Chapter 8

Religion and the Exchange Process

Spiritual belief doctrines and the systems built around them are collectively known as religion. The Latin word religio comes from the verb religare, meaning to bind, while the word relation is rooted in referre, to refer and create a link to provide orientations for guidance. The term “religion” therefore refers to ties or binds to principles that define our relationships with fellow human beings, as well as revered deities and the environment. The exchange process, and its mature descendant the commercial trade system, is a natural fundamental social relationship required by people to survive and hence a subject worthy of a religion-based determination. It is therefore valuable to include a series of introspections from the major religious teachings to better understand their effect on the commercial process and its collateral undertaking the accumulation of wealth using a profit motive.

Prior to the first millennium BCE, the dominant form of religious belief throughout Eurasia and the rest of the world was polytheism. Each separate community worshipped their own individual supernatural beings who physically manifested themselves in celestial, natural, and even human form. Along with the national empires of the ancient world emerged a number of major religious sects, each characterized by the dispensing of a single doctrine to their followers with a common claim to universality. These spiritual organizations replaced the multitudes of widely dispersed cults but innumerable other creeds survived without making the transition to world religions, a widely shared belief in a single spiritual reality, the right way to live. Most of the dominant world religions spread along the trade routes, diffused by the merchants themselves, the administrators of the commercial process, the soldiers guarding safe passage, and the missionaries and travelers that often booked passage with money-making caravans transporting products. There is little doubt, due to massive evidentiary materials, that the emergence of organized religion contributed to the growth and cohesiveness of civilizations. Their teachings provided order in society by creating uniform principles of acceptable and punishable behavior—the ethical and social responsibility mandates that included references to the behavior of societies in respect to the commercial exchange idea, an acknowledged necessity to living life. The development of larger, more centralized states adopting specific religious doctrines and the increased intercontinental trade across and between them acted as the prime agents for the growing universality of the ancient major religious orders.

Not to be overlooked is that simple fact that spiritual indoctrination and practice also accounted for disturbances, even leading to armed conflicts in and between societies. Throughout history, minority religious orders were often persecuted for their beliefs, while in certain societies they were tolerated due their ability to contribute to the valued exchange process. Foreign merchants whose beliefs were alien to many of the territories they travel across were given permission to continue to practice their religion as the benefit provided the local commercial system outweighed prejudicial concerns. While in other societies their skills in providing capital for financial transactions allowed them to exist in a controlled environment. Many early religious philosophies were critical of the profit side of the commercial initiative as they preached charity and fair treatment in the exchange process, while others distained material gain itself. In some cases, such as Islam, their doctrines forbid specific practices such as usury, the charge of interest on loans, and operating a commercial enterprise in areas considered as offering products or services considered unclean and damaging to society. In Christianity the money changers were harshly criticized for their transactions, while in many Far Eastern religious orders the accumulation of material wealth was a path filled with destruction. Due to such prohibitions, certain marginal religious sects often emerged to handle transactions that the majority could not participate in.

In spite of such objections to commerce as a skeptical undertaking, it was through the roadways constructed by merchants that religious observation in fact spread from region to region. The incense trade in the Arabian corridor not only “catalyzed the birth of Islam” but was instrumental in broadening its influential reach in Asia, Europe, and Africa: “Riding on a rising tide of global trade along the land and sea routes of Asia, Islam came to dominate the continent’s spiritual as well as commercial life.”¹

During the era of European exploration the Church, in conjunction with the royal court and commercial interests, became a willing participant in the colonization of barbarian lands. The Church, alongside those in search of valued resources in foreign territories, was charged with missionary work and the conversion of alien societies to the Christian belief system. The prologue to the king and queen in the Journal of the First Voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492 depicts well his religious, indoctrinated, and strategic mind-set. Christianity served as the spiritual inspiration for this exploratory imperative as the religious order was missionary in its attempts to convert the heathen natives and later an impetus for exploration in South America. Such a concept well suited the economic policies of the period and not only contributed to the trade policy of the European nations but also offered a spiritual blessing for their activities. The integration of religion and the exchange process has accrued throughout history. A review of the great religious doctrines of the world and some of the commercial events they participated in demonstrate well the connection of these two forces and how their special relationship affected the world and contributed to the development of civilization.

Pagan Worship

Ancient social groups placed their beliefs in the natural environment around them as they exhibited control and influence over their daily lives. As sun and the night’s darkness—as well as wind and rain—altered their physical environment, nature in its entirety became the often unseen and unknown guardians of their lives and hence forces they gave reverence toward. Numerous collections of gods have been found around the world, as all civilizations practiced some form of religious tolerance. Some of them were endowed with the ability to affect aspects of the exchange or trade initiative. The early Chinese recognized T’Shai-Shen, a deity who represented wealth or good commercial fortune and appeared as a majestic figure robed in exquisite silks, was itself a symbol of endowed riches. In Japan, Chimata-No-Kami was considered the diety overseeing the good fortune of travelers on roadways. Since merchants were the main users of this infrastructure, they prayed to him to guide their way as they moved from village to village on their trading expeditions. The public symbol used to honor this god was a phallic carving, placed at intersections to allow the voyager a blessed movement around the country. In native Mesoamerica, the god Ek Chuah was called on to bless merchants and assure cacao growers of a good harvest and value in the marketplace.

