Religions and capitalisms Satrio Wahono  ;    A lecturer in the Faculty of Economics, Pancasila University

JAKARTA POST,  30 Januari 2014

                                                                                                                        

                                                                                         

                                                      

Entering 2014, global citizens are still dumbfounded about the financial crisis.  Far from being over, the crisis — rooted in the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis — is instead taking a more sinister form. This time, its repercussions are more wide-ranging, starting from the US, spreading to the European Union, India and China.  Even Indonesia has seen its robust economy slump with a bout of discouraging economic indicators. The rupiah exchange rate against the US dollar has weakened to 12,000 and the Indonesian Composite Index (IHSG) has taken a nosedive to 4,200 from its record high of 5,214.98 on May 20, 2013.  As a result, many people have been cursing capitalism as an immoral ideology. Some have dreamt about the death of capitalism amid predictions the world could face a bigger economic crisis this year.  Capitalism, however, is an ideology that has absorbed the virtuous spirits of the world’s religions. There are at least four major world religions proven to provide capitalism with ethical energy, the first being Protestantism.  Sociologist Max Weber (1864 – 1920) explained in his seminal book The Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904) that Protestantism gave birth to a rational and modern economic system. The reason behind this, Weber added, was the fact that Protestant ethics were the rational ethics of groups of Europeans and Americans that created a free enterprise system in its most modern and efficient form, a system we now know as capitalism.  There had already been free exchanges of goods and services as well as profit-oriented activities, but a free enterprise system that operated rational mechanisms, such as bookkeeping, impersonal organization and others, had not existed prior to the Protestant Reformation. The revolution believed a person’s success in his or her earthly affairs, including economic ones, reflected the manifestation of God’s will on earth. Therefore, working industriously, saving income and living an austere life were all considered virtuous deeds that had ethical and moral values, especially if accumulated wealth was later used to help the underprivileged.  Second is Judaism. Again, quoting Weber from his other great work, Ancient Judaism (1921), Jews as “the men of reason” are instructed by their scripture to influence and even conquer nature (as well as its resources) in order to achieve a prosperous life on earth. Third is Confucianism. Although Weber once criticized the religion as a key factor in curbing the progress of capitalism, the facts today prove otherwise. Instead, Confucianism has contributed significantly to attempts to revise crisis-torn capitalism. Just look at the present situation where China, the place where Confucius (551 BC – 479 BC) was born, enjoys a relatively impressive economic growth, thanks to the nation’s policy of applying state capitalism. This particular capitalism is driven by Confucianism, which teaches that a nation has to be based on the principle of state-family and be run in a hierarchical way under an autocratic social organization.  Confucianism emphasizes collectivism and argues people must cooperate and prioritize other people’s needs above their personal wants. It is such a spirit of collectivism that, according to Ian Bremmer in The End of Free Market (2010), triggers the emergence of a Chinese capitalism that deploys state-owned enterprises and politically loyal private enterprises to dominate strategic sectors, such as telecommunications and aviation.  Moreover, China uses SOEs as its vehicles to exploit natural resources (e.g. oil and gas) to create jobs for its people. Based on the scheme, therefore, the state guarantees individuals to pursue their own interests as long as the outcome of the enterprises will be beneficial to the collective interests. Fourth, Islam. Often dismissed as a religion that despises capitalism, Islam is actually in sync with capitalism, especially with the latter’s principles of the acknowledgement of individual property, free enterprise, orientation for profit, a money-based economy, competition and rationality in business behavior. Max Rodinson in Islam and Capitalism (1977) says Islam is not against capitalism. He argues the Koran pays great respect to reason. The term aqala (reason), for example, is mentioned around 50 times in the Koran. The scripture also repeats the words: “Why don’t you use your reason?” 13 times.  Several sayings of the Prophet Muhammad further justify Islam’s great emphasis on reason. Islam, for instance, contains passages that read: “An honest trader will sit together with prophets, heroes and fair people on Judgment Day.” This indicates that Islam praises people who accumulate wealth — the capitalists — under a noble intention to help others. So if capitalism contains religious spirit, why are we tangled in such a catastrophic, immoral financial crisis? The answer: because we have dismantled religious spirit from capitalism. As a result, capitalism undergoes a negative transformation from welfare capitalism founded on religious spirit into a version of capitalism that only accumulates capital and wealth for a few elite groups. Quoting Michel Wieviorka, welfare capitalism has been betrayed by its prodigal son and shareholder super capitalism. In this kind of super capitalism, corporations are no longer limited by national borders and are able to control nearly all global economic sectors.  The objective of corporations in the new capitalist system devoid of religious spirit is to satisfy the lust of corporate shareholders for the efficiency and the relentless streams of profit. As a consequence, they justify any means, such as deceiving people, destroying environment, forming unholy alliances with delinquent bureaucrats and using the services of thugs, to achieve their objective. The current global crisis should not be hastily concluded as the death of capitalism. Instead, the crisis should be treated as an early warning for the global community to stop capitalism from heading in the direction of its more sinister version of shareholder capitalism and turn back to its original form that emphasized people’s welfare, was built on religious values and aspired to create prosperity for mankind. ●