditions. His most famous were in search of a sea route to the rich spice trade of the Indies and along the way to explore the west coast of Africa.

Prince Henry encountered much difficulty in persuading his captains to sail beyond Cape Bojador in the southern Sahara. They believed the legend that only the “Green Sea of Darkness” existed beyond this point. They thought the sun was so close to the Earth that a person’s skin would turn black. The sea boiled. Ships would catch on fire. Hidden monsters lurked, waiting to smash the ships and eat their crews!

On the first attempt Henry sent his ships with orders to keep close to the coastline. A couple of weeks after they left, they returned to Portugal. Their captains told the prince they could not find a sea route to India because they had come to the “end of the world.” Henry sent out thirteen more ships, and each one came back with the same story. From our armchair in history it is easy to see how askew that worldview was. It depended on prejudices that few thought about or were willing to change in the face of evidence.

The English word “worldview” comes from the German word weltanschauung, which means a “look onto the world.” The term originally was used to refer to a common concept of reality shared by a particular group of people who were generally bound by culture or ethnicity. The word has been expanded over time to reflect how an individual views the world and interacts within it.

On the fourteenth voyage commissioned by Prince Henry, the ship was blown off course, and the crew could no longer see the African coastline. The captain pointed his ship’s bow east and a few days later came upon Africa again, surprised that his ship had somehow bypassed the Green Sea of Darkness.

But a few years later the captain re-discovered his worst fear. He had announced a sea route to India. Now as he sailed south along the Spanish Sahara, he came to a major rock shoal. On the approach the water became shallower and shallower. Strange currents began to develop. The captain and crew were positive that the end of the world they had missed earlier was now about to destroy them.

Undoubtedly that is how they felt. The limits of their ability to discover had nothing to do with their bravery or their goodness, nor was it charted on any accurate map of the world. Rather, the limits were mapped unconsciously by what they had subjectively envisioned—their worldview.

Why is worldview important in business? Because people of faith will approach all of their endeavors with grains of objective truth. Whatever those grains may be, they are going to be washed, sieved and filtered through subjective and unconscious ways of comprehending, acting and explaining. Some grains will be overlooked, forgotten or thrown away as inconvenient. Hence, like the Portuguese sailors of Prince Henry’s day, the modern businessperson’s religious worldview provides a mental map of how to conduct business.

RELIGION
The adage, “Never discuss sex, politics or religion,” makes for a very dull evening. Arguments about them, however, can excite the evening to the point of breaking up the party and destroying friendships. Perhaps the problem is the cumulative effect of passions. If so, dropping the first two subjects might allow for a more peaceful discussion of the third. Alas, religion has a lot to say about sex and politics. Consequently this book is bound to ignite passions. My hope is that it also inspires thought.

A simple definition of religion is a belief in a supernatural or spiritual being(s), and the practices and ethical code that result from that belief. Beliefs give religion its mind; rituals give religion its form; and ethics give religion its heart.

Each religion teaches its unique truths about the world, humanity and humanity’s relationship to the supernatural. A religion also details how its followers achieve enlightenment (what some would call holiness; and others, peace of mind), and why its beliefs are important steps in this journey. Through these belief systems, religions teach about misconduct or sin, suffering and hope, life and death, and whatever comes after.

Judging the prominence of the world’s religions raises all kinds of problems because the criteria are so subjective. Adherents.com skips the problems by listing the top world religions in terms of sheer numbers. According to Adherents’ count of participants, the top fifteen religions of the world are:

In this book we will look at nine of these religions. Alphabetically they are: Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Secular Postmodernism, Shintoism and Sikhism.

Adherents’ third ranked religion—Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/ Atheist—is a mouthful. That is why in this book the category is called Secular Postmodernism.

Rather than deal with the entirety of the fifth ranked religion, the focus has been narrowed on the major component of Chinese traditional religion, i.e., Confucianism.