The practical unification of a godlike system interconnected with major and minor deities, which are recognized both in literature and in related architecture through places of organized worship with organized social leadership roles, may be attributable to the Greek civilization. Within this religious type order the lower god, Hermes, the son of the top god Zeus, was considered the patron of merchants as he protected travelers who in those days were mostly traders gathering and selling their wares across the land along with seamen. As such he was also referred to as the god of abundance in the commercial exchange venue. The tale of Hermes is also interesting as he is said to have stolen some of Apollo’s cattle. When confronted with the theft, his defense before his father was so skillful and spirited that his criminal offense was dismissed with the decree that a friendly settlement of the matter be arranged between the brothers. Hence he also became known as the spirit of the spoken word and oratory. He is also the voice of good reason when men had disagreements, therefore becoming the messenger of the Gods and the intermediary with mortals. Such characteristics also contributed to his being considered the founder of the contract in commerce to signify that language in such documents should be precise and exact to insure that the correct meaning of agreements be conveyed between parties. It is ironic, however, that Hermes is also considered a friend to thieves, perhaps a veiled reference to the untruthfulness or untrusting of those engaged in commercial dealings.

The Romans adopted many of the spiritual networks of the Greeks, replacing Hermes with Mercury and anointing their God with the same basic traits—the overseer of trade, profit, merchants, and travelers. Some linguists believe the name Mercury comes from the Latin word mercari, meaning “having to do with deals or trade,” while others relate it to the Latin term merx, or merchandise, but both believe it signals a relationship to the business function or the exchange process in social settings. Mercury is portrayed with wings on his sandals and hat, indicative of swiftness, and holding a caduceus (a staff with two intertwined snakes) and a purse or money bag, indicative of his connection with commerce. He is celebrated during a festival known as the Mercuralia on May 15, a day when merchants sprinkled their heads and their goods with water, requesting a favorable return on their business activities. Even in antiquity, commercial events warranted spiritual intervention and blessings.

As other organized religions began to emerge around the world, their doctrines contained rules of engagement for societies that included directives and guidance on relationships between men that recognized the importance in their lives of an exchange imperative, the need to trade in an honest and meaningful manner.

Western-Based Religious Orders

Judaism

The Old Testament speaks of Moses receiving the hallowed Ten Commandments about 1300 BCE. From such basic rules of life emerged the Law of Moses that not only began the regulation of every aspect of Jewish life including commerce and property rights but also influenced the doctrines of Christianity and Islam. While little is known of the early life of Moses—apart from his adoption in the reeds by the pharaoh’s sister and then a biblical jump to his witnessing of a Jewish slave being beaten, his killing of the Egyptian overlord, arrest, escape, and wandering in the desert before his return to free his people—certain assumptions might be made about his time in the royal court about 40 years prior to such events. Moses, being part of the pharaoh’s household, would have had access to tutors who educated him in all aspects of Egyptian life. He would have been taught that revenue generation for the kingdom came not only from war but also from taxation of local commercial dealings as well as foreign trading expeditions as administered under the royal decree. Egyptians, in the time of Moses, plied the King’s Highway, using it as the prime route for its merchants as they traded with its neighbors. In exchange for the rich agricultural products grown in the Nile River basin, the prized resources in alien territories were imported into the realm. Exotic spices along with unique crafted items of foreign craftsman made their way into the household of the pharaoh and then on to the general public.

Moses would therefore have been instructed in the value of trade by his mentors and educated in its basic principles. He would also have understood well the need for laws regulating property rights across the empire as such rules promoted civil peace and sustained the pharaoh’s kingdom. It could be concluded that such exposure instilled in Moses a deep respect for an orderly process to be presented to his birth brethren as he led them to a new life and presented them with a set of divine laws to live by.

The influence of ancient Jewish religious direction has been used to form principles reflected in modern commercial codes and even specific provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). The legal tenet requiring compensation to be exchanged in order for a contract of purchase to be valid as well as morally correct could be traced to a biblical story. When King David in 1006 BCE purchased the Temple Mount and founded the city of Jerusalem, he paid Aravna the Jebusite:

One aspect of Mosaic Law was the use of the undisputed affidavit for the arrival of judgment in commerce. Under Hebrews 6:16–17, any proceeding in courts, tribunal, or arbitration forum consisted of a contest, or a duel of commercial affidavits wherein the points remaining unrebutted in the end stand as the truth and the matter to which judgment of the law is applied.

As to the exchange process Leviticus 25:14 provides the following teaching, “If you sell…or buy…you shall not wrong one another.” The old testament instructs shopkeepers to point out to customers, regardless of their creed (reference to treat all equally regardless of their faith, nationality, race, etc.) the defects in your merchandise. The Melkita, to Exodus 15:26 states, “To be honest in business is to fulfill the whole Torah.” Dr. Caron H. Varner Jr. in his paper presented at the MBAA Regional Convention after studying biblical references notes that

International commerce is carried out between nations and hence across the territories of sovereign governments. Foreign investment, be it direct or indirect, in many cases requires governmental approval. The interplay between commerce and those in public administrative offices is as old as trade itself. From the ancient Egyptian pharaoh’s approval of private merchants to traverse the King’s Road, to European royalty’s monopolistic license bestowed on companies in the 1600s to conduct trade with foreign territories, and on to U.S. legislators’ chartering of public companies, governmental authorities have always been involved. The potential for abuse of the public office by taking bribes to allow such commercial activities has, however, been recognized over thousands of years ago. Exodus 23:8 declares, “And thou shall take no bribe” as such an action “blindeth them that have sight” while perverting “the words of the righteous.” In modern times, numerous local national laws have echoed this ancient religious teaching. The United States in 1977 with the enactment of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act extended such illicit actions to American-based firms, their overseas subsidiaries, branches, agencies, and foreign operating multinational corporations (MNCs) in this country. The law makes it a crime to bribe foreign governmental or administrative officials, an extraterritorial governmental reach affecting global operations.

