Capitalism and Faith

Is the "survival of fittest" doctrine of capitalism compatible with the altruistic nature of faith and religion? How then as an extension, a person who proclaims religiosity remains a competitive person in a cut-throat world of market-based economies? And furthermore, has religion becomes instrumental in the workings of capitalism?

The best starting point of which is what they call the Protestant Ethic or the Calvinist attitude towards work. It is thought that the relatively secular nature of Protestant's doctrine dictates that we have our station in the life and our job is to work and perform well in our roles contributes to partly the wealth of Protestants. This is in contrast with other religions which place guilt and salvation as it's primary role and therefore uses fear to restrict action rather than encourage it.

But such understanding is rather out-moded in today's world. In the 19th century where as this was understood,  hard work could really get you somewhere where agriculture and manual labour was the rule rather than the exception. But in today's world, more labour no longer equates to more wealth- on the other hand, it would appear competition is key to survival in today's world. A person that is rather insular but performs his tasks diligently would do well as the market was such that it wasn't so unforgiving. But in today's world, where competition and survival is the lingua franca- all advantages must be exploited and all disadvantages emphasized, there appear to be no room for the wholesome nature of such a benign view of the cultural impact of religion.

But rather having religion in today's world is not so much about the Sunday worship or temple visits but rather the network it brings and the "positive marketing" one gets for espousing one's religiosity. Similarly, the doctrine has slowly turned from "working for God and He will reward you" to " God creates wealth for you so you can enjoy".

Religion legitimizes on two-fold 1) you are seen as a Godly man and therefore trustworthy and hardworking[ like a brand-name stuck to your personality] 2) Money and God no longer clashes now.

Social Norms-wise, religion has smoothed out the inconsistencies for it's members- fitting today's social context with their brand of message. It would be easy to be associated with them without feeling guilty walking into the shopping centre later and splurging on a $500 pair of shoes later.

Religion comforts and soothes like nothing- after fighting tooth and nail from Monday to Friday, backstabbing, deceiving and stepping on someone's head, rumour-mongering and spewing spite- and on Sunday, someone tells you it is ok. God wants you to keep the money so it's perfectly fine to do what you do because why- God says we need to work to make money so it is "necessary evils".

I am the good guy, so why the hell make it difficult for me- so it must be your fault for making things difficult for me. It is pretty clear who is the good guy from the start. You can't argue with the good guy right because by definition you must be the bad guy isn't it- for arguing against him/her in the first place.

Well unless the office becomes a much less spiteful environment where every advantage must be exploited and every weakness exposed- I would say religion and the corporate environment just don't mix. A man who is a God-fearing man and yet climbs to the top without an hitch- I would be rather wary how did he do it in the first place. And climbing to the top means stepping on someone else, I have doubts that he did it in such a wholesome way in the first place. At best, a hypocrite and at worst, who knows.