Judaism, ranked twelfth, and Shintoism, the fifteenth largest, have been included for discussion in this book.

Excluded are Primal/Indigenous, African Traditional & Diasporic, Juche, Spiritism, Baha’i and Jainism. In my opinion their practitioners and worldviews are not major forces in the global marketplace (at least in comparison to other religions).

BUSINESS ETHICS
The ethics of a religion are both personal and corporate. Some ethics show followers how to live their own lives while others set standards of conduct for entire societies.

Ethics dictate the way people should live with one another and with nature. By following a religion’s ethical code, practitioners believe they can live good, decent, compassionate, just and loving lives. Ethics give religion its moral force and universal message.

Business ethics are the rules and principles within the context of commerce. Because different worldviews have different business ethics, contrasts frequently emerge during business transactions. A more detailed discussion about the differences will follow in subsequent chapters.

Business ethics can be self-serving and affect a company’s overall mission. For example, if a company’s main purpose is to merely maximize short-term profits for its stockholders, members of the governing board might think it unethical to favor the rights of employees, customers, society and the community.

Business ethics play out most frequently in issues concerning relations with different companies that are suppliers, buyers or competitors, as well as with government regulators. Political contributions and lobbying efforts influence the latter. Bribery may be included. Just as advertising is meant to sell product, public relations are meant to sell the company’s image to the wider world. Coloring the truth may be part of public relations, sometimes to the point of outright lying. The ethics of these endeavors almost always reveal underlying theories about property rights versus environmental impact, individualism verses collectivism, the role of self-interest versus the needs of society or future generations. In some cases the company may be fighting the good fight against centralized government tyranny or local mob rule.

CHAPTER 2: CONFUCIANISM

Confucianism is the world’s fifth largest religion with some 394 million practitioners worldwide. Confucianism literally means The School of the Scholars or less precisely “The Religion of Confucius.” It is widely debated whether Confucianism is a religion or an ethical and philosophical system based on the teachings of Kung Fu-Tzu (Confucius), a Chinese philosopher who lived between 551–479 B.C.E.

Some do not believe Confucianism to be a religion because it lacks formal worship or a meditation component. Yet it has a strong religious-like focus on ritual and a distinctive worldview that dictates its practitioners’ outlook on life. Regardless of whether Confucianism is a religion, a philosophy or a melding of both along with other influences, Confucius’ beliefs became the standard in Chinese politics and scholarship. They were eventually recognized as the official Chinese Imperial belief system. That system has had immense impact on Chinese and other East Asian societies, including religious movements that have arisen in other cultures.

Perhaps the best-known distinction between Confucianism and other religions is the lack of a central, authoritative God figure. Confucius receives ritual respect from followers but is not worshipped as God.

HISTORY
Confucius spent a great deal of his adulthood working in administrative positions within the government. As an intellectual he worried about the troubled times in which he lived, and traveled widely to spread his political ideas and to influence many of the warlords contending for supremacy in China.

Confucius believed in the perfectibility of humanity by the cultivation of the mind. He stressed the importance of pursuing peace and equity, devotion to parents and to rituals, learning, self-control and socially just activity. His teachings moved from being philosophical to religious when people began acting in a “correct” way, following proper protocol and engaging in ceremonial etiquette.

Confucius introduced the idea of meritocracy, which led to the introduction of the Imperial examination system in China in 165 B.C.E. As this system evolved over the following centuries, anyone who wished to become a government official had to prove his worth by passing written examinations. A revolutionary concept at the time, meritocracy became the foundation for modern civil services throughout the world.

Confucius’ establishment of Rujia, the School of the Literati, produced public officials with a strong sense of national pride and duty. Confucius said that praiseworthy were those kings who left their kingdoms to those most qualified to manage them, rather than to their elder sons as tradition dictated. The ethics underlying Confucian thought are revealed in the Hundred Schools of Thought, developed by his disciples and their descendants.