Christianity

Varner also deduces that “the New Testament is more difficult” in respect to analyzing meaning: both biblical texts speak of charity and the pursuit of piety for the poor, but the New Testament is more critical of the commercial process in respect to the accumulation and use of wealth:

It would seem that while business is not condemned per se, the potential of wealth to corrupt the mortal soul and bring about a non-Christian lifestyle is addressed. However, the Bible in Leviticus 25:37 makes a seemingly specific reference to commercial activities, commenting on usury and the prime commercial incentive (i.e., profit) when it proclaims, “You shall not give him your money at interest nor lend him food at a profit.” The interpretation, however, is often seen as closeted in the principle of basic humanity with the announced directive referring to the offering of charity to those in need as opposed to commenting on equitable transactions in an everyday commercial environment. Because reference to this passage is too often reduced to the common phrase “Neither a lender nor a borrower be,” it thereby misleads someone to think it is antibusiness when the full quote is really housed in directing one to acts of kindness to the less fortunate, the needy, and especially those who cannot feed themselves. In the New Testament Christ is portrayed as casting out the merchants from the Jewish Temple with a whip, crying “Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise,” according to John 2:16. While proclamation is aimed at insulating the sanctity of a house of worship from commercial dealings, it does not prohibit or curse the practice—only serving to make sure it does not disrupt the holiness of a revered sanctuary devoted to God.

Jesus, the architect of Christianity and its belief system, was born into the family of Joseph and Mary. His father’s commonly accepted occupation is that of a carpenter but other interpreters of the translated word “tecton,” as the Bible refers to his profession, feel it refers to a stone mason. Given this definition Joseph may have been involved in mosaic work placing him in a valued artistic circle that included traders, merchants, and craftsman, all of whom made up the middle class in the economy of 1st-century Israel.⁵ As it was the practice of the day that sons would learn the profession of their fathers Jesus was probably skilled in such arts and participated in business dealings with the patrons desirous of engaging such services. There is also speculation that Joseph of Arimathea, a rich metals merchant, referred to by the Romans as “nobilis decurio,” or minister of mines to the Roman government, and one of the wealthiest men of the times, was the uncle of Mary, mother of Jesus.⁶ While the Bible states that the body of Jesus after the crucifixion was entrusted to Joseph and that Jesus was interred in the tomb meant for him some scholars of the period infer that the two previously had a long-standing relationship. Beyond being a follower of his teachings, Joseph may have taken the young Jesus on business trips, both in the region as well as to Europe and perhaps India. Jesus could therefore have been introduced to the nuances of the commercial world from his father’s occupation or perhaps influenced by his great-uncle’s trading activities he observed.

Wealth accumulation from commerce, even if such activities were questionable within the Christian doctrine, certainly provided the force for development of civilization. A prime example were the Medicis, the richest family in Europe in the 1430s. Their money was made from banking, which included lending out money and charging interest for doing so—usury in the eyes of the Catholic Church. To atone for such sins, they sponsored, basically “bankrolled,” a wide range of religious and charitable works—building and remodeling chapels and constructing hospitals and libraries. In the process of their contributions, they brought together in Venice and Florence (as profiled earlier) the best artisans of the period in architecture, sculpture and painting while employing the great minds of the day to work on translations of ancients manuscripts of and the collective works of wonderful writers, poets, and scholars. Many of their creations were in the service of the Church but funded by rich commercial families. Their actions, which sparked the Renaissance and moved civilization forward, had at their heart a religious repentance for their business activities. Although considered a negative pursuit and therefore worthy of redemption, the influence of commerce did produce a positive outcome. The faith-induced benevolent indulgences of the Medicis were perhaps the root of today’s corporate social responsibility (CSR), which is bathed in a religious pursuit but activated by the commercial imperative.

Islam

By 500 CE, the ancient lands of Arab dwellers were drawn into contact with those practicing Judaism and Christianity due to the cross commercial venturing of all parties. Back then established religious orders “often taunted the Arabs about their polytheistic beliefs and their lack of an overarching creed and an afterlife.”⁷ Perhaps out of this environment rose the Islamic religious order, a desire for a belief system to call their own and to combat those of others.

The Prophet Muhammad in his youth (ca. 585 CE) traveled with the caravans, which traded between Mecca and Syria.⁸ Prior to pursuing his religious enlightenment as the founder of Islam, his chosen vocation was a trader⁹ or merchant¹⁰ and he became one of the most prosperous businessmen in the region. Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah lived in Mecca, the most important thriving settlement in Arabia due to the commercial activities of its residents. Mecca itself was not a provider of valued raw materials or skilled craftsmen. Its commercial attribute may have been possible through its geographical positioning, as it is midway on the Arabian Peninsula; hence, a stopping point for the lucrative incense trade carried on by caravan merchants. Beyond such consideration, and even before its designation as the prime holy city for Islam, Mecca was visited by pilgrims (precursor to the later sacred hajj journey) as it contained the Kaaba stone and black stone, shrines of ancient desert gods, which the nomadic tribes revered and prayed to.

