From the Acton Institute' s Kishore Jayabalan: Religious Leaders Bash the Global Market.
Religious activists are more outspoken than ever about the problem of global poverty. So why do they so often and so energetically attack multinational corporations – the very organizations that are helping developing nations create jobs and grow through broader trade relations?
To a certain way of thinking in religious circles, large global corporations are often perceived to make excessive profits, exploit the poor, damage the environment and exercise undue influence on governments — especially struggling democratic nations in the developing world. In many ways, these companies are visible and easy targets for the anti-globalization crowd.
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The very concepts of business and profit motive are often reason enough for religious leaders to condemn an activity as immoral and unethical, and criticisms of multinational corporations are just the same condemnations on a larger scale.
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A dose of realism may also be in order. For all the good things it brings, increased commerce will not result in a perfect society. There will always be some forms of inequality, leading to resentment and class divisions, while materialism and alienation can be commonplace in commercial societies – as they were in socialist planned economies. Moral education is vitally important, as there can be no good society without good human beings. But if religious leaders must address economic issues, a little more economic literacy is necessary.
Just in case you missed that last sentence:
But if religious leaders must address economic issues, a little more economic literacy is necessary.
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