Debated during the Warring States Period and outlawed during the Qin Dynasty, Confucianism survived its suppression partly due to the discovery of a trove of Confucian classics hidden in the walls of a scholar’s house.

Confucianism was chosen by Han Wudi as a political system to govern the Chinese Imperial state. Despite its loss of influence during the Tang Dynasty, Confucian doctrine remained an anchor of Chinese thought for 2,000 years until it was attacked during the Cultural Revolution in the People’s Republic of China in 1966 C.E. Although it was outlawed, Confucianism never left the hearts of the Chinese people and has had a contemporary renaissance in Mainland China.

Besides the culture of China, the societies most strongly influenced by Confucianism include Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the territories of Hong Kong and Macau.

SACRED TEXTS
The Five Classics (Wu-Ching) and The Four Books (Ssu-Shu) 2,000-year-old books that detail Confucian ideas on law, society, government, education, literature and religion. Although not strictly holy texts, these works be-came the core curriculum in Chinese universities and are still studied today.

The Five Classics
These following five ancient books are the definitive Confucian authority on Chinese law, education, social structure and religion.

(1) The Book of History was written during the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.) and describes events dating back to the Third Millennium B.C.E. This book contains the sayings and rules of wise and wicked rulers of past dynasties. It also details why heaven supported the wise rulers and opposed the wicked ones.

(2) The Book of Songs/Poetry contains over 300 songs and poems as old as 1000–500 B.C.E.

(3) The Book of Rites details Chinese religious practices from the 8th to the 5th Centuries B.C.E.

(4) The Book of Changes contains 64 symbolic hexagrams that, if interpreted correctly, followers of Confucius believe offer insight into human behavior. This book dates back to around 3000 B.C.E. and is considered one of the most popular holy books in Eastern religion.

(5) The Book of Spring and Autumn is a chronology of Confucius’ home state of Lu. He may have dictated the book which was compiled sometime between 722-481 B.C.E.

The Four Books
These books served as the basis of Chinese civil service and government until the early 20th Century. They were originally published separately until they were compiled as a single volume in 1190 C.E.

(1) The Great Learning is a book of instructions on the correct way to perform rituals. Written between 500-200 B.C.E., its primary theme is the effect of a ruler’s integrity on government.

(2) Doctrine of the Mean emphasizes “the Way” toward self-realization or the perfectly cultivated self, and is the most mystical of Confucian writings.

(3) The Analects are sayings of Confucius compiled by his disciples more than 70 years after his death in 479 B.C.E. The collection contains the majority of The Four Books and details the basic tenants of Confucian thought, such as perpetuation of culture, respectful con-duct of affairs, loyalties to superiors and keeping promises. It includes vignettes of Confucius’ own life.

(4) The Book of Mencius interprets Confucian thought through the teachings of Mencius, one of the most esteemed Confucian scholars. Mencius asserted that righteousness is more important than life itself. He believed that individuals could achieve the Way only though constant self-refinement.

Unlike most Western philosophers, Confucius did not rely on deductive reasoning to convince his listeners. Instead, he used dictum and aphorism in a highly contextualized manner that often frustrates Western readers who are not familiar with Eastern circular thought.

SELECTED READINGS
BOOK I HSIO R
CHAP. I. The Master said, “Is it not pleasant to learn with a constant perseverance and application?
Is it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters?”

CHAP. II. The philosopher Yu said, “They are few who, being filial and fraternal, are fond of offending against their superiors. There have been none, who, not liking to offend against their superiors, have been fond of stirring up confusion.”

CHAP. IV. The philosopher Tsang said, “I daily examine myself on three points—whether, in transacting business for others, I may have been not faithful—whether, in intercourse with friends, I may have been not sincere—whether I may have not mastered and practiced the instructions of my teacher.”

CHAP. V. The Master said, “To rule a country of a thousand chariots, there must be reverent attention to business, and sincerity; economy in expenditure, and love for men; and the employment of the people at the proper seasons.”