Capitalism in the form of barter transactions made Mecca, in 610 CE, a center of trade and high finance; hence, a regional economic power. This was a new endeavor for its habitants and the newfound wealth “saved them from the perils of the nomadic life.”¹¹ Muhammad, some believe, felt that such an emerging “cult of self-sufficiency built on personal fortunes [led] to egotism and greed” with the potential result of destroying traditional Arab tribal collectiveness and the ingrained morality to take care of others, especially the weaker ones.¹² The recognition of the loss of interdependency based on old tribal values and the creation of economic classes within the society may have prompted Muhammad to seek a new communal spirit. Perhaps the recognition of the inherent danger of material processions becoming the dominant driving force in the lives of his people inspired his search for a better balance in life and influenced his own prophetic calling. Accordingly the economic principles set down in the Koran speak of free enterprise and of earning legitimate profit through trade and commerce as long as such activities do not exploit others to one’s own advantage:¹³ “The Koran teaches respect for private property, business contracts, and trade.”¹⁴ One might posture that the exposure of the prophet to varying cultures and thinking via his trading activities may have provided him with an education that influenced his teachings in later life. The ideals of living up to contractual obligations, keeping one’s word, and abstaining from deception are parallel concepts exhibited in business transactions he observed and valued in his teachings. Even “Muhammad’s immediate successor, the cloth merchant Abu Bakr, was also a trader.”¹⁵ The Prophet’s initial Islamic teachings began as sermon-like pronouncements in the commercial marketplaces of Mecca and were directed to merchants who later would carry his words in the Koran to the far reaches of the globe during their trading expeditions.

An inspection into Islamic laws as related in the basic Sharia principles and still used today reveals language steeped in commercial antiquity:¹⁶ A prime tenant in the Koran directed to commercial activities advises the faithful to conduct themselves ethically stating, “O you who believe! Do not devour your property among yourselves falsely, except that it be trading by your mutual consent” (Sura 4:29). Other sections are devoted to specific guidelines in establishing and conducting contracts with others, as is the case in Section I:

Contracts following Islamic religious principles always close with the phrase “Enshalla” (If Allah wills it), a reference invoking his blessing for the proposed relationship while noting that as all life is in his hands. The solemn promises of the parties are still subject to his force and overall determination. It is interesting to note that a similar type of consideration using the Greek phrase force majeure is found in common law principles to recognize acts of God, or a superior or irresistible force, not contemplated by the contract parties and usually covered by specialized insurance, that negates the obligations and responsibilities annunciated in the agreement.¹⁸ While a direct connotation is difficult to empirically sustain between these two legal concepts, the religious and the secular, they do seem to have the same intent as to the extent of contractual obligations on mutual parties.

Eastern Spiritual Teachings

The spiritual teachings of the East—Confucianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism—which many believe are more lifestyle guidelines for attaining internal happiness as opposed to formal religious orders, mention that one should be free of ambition when it comes to material desires. To engage in harmless occupations that do not take advantage of another in the bargaining and trading process is often stressed. Harmony with nature and the instruction not to bend such forces to human needs request one to be respectful of the environment.

Confucianism

Confucius was the Roman identification or label given by 17th-century Jesuits to a sage whom disciples knew in the 5th century BCE as Kong Fu-Zi. He championed a highly ordered society and many of his ideas on how one should live life in a good way—always behaving with humanity and courtesy while working diligently toward such goals—have survived in the form of sayings. Confucius was a member of the impoverished nobility, as his parents were not wealthy but belonged to a superior class, the shi. He was orphaned at a young age and therefore grew up poor in the feudal state of the time. As a young man, he was hired out as a servant to a noble family where he was exposed from a distance in the maintenance of material indulgence and the production of wealth from commerce. Some historians have concluded that he may have spent time as a minister of the state and as an overseer of granaries, the chief commercial crop of the day. It is generally believed that he rebelled against the motivational beliefs of the landed gentry to acquire wealth that came from the riches of the trading imperative, having concluded that learning that knowledge and virtue trump material gain.

