Prophet Weights In On Corporate Culture and BP

clipped from www.kansascity.com

Religious leaders and scholars are clamoring for more corporate accountability in the wake of what they call the destruction of God’s creation in the Gulf of Mexico, and they may have found a partner in their battle cry: the American business school.

“Look at the Gulf disaster – no one has questioned the core value system that BP used to cut corners with that rig out in the Gulf; namely, the race to maximize profits at all costs,”

“A general theme from the Hebrew Scriptures that may be relevant to Deepwater is one that runs through the Prophets: When the people have become arrogant and obsessed with wealth, the poor suffer and the land suffers,” said Willis Jenkins, professor of social ethics at Yale Divinity School. “Says the prophet Hosea: ‘Even the birds of the air and fish of the sea are perishing.’ ”

“It’s not about BP or the Bush or the Obama administration – it’s about everyday people in the West who insist on cheap coal, cheap oil and cheap gas to power their lifestyles.”