If corporations are considered to have most of the same rights as humans should they also be entitled to Grace?
Last summer the Supreme Court decided that corporations had the right to make unlimited contributions to political candidates. For a number of years labor unions have also been able to make contributions to political campaigns. This ruling is just another incident where the law has held that corporations have many of the same rights and responsibilities of humans. Proponents of corporate personhood believe that corporations, as associations of shareholders, were intended by the founders and framers to enjoy many, if not all, of the same rights as would the shareholders acting individually, such as the right to lobby the government, the right to due process and compensation before being deprived of property, and the right, as legal entities, to speak freely. All of these rights have been upheld by theU.S.courts. On the other hand those same shareholders, employees, and officers have limited liability from suits and actions. In fact, one reason for incorporating is to limit the liability of those in this corporate association. This convergence makes me wonder if there is a relationship between what has come to be called Moral Hazard and God’s Grace. With the financial crisis that we’ve experienced in the past two years there’s been a lot of discussion about Moral Hazard. Massive bailout of banks, insurance companies, and the auto industry have made many wonder who’s responsible for this crisis and that not only should the corporations be punished, but also that individuals within those corporations should have accountability for their imprudent decisions. So, what is Moral Hazard?
Moral hazard occurs when a party insulated from risk behaves differently than it would behave if it were fully exposed to the risk. Moral hazard arises because an individual or institution does not take the full consequences and responsibilities of its actions, and therefore has a tendency to act less carefully than it otherwise would, leaving another party to hold some responsibility for the consequences of those actions. For example, a person with insurance against automobile theft may be less cautious about locking his or her car, because the negative consequences of vehicle theft are (partially) the responsibility of the insurance company. (Wikipedia)
CITI bank is a good example of Moral Hazard occurring over and over because no accountability or responsibility is taken for imprudent, unethical or criminal actions. Citibank was started in 1812 and has been bailed out successive times in its history.
In the latest financial crisis other banks and two of our major auto companies were determined to be too big to fail. It was believed that for them to fail would have more far reaching and long term disastrous effects.
So, is forgiveness of debt and poor judgment by corporations, their officials and shareholders sufficient to create situations where we bestow corporate grace on them?
Biblical Grace can be explained by the following scripture:
Eph 2:4,5, 8-10 (NIV) But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Somehow it seems a bit ludicrous for me to suggest that God can forgive a corporation even though it’s easy to see how an individual can be guilty of Moral Hazard. So, what happens when a powerful corporation creates a situation like we faced in the 2008 financial meltdown? In this case there’s a lot of blaming, hearings and promises of new legislation to remedy the problem. Occasionally there are a few people who are tried and put in jail, but often after the furor dies down, nothing substantive happens and we’re off and running to our next crisis. And if you saw the congressional hearings those with the power who were complicit in the crisis didn’t even make an apology. In many cases the buck was passed to someone else including the government and congress. Contrast this to the CEO of Toyota who came to the congressional hearing and took full personal responsibility for his company’s lax engineering of the gas throttle installation.
To me Moral Hazard is tantamount to what Dietrich Bonheoffer called cheap grace. Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession…. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. Grace without accountability or responsibility. So, it’s no surprise that as a society whether it’s in business, labor or government we see the equivalent of Cheap Grace. And it’s no wonder that individuals and other institutions practice a lot of cheap grace. Whether it’s about being responsible for children we produce, or holding the sanctity of marriage intact or working for an organic and wholesome community, we often seem to think we can leave it to someone else. We abdicate responsibility and want to blame others or expect to get off Scott free.
On the other hand Bonheoffer also talks about costly grace. In his case he was talking about the costly grace of standing up against the Nazi’s in Germanyand finally dying in a concentration camp for his actions. As he put it so well, costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.
Can we call ourselves to accountability? Can we call our institutions to accountability? The price is high and it’s hard to go it alone like Bonheoffer did. As persons involved with our faith communities we can work together to hold ourselves and our institutions accountable and embrace Grace as the Incarnation of God.
Allison Gower
nilknarf1940
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