Basically a philosopher and not a religious leader, Confucius wrote about social order and its dependency on sustaining human relationships. He did not object outright to the drive for commercial profit and resultant wealth accumulation per se, just that such a pursuit might disrupt the balanced harmony between people, injuring their relationships. Such temptations could cause one to mistreat others by practicing dishonesty or fraud in order to gain a material advantage. It was not the concept of exchange that bothered him, it was that the system encouraged deceitful wrongdoing. In essence, Confucius was an Eastern moralist whose ideas are comparable with the Western Greek philosophers like Socrates who referred to such principles as ethics. Two basic tenets of Confucianism directly influenced commercial dealings: They are the Chinese designations Li and Shu. Li, which stands for “profit, gain, advantage,” is described as a set of improper motives affecting others; again, a relationship-based principle and often used as a disparagement of commerce and industry or the capitalistic imperative. Shu refers to relationship reciprocity, the duty to treat others righteously, and is the basis for a modern term used in Chinese (and even Japanese) business dealings referred to as guanxi. While the word guanxi itself refers to “good connections” or the benefit from networking arrangements, it more closely resembles the Western notion of nepotism but in a wider social context then just the family. Chinese managers are inclined to make decisions based on social ties and obligations as opposed to objective indices. Hence a better deal from one outside their collective environment would be dismissed in favor of one offered from inside their social circle or relationship network. The Japanese, borrowing from Confucian teachings, practice an organizational arrangement called a keiretsu (network of affiliated companies or businesses normally with interlocking ownership). It is usually a vertically integrated group of companies that cooperate, working closely with each other to provide a cross variety of goods and services that in the end are delivered to end users or consumers—essentially, a network of integrated suppliers in the value chain. Many members of a keiretsu may also be bound together by interlocking ownership, long-term contractual commitments, financing arrangements, and interconnected directorships—all tied to special social relationships. In South Korea, the term chaebols (conglomerate of business enterprises usually owned and controlled by a single family) describe firms that are organizationally and structurally indicative of the Confucian influence. These extensive family-owned conglomerates, many of which have become large multinationals, are built on extended commercial relationships across and between industries. They exert great economic and social power in the country due to their shared collective agendas.

Western firms have begun to replicate but not exactly follow the Confucian relationship principle as they have begun to develop global joint venturing under a variety of international alliances even with competing firms. Whether the method uses a direct contractual association or just shared intelligence transnational companies are increasingly promoting borderless relationships. The go-it-alone historic attitude (as exhibited by American multinational firms in post–World War II) and the traditional marked desire to pursue independent international programs have given way to relationship building around the world. Given the increased use of global communication technology this new managerial direction is sometimes referred to as the virtual corporation. Also known as virtual relationships, the concept is “defined as networks of companies that come together to exploit fast-changing opportunities and share costs, skills and access to global markets.”¹⁹ While the Confucian philosophy instructs one to be ever mindful of a profit motive that when wrongly practiced may destroy relationships. It also serves as an influential guide to the benefits of relationship building as fundamental to the social order and attainment of mutual commercial goals.

Buddhism

Buddha is a contemporary of Confucius and they died 2 years apart. He was the son of a Sakya king and thereby destined for a luxurious life, as he was surrounded by material comforts from birth. He was educated in state affairs, which included commercial trade and the distribution of wealth that it produced. Such material self-indulgence deeply disturbed Buddha and he sought a new enlightened path, or the middle way, to achieve life’s true existence. His teachings presupposes universal laws called dharmas, which govern human existence—the intertwined relationship of all things.

Buddhism does not denounce the accumulation of wealth; it only states that it be obtained lawfully and that all should benefit from its use. This Eastern philosophy concerning the affairs of commerce and the material world it creates are found in the Diamond Sutra, which depicts it as having a fleeting value such as in the example of a flash of lightning in a summer cloud or a flickering lamp. Both references are meant to advise one to dispose of wealth as soon as it is received as it is of no lasting importance. It should be used to promote social harmony, perhaps a statement on the social responsibility of commercial enterprises, a modern topic that multinational corporations find themselves dealing with today. The writings of Buddha note five benefits that can be obtained from wealth, the end product of one’s “efforts and enterprise amassed through the strength of the arm and piled up through the sweat of the brow, righteous wealth righteously gained.”²⁰ Wealth gives pleasure and satisfaction to (a) oneself, his family, servants, slaves, and (b) to friends and associates. It (c) affords protection from nature’s unpredictable events as well as the unscrupulous activities of thieves, governments, and hateful heirs. It keeps men safe from forces beyond one’s control. It allows one to (d) fulfill their charitable obligations to all their encounter and specifically (e) toward priests and contemplatives whose vows prohibit them from indulging in material possession. One who follows such wealth distribution is considered noble with their actions leading them to a heavenly repose. In essence, wealth is to be used to promote human good and the right livelihood for mankind. The fundamental principle directs followers to develop an attitude of compassion, develop a social conscience, and promote the profit of commerce through wealth and the assurance of maitri (i.e., true friendliness toward others). It instructs one to not waste money on extravagant pleasures but to promote the social good. A forerunner of entrepreneurial social responsibility or in today’s terminology: corporate social responsibility. Companies in modern-day India are obligated by the legal environment as influenced by Buddhist concepts to portray a strong social commitment in the activities they perform. The idea of a common benefit being derived from their operations permeates the commercial culture and forms the strong undercurrent of socialism in the country as echoed by the federal and local law makers and the administrative bodies enforcing such regulations.

Hinduism

Hinduism is representative of a conglomeration of religious beliefs having no central founder or core group of prophets like characters that advanced its principles and decreed ceremonial worship systems. Its proclamations are derived from sets of stories, poems, and other literary works as opposed to the singular biblical books of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Its basic tenet is that individuals should not be judged by their attainment of material achievements but rather their spiritual improvement. One should strive for eternal bliss, a condition of nirvana, a purified state, a process that is interrupted by pure material pursuits. An ascetic lifestyle is therefore preferred as one goes through a continuous cycle of birth, death, and rebirth on the pious road to salvation. During each life experience, however, one is expected to work hard but accept his or her fate, which may negate receiving any justified reward. Such accepted doctrine sometimes produces apathy in seeking measured material achievement as karma decides what one recieves in life and not one’s activities. One aspect of Hinduism that affects the managerial process is the idea that people are divided into a social system of labor. A caste system is embedded in the traditional Hindi religion with four different society classes or varnas. Brahmin is composed of priests, scholars, or bureaucratic (leadership) groups. This is followed by the Kshatriya, the protector or warrior sect. On the third level are merchants and artisan tradesmen called Vaishya. At the bottom of the social ladder are the Sudras, whose skill sets do not rise above manual labor. Movement between such prescribed echelons is difficult; people are asked to accept their destiny with dignity as the next life will offer a greater reward. People, therefore, know their place and that of others around them. Asking one to lower their social status by working on an equal basis of shared responsibility or authority with an underclass individual or pushing one into a group above their birth station can create embarrassment and friction in an organizational structure.