CHAP. VI. The Master said, “A youth, when at home, should be filial, and, abroad, respectful to his elders. He should be earnest and truthful. He should overflow in love to all, and cultivate the friendship of the good. When he has time and opportunity, after the performance of these things, he should employ them in polite studies.”

CHAP. VII. Tsze-hsia said, “If a man withdraws his mind from the love of beauty, and applies it as sincerely to the love of the virtuous; if, in serving his parents, he can exert his utmost strength; if, in serving his prince, he can devote his life; if, in his intercourse with his friends, his words are sincere—although men say that he has not learned, I will certainly say that he has.”

CHAP. VIII. “Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles."

"Have no friends not equal to yourself."

"When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.”

CHAP. X. Tsze-ch'in asked Tsze-kung, saying, “When our master comes to any country, he does not fail to learn all about its government. Does he ask his information? Or is it given to him?”

Tsze-kung said, “Our master is benign, upright, courteous, temperate, and complaisant, and thus he gets his information. The master's mode of asking information! Is it not different from that of other men?”

CHAP. XI. The Master said, “While a man's father is alive, look at the bent of his will; when his father is dead, look at his conduct. If for three years he does not alter from the way of his father, he may be called filial.”

CHAP. XIII. The philosopher Yu said, “When agreements are made according to what is right, what is spoken can be made good. When respect is shown according to what is proper, one keeps far from shame and disgrace. When the parties upon whom a man leans are proper persons to be intimate with, he can make them his guides and masters.”

CHAP. XIV. The Master said, “He who aims to be a man of complete virtue in his food does not seek to gratify his appetite, nor in his dwelling place does he seek the appliances of ease; he is earnest in what he is doing, and careful in his speech; he frequents the company of men of principle that he may be rectified—such a person may be said indeed to love to learn.”

CHAP. XV. Tsze-kung said, “What do you pronounce concerning the poor man who yet does not flatter, and the rich man who is not proud?' The Master replied, 'They will do; but they are not equal to him, who, though poor, is yet cheerful, and to him, who, though rich, loves the rules of propriety.”

Tsze-kung replied, “It is said in the Book of Poetry, ‘As you cut and then file, as you carve and then polish.’ – The meaning is the same, I apprehend, as that which you have just expressed.”

The Master said, “With one like Ts'ze, I can begin to talk about the odes. I told him one point, and he knew its proper sequence.”

CHAP. XVI. The Master said, “I will not be afflicted at men's not knowing me; I will be afflicted that I do not know men.”

CORE BELIEFS
Confucius believed he was the purveyor of the wisdom of the ancients. From that wisdom he held that society consisted of five relationships: (1) husband and wife; (2) parents and children; (3) older and younger brother (or older and younger people); (4) rulers and subjects; and (5) friend and friend.

Confucian spirituality places strong emphasis on the role of family, calling for respect, piety and deference in familial interaction. These interactions are part and parcel of teachings on righteousness, ritual wisdom and faithfulness.

Confucius believed people must juggle their individual good with ultimate good. He thought that people are inherently good, but they need direction. If adhered to, direction leads to deeper virtue. He taught that individuals who put aside virtue for material pleasure make bad choices and go down an inferior path.

Confucius told his followers to have true compassion for one’s own role and for the people one would encounter. He encouraged every person to live appropriately in his or her relationships. The essence of Confucianism is called jen, which literally means, “all the good things that happen when people meet,” including hospitality and wishing them well.

Complimenting jen are five practices for good conduct: (1) li—respect for people in authority, whether a god, king or parent; (2) hsiao—familial love that includes distant relatives and even friends; (3) yi—mutual commitment among friends and, more generally, the cultivation of friendships; (4) chung—loyalty to the state; and (5) chun-tzu—an outgoing, generous, liberal presence.