Taoism

As founded by Lao Tzu, a contemporary philosopher of Confucius as well, Taoism is primarily based on finding the Tao or “the way” in life. The search for this enlightened path by exercising the three jewels; compassion, moderation, and humility while practicing self-control and letting things take their normal course. An example of accepting the natural essence of life is that spring comes and grass grows of itself, hence to plan or try to alter nature’s self-designed pace goes against the Tao. Accomplishment does not necessarily require effort as long as one attunes themselves to the rhythms of life and maintaining a harmony. Balance in life is represented by the Taijitu symbol (yin and yang), admonishing one to acknowledge the duality of all things, elemental pairs always connected. Such a philosophy directs one to see both sides of issues and to base decision making within the context of the whole issue.

The “actual precepts of Taoism do not bear down unfavorably upon businessmen and traders” and the “official scriptures do not portray merchants in a negative light.”²¹ Unlike the monolithic or Abrahamic singular god found in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, multiple spiritual deities are worshiped in Taoism (and Buddhism). Two heavenly beings watch over the world of commerce in Taoist doctrines. Chenghuang (god of the town) maintains peace and protects the inhabitants in the daily exchange activities while Caishen (god of wealth) brings good fortune and prosperity to individuals and the institutions they serve. A statue depicting Caishen is often placed in one’s home or business to invite good commercial success into the establishment. Temples reserved for Caishen are in many areas surrounded by commercial buildings and shopping plazas as proximity to the deity helps bring good joss or luck to businesses placed near them.

A Shared Regional Belief System

A common thread connecting Asian-Indian cultural values, as influenced by these religious teachings, is the importance of relationships and the responsibility owed to those within one’s social circle. Nepotism is routinely practiced and its virtues trump the more objective measurement values that Western societies use in the hiring and even firing of personnel. Family members and friends are more often hired as they come with an inherent sense of loyalty and reciprocal duty that negates them from ever leaving the company to secure better opportunities elsewhere. Although they may not come with the required practical skills needed for a specific job, it is argued that such proficiencies can always be taught. Dismissing one is also more difficult as, since the failure of one to adequately perform is visited on the one in charge with the notion that one must be properly instructed and supervised, the burden is on the manager and not the employee to see that the job is done right. This attachment to social and economic solidarity in Asian-Indian societies permeates the commercial activity. It has its roots in religious doctrines of the region that stress the importance of long-term relationships. The idea is often expressed in cross-cultural managerial textbooks as Eastern collectivism or group orientation as opposed to Westernized focus on the individual.

The Protestant Directive

It was not until the Reformation in the early 1500s and the emergence of Protestantism under the tutelage of Martin Luther that a religious order moved to embrace aspects of the commercial system and the creation of wealth as a tool to facilitate the betterment of man. Although Martin Luther was born to a historic farming family, hence his characterization as originating from peasant stock, such a depiction of his background is misleading. It was Hans, Luther’s father, who was raised on an extensive parental farm, the inheritance of which bypassed him to his younger brother. Hans therefore was pressed to seek his fortune not through agriculture but as a miner. By the time Luther entered the world, his father was the owner of a small but initially prosperous smelting business at a time when demand across Europe was high for this industry.²² Such occupation and status as a melting master coupled with marriage to a woman from a higher social class allowed the family to be integrated into the upper strata in Germany—such was the environment into which Luther was born. Luther never lived on a farm but dwelt all his life in towns and cities. His maternal cousins were all professionals coming from a highly educated urban family. When Luther entered as a student at Erfurt his family was considered wealthy, and he was doing exactly the kinds of things, that is, studying law, that were expected of a member of a rich, high-achieving, confident bourgeois professional family in Renaissance Germany.²³ The early life of Luther was tied to material wealth accumulation and his writings years later were reflective of such heritage. However it took the writings of German sociologist Max Weber in 1904 to propose a linkage between Protestant ethical doctrines and the spirit of capitalism. He argued that Protestant teachings stress the value of hard work and wealth accumulation for the glory of the creator and that such principles are compatible with the practice of individual abstinence from material pleasures even if such returns are used to expand the general welfare of society; hence the creation of the Protestant work ethic. Such recognition of the work ethic to produce a kind of charity for others resulted in the doing of God’s work. The idea sparked the expansion and development of business enterprises and certainly helped to unify what had for centuries been at odds—religious practice and the commercial imperative.