In other traditions ritual means “to sacrifice” in a religious ceremony. In Confucianism the term is extended to include secular ceremonial behavior common to everyday life. Etiquette is codified and treated as an all-embracing system of norms. Confucius tried to revive the etiquette of earlier dynasties. Paradoxically, after Confucius’ death his ideas became the standard of ritual behavior.

BRANCHES OF CONFUCIANISM
Confucianism as it exists today is derived primarily from the Neo-Confucian School led by Zhu Xi (1130–1200 C.E.) of the later Song Dynasty. He gave Confucianism renewed vigor. In later Chinese dynasties, the Neo-Confucian School of thought incorporated Taoist and Buddhist ideas to create a broader metaphysical system.

CONFUCIANISM IN THE MARKETPLACE
Confucianism in the Marketplace translates as four distinct concepts.

First, in order to organize a stable society, preference is given to the collective welfare, rather than to an individual’s welfare. The reason is that people are interdependent. From the Confucian perspective, ethical business requires leaders to give thought to the well being of all people. If a company, or an entire country for that matter, were to benefit from “dishonesty,” the act easily could be considered ethical because supposedly the whole community benefits.

Confucianism strongly emphasizes the network of obligations, duties and relationships binding an individual to the family, the community and the state. An individual’s ethics must harmonize with that of the larger society in pursuit of a common good. Confucian business ethics combine both the public and the private realms in what is hoped to be a happy social whole.

Second, individuals with a Confucian worldview often avoid candor in order to “save face,” as well as to ensure the avoidance of injury to the “faces” of others around them. This is in contrast to the Western path of excessive bluntness to gain prompt closure in a negotiation. As referenced earlier, this Confucian virtue is li, the sense of propriety required of all public and ceremonial action, whether simple or profound.

Third, business structures are extremely hierarchical and bureaucratic. Businesspeople are keenly sensitive to age, seniority, rank and status within organizations. They are more likely than their Western counterparts to accept the inequality in power and authority that exists in most organizations.

The five primary relationships—hsiao—underscore the hierarchical authority structures in Confucian businesses. What outsiders might call an inequality of power is thought of as not only a matter of relationship but also of custom or a ritual intrinsic to business decorum.

Fourth, Confucian thought is based upon varying levels of honesty. While Analects I 12 teaches, “Do not do to others what you would not like yourself, “ Tseng Tzu wrote in Analects I 4: “Each day I examine myself in three ways. In doing things for others, have I been disloyal? In my interactions with friends, have I been untrustworthy? Have I not practiced what I have preached?”

In Analects II 3 Confucius wrote: “Lead the people with administrative injunctions and put them in their place with penal law, and they will avoid punishments but will be without a sense of shame. Lead them with excellence and put them in their place through roles and ritual practices, and in addition to developing a sense of shame, they will order themselves harmoniously.”

The Confucian argument is that legal authorities administer punishments after anti-social actions, forcing people to generally behave well without understanding the reasons that they should. However, ritual patterns of behavior are internalized and exert their influence before actions are taken, allowing people to behave properly because they want to avoid losing face.

The reluctance to employ laws in a society where relationships are considered more important has given rise to corruption and nepotism. For example, the salaries of government officials in China historically have been far lower than the minimum required to raise a family. Solution: resort to bribery, kickbacks and nepotism to make up the difference. While there have been some practical methods to control and reduce corruption, many Chinese blame Confucianism for not providing the means to allow more significant reform to occur.

The downfall of Confucianism’s strictly authoritarian social system is the lack of a guidance mechanism to judge whether a superior person is behaving appropriately, and when the line is crossed beyond which the duty of loyalty is no longer owed. In countries that follow Confucian thought, abuse of power continues until it becomes intolerable. Then the tyrant is overthrown.

The underlying value in Confucianism is social harmony based on the assumption that everyone tries his or her best. If people, especially those in leadership, do not try their best, there are no practical safeguards against negligence or misconduct.