Direct Intermingling of Religion With World Trade and Business Principles

The teachings of the world major religious sects recognized the need to promote social order, which necessitated prescribed behavior in respect to commercial dealings among their followers. However, it was the Catholic Church that not only used its influence to promote and underwrite trading expeditions, as previously noted, but was directly involved in organizing and regulating global commerce. During the Crusades in 1139 CE, a papal bull, Omne Datu Optimum, first endorsed the Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and the society known as the Temple of Solomon, known by their historic name, Knights Templar. This decree, issued by Pope Alexander VI and followed by Celestine II’s Milites Templi in 1144 and Eugenius III’s Militia Dei in 1145, bestowed on the Knights Templar exceptional rights and privileges. Out of the remnants of the first crusade for the holy city of Jerusalem by European armies, a most unique group developed. The Knights Templar acted as guardians for pilgrims making the hazardous journey to pay reverence to the birth place of the Christian religion. This warrior and lay religious order, however, also placed their mark on the commercial development of the landscape during their time. Besides offering protection for tourists, they created the first international banking system with the use of a rudimentary travelers check so visitors would not have to carry valuables that bandits could easily rob. Their protection of and assistance to pilgrims visiting the Holy Land developed the precursor to the modern-day letter of credit. Not disposed to carrying money with them as they journeyed to Jerusalem for fear of being robbed on the way, they were encouraged them to leave funds on deposit in a Templar-type bank account. As they traveled they could draw down—take portions of their money—from geographically placed Templar offices en route using a secret withdrawal code. Using cryptic encoded written documents the Templar society allowed such instruments to be safely cashed once destinations were reached by the customers of their service. This early cross territorial financial system is similar to carrying a credit card today. It later evolved into the previously noted letter of credit, the most widely used secured method of payment in international financial transactions and an instrument that propelled more efficient modern-day global trade.

In recognition of their devotion to the faith in the protection of pilgrims to the Holy Land, they were excluded from tithes and taxes and were granted extraordinary property ownership liberties. A key provision of the grant was they were promised all spoils of war from the Muslim conquest, which essentially gave them exclusive trading rights to the Middle East region. This commercial monopoly enabled the Knights Templar to create perhaps the first multinational company as their trading opportunities between Christian Europe and the regional Muslim territories propelled them into the leading financial position in the world at such time.

Their merchant fleet, extensive warehouse infrastructure across all of Europe, and their ability to act almost as a sovereign untouchable economic entity produced great wealth and power for their brethren. Their knowledge of complex financial transactions coupled with their skills in the creation of cross territorial banking procedures were the basis for today’s modern global networks. The Templars were patrons of the first craft guilds to be independent of the Church and nobility. Called Compagnons du Devoir, this trade brotherhood was responsible for Templar building projects across Europe. Originally, this association of journeymen was primarily associated with cathedral construction and other edifices underwritten by the landed elite gentry. The Templar initiative took them out of the historic control of such institutions and made them more independent, creating in their wake a new societal class between the rich and poor. Even after the demise of the Templar sect it has survived with some sections evolving into the Masonic Order, itself possessing by some accounts specialized knowledge. Today the Masons are still active as is the original trade association.

Many years later, the royal houses of Europe—primarily by the French king—who were in debt to the Knights Templar, accused the Templars of heresy, and with papal blessing their order was disbanded and their properties and fortune confiscated. Their commercial global trade domination was therefore created and destroyed by the Church. Their historic economic impact on the region ended abruptly on Friday the 13th when the combined forces of the King of France and his aligned religious leader the pope destroyed the order. While many fictitious works, like the best-seller The Da Vinci Code, make veiled references to their possession of many secrets regarding the birth of the Catholic faith, there can be no doubt of their influence on the maintenance of civilization in 1096 via their commercial activities and the contribution to modern global financial transactions. The Knights Templar was at one time considered too big to fail but their accumulation of wealth and power, however, led to their collapse; a lesson that equally domineering MNCs would be wise to consider in today’s world.

The Church’s influence on world commercial dealings also extended to other parties during the 1100s. The papacy, under the Third Lateran Council (1179), excommunicated Christians that supplied the heathen Saracens with weapons, iron, timber, and all measure of personnel support on their seagoing vessels in an indirect attempt to deprive them of money flowing from their commercial activities. To further such policy, a letter was sent to the City of Venice in 1198 (whose economic sustenance was based on its extensive extraterritorial trading associations) expressly forbidding its citizens to aid the Saracens by directly selling them, exchanging with them, or indirectly providing the means by which they could obtain iron, flax, pitch, sharp instrument, rope, weapons, galleys, ships, and timbers in either raw or finished form. This pronouncement was in reply to an appeal by Venetians, whose survival relied on shipping and commerce, as they are not agriculturally based people. While trade with Saracens was prohibited, the Church did temper its declaration by allowing merchandise trade with Egypt to continue while also requesting commercial dealing with the province of Jerusalem to improve.

As noted earlier, the influence of the Church on global trade reached its zenith 3 centuries later with the publication of the Inter Caetera, a papal bull issued by Pope Alexander on May 4, 1493. It divided the New World, the non-European foreign territories, between the Portuguese and the Spanish; in essence settling the first global trade issue. The decree divided the two major oceans of the world via a meridian moving east and west thereby conferring the lucrative trade in such lands via the routes such waters touched.

Creating royal monopolies of trade yielded great wealth to these sovereign nations. From the East Indies rare spices, prized silks, unique woods and ivory along with Chinese porcelain fed the insatiable demand in Europe for exotic consumer products, while from the Americas flowed gold, silver, precious stones, furs, and eventually tobacco—the historic mainstays of material wealth. The massive traffic between Europe and the colonies not only created a new merchant class in society but insured the continued funding of the state via the levy of the quinto, the monarchy’s 20% tariff on goods transiting the trading ports. It also helped to solidify the power of the Church as an architect of world economic affairs. The division was unequal due to Spanish influence in the Vatican (note: Pope Alexander VI himself was of Spanish heritage), as it precluded Portugal from Asia. As a remedy to this injustice the Treaty of Tordesillas was signed between the two nations in 1494. The document itself is a precursor to international trade legacy agreements and the collateral creations of systems regulating and promoting global trade.

As the papal bull excluded other monarchs, both the British and Dutch (a Protestant nation) were jealous rivals, and the leaders of both countries encouraged the raiding of galleons on the demarcated merchant transport lanes. In the late 1500s English ships were especially active attacking ships returning from the Western Hemisphere as Spain would not allow her majesty’s commercial agents to trade with their American colonies. King Philip of Spain was well aware that Queen Elizabeth I supported such pirate adventures of her sea dogs, or privateers as they came to be called, while she gave her tacit approval to their rival gangs, the Huguenot corsairs and Dutch buccaneers. He called upon the Church once more for assistance. The Pope, then Pius V, could not outwardly condemn such events. Instead he issued a bull excommunicating Queen Elizabeth I for her supposed actions by extricating the English Church from the mother Roman Catholic Church, while also accusing her of causing the persecution of its members in Britain. The declaration was in reality a backhanded punishment for the disruption of Spanish trade flowing back to Europe.

Outside of the European theater Chinese explorers were also bestowed with an equal passionate ethereal religious-based directive, as noted earlier. The great Star Fleet was assembled in China in 1421 to circumvent the world and open cross-trading initiatives with new territories as well as offer the protection of the empire for tribute was endowed with a third initiative—to acquaint potential subjects with the Confucian doctrine and hopefully spread its message of enlightenment.

A century later, during the age of discovery, when European nations sought to mine the valuable riches of China, one of the prime arguments by counselors to the emperor to affect the closing of harbors and limit contact with European merchants was the danger of Christian religious contamination in the country. Chinese administrators were well aware that such commercial ventures were sanctified and influenced by the Christian Church while observing firsthand that missionaries routinely accompanied such trading ventures into their lands. Their preaching corrupted Confucian principles while also undermining the supreme power of the emperor and his pronounced secular laws for those of a higher authority, the Christian god.

Beyond these mergers of interests, organized religion recognized the need to both incorporate commercial relationships in their doctrines and perhaps borrow trade rules of conduct in constructing their venerable laws concerning relationships between people. Beyond the prime religious order direction to sanctify their prescribed deity and address family issues, many early teachings dealt with exchange of property and contracts between parties. But the mix of religious doctrine with the commercial profit incentive and accumulation of wealth has caused debate over the ability of the two programs to properly assimilate. Putting aside this scholarly question and the interpretation of scriptures as to the merits of the commercial imperative on the construction of the faith-based directive, an inspection of biblical references does indicate that such activity was addressed in the scriptures of many religious teachings as previously presented.

When analyzed closely, the influence of the ancient commercial exchange process on the construction of faith-based teachings is relevant. The seeds of thought, reflection, and enlightenment provided by all of the aforementioned spiritual prophets might have been founded to a degree on their association with the commercial environment of their times and the material wealth such activities produced. While the ancient forms of limited capitalism were treated as a corrupt negative value for most religious leaders in the formation of their principles it is interesting to note that Chinese exploration via the Star Fleet and the European initiative in the new world included a religious element in the commercial acquiring of new lands for respective national sovereigns. While religion may not have condoned such wealth accumulation practices, it has learned to ally with commerce when the overall goal of both institutions was in sync. Nevertheless, all the great prophets of the world’s major religions learned from their exposure to the commercial imperative, and perhaps used such experiences to frame their respective outlooks on how men should live. In ancient economies the focus was on wealth accumulation based on use of land and manual labor, the two most value-producing elements. Life was hard and turning to the spiritual for the promise of nonmaterial heavenly rewards after death in western religious teachings or finding an individual state of peaceful euphoria in eastern doctrines was the only respite that offered relief to the average person.

Roots of Religion: The Wealth Fable Connection

It is most interesting to note that the backgrounds of many of the world’s most respected religious inspirational leaders, and in most cases the man on whom the sect is constructed, always tell the adventure of a wayward prince who leaves his castle (metaphor for material wealth and a high secular social structure), begins to see his world as composed of a corrupted or false environment, takes a vow of poverty or attains some form of spiritual enlightenment, and walks among the common people. It is the classic hero as told through the eyes of so many societies. This unique personality abandons the familiar and safe, confronts the specter of his special status, confronts dangers and challenges on his new journey, and returns home with altered insight to better the world around him. Sometimes he leads people against a wicked oppressive force in their lives or provides those he encounters with a new direction, a divine or inspirational message to live their own lives, in spite of their transgressions, with redeemed purpose that forges a bridge between the spiritual and secular worlds. He recognizes that the material advantages arising from the natural exchange process are intertwined with the behavioral direction of society. Therefore his early initial exposure to wealth accumulation acted as a catalyst for his later inspirational and enlightening directed message to those that heeded his teachings and formed religious-like orders.