Corporate Christianity

{{christianity}}
Several [[business]]es harness [[Christianity]] as part of their corporate culture, either as a way to reflect certain [[belief]]s of their owners or in order to appeal to Christian [[consumer]]s. This '''corporate Christianity''' reflects a broad range of beliefs and expresses itself in a variety of policies and practices.

==Common elements==
===Puddle-deep theology===
Understandably, most businesses espousing Corporate Christianity are hamstrung by the society in which they do business. They can't explicitly fashion themselves as [[fundamentalist Christian]], as that would alienate many mainstream consumers. They can't model themselves after [[Liberation Theology|leftist forms of Christianity]], because they'd have to sacrifice profit for that.  And [[marketing]] is the death of nuance.

Because their options are limited, Corporate Christianity tends to focus on cheap religious signaling, such as slapping [[Bible]] quotes on wildly inappropriate things and adopting generic culturally-[[conservative]] policies (e.g., no [[abortion]] coverage in company health plans, no "obscene" products in stores, etc). Due to the shallowness of this [[theology]] (and the [[Biblical contradictions|contradictions within the Bible]]), however, it's not uncommon for policies to contradict and lead to [[hypocrisy]], like when it was revealed that [[Hobby Lobby]] refused to cover [[contraception]] under its employee health plans while still investing employee retirement funds in contraception manufacturers.<ref>Molly Redden. [http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/04/hobby-lobby-retirement-plan-invested-emergency-contraception-and-abortion-drug-makers Hobby Lobby's Hypocrisy: The Company's Retirement Plan Invests in Contraception Manufacturers].  ''Mother Jones''.  2014 April 1.</ref>

===Like X, but Christian===
Some businesses are formed as a Christian-friendly alternative in industries perceived to be too obscene or anti-Christian:<ref>[[TV Tropes]]' page for [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheMoralSubstitute "The Moral Substitute"] gives a rundown of some examples of this from across pop culture. Not all come from the Christian market (they also note educational, [[secular]] [[political]], and [[nationalist]]ic examples), but most are, and the page's introduction notes how their status as a large, moralistic subculture wielding substantial political and economic power caused them to embrace this phenomenon.</ref>

*eHarmony.com, a dating site for Christians. Their marketing responds to the fears of some conservative Christians that [[internet]] dating promotes easy hook-ups by focusing on interviews with happily married [[heterosexual]] couples who chastely snuggle with each other.<ref>[http://www.eharmony.com/success/tv-commercial/ Meet Our TV Couples]. eHarmony.com.</ref>  The company bills this as "revolutionary".<ref>eHarmony. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkfdghHbiwk A Social Revolution]. YouTube. 2013 June 3.</ref>  
**And because eHarmony wasn't nearly blatant enough, nor fundamentalist enough, we also got [https://www.christianmingle.com ChristianMingle], which tells you to "Find God's match for you". Because apparently it's just so hard for people to find a Christian partner. At least they don't have the struggle of being farmers.<ref>[https://www.farmersonly.com Farmers Only.com]</ref>
*Record companies have created a genre of "[[Heavy metal#Christian metal|Christian metal]]", a Christian variant of the largely "[[evil]]" and "[[satanic]]" black metal. How different this is from [[Christian rock]] is open to debate.
*"Faith and Redemption" is a trading card game meant to be a substitute to {{wpl|Magic: the Gathering|''Magic: the Gathering''|.}} Players of the latter see the former as redundant, seeing how ''Magic'' has endured similar controversies in the past and nowadays only really has the stigma of the game being "cardboard crack" attached to it; and the designers of the game have drawn inspiration from numerous [[myth]]ical and [[religious]] entities in the past, ''including'' sourcing material from the Bible.

==Examples==
===Sticking Bible quotes on stuff===
[[File:Trijicon_rifle_scope_with_Bible_verse.jpg|thumb|"1JN 1:7" ({{bible|1 John|1|7}}) on a Trijicon ACOG sight.]]
Forever 21 is a clothing store known for offering merchandise with {{bible|John|3|16}} on it, alongside more conventional items such as underwear with "Y is for yummy" printed on it.<ref>Deborah Kolben. [http://www.nysun.com/new-york/evangelism-in-fashion/38174/ Evangelism in Fashion]. ''New York Sun''. 2006 August 18.</ref> Maybe they should use {{bible|Song of Solomon|1|2}} instead?

Trijicon, an American manufacturer of firearm sights, has a long tradition of engraving references to Bible verses on their product. Nothing particularly wrong with that… until it turned out that they supplied sights to the US military for use in the [[Iraq War]].<ref>Tahman Bradley, et al. [http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-military-weapons-inscribed-secret-jesus-bible-codes/story?id=9575794 U.S. Military Weapons Inscribed With Secret 'Jesus' Bible Codes]. ''ABC News''.  2010 January 18.</ref>  Conspicuously, the list of quotes that were used lacks stuff like {{bible|Matthew|26|52}} and {{bible|Micah|4|3}}.<ref>{{wpa|Trijicon biblical verses controversy}}</ref>

Ezekiel Bread, claim they make their bread "in the likeness of the Holy Scripture verse {{bible|Ezekiel|4|9}} to ensure unrivaled honest nutrition and pure, delicious flavors," and proudly display the Bible verse on its wrapping.<ref>Food for Life Baking Company — [http://www.foodforlife.com/about_us/ezekiel-49 About Us].</ref> This verse reads, "Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the 390 days you lie on your side." They don't mention a subsequent verse in their advertising where an [[bullshit|extra ingredient]] appears ({{bible|Ezekiel|4|12}}), seeing as it's a bit weird and has to do with bearing the sins of the people of the [[Israelite]]s ({{bible|Ezekiel|4|13}}).

[[File:In-n-out-bible-reference.jpg|thumb|left|150px|"For God so loved the world, he supplied us with [[Low-carb diet|fats and carbs]] and [[high-fructose corn syrup]] and [[Salt|sodium]]."]]
In-n-Out Burger loves to stick Bible references on its stuff (not the burgers themselves though, that would be a bit strange). The burger wrappers feature {{bible|Revelation|3|20}} ("Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me", or {{bible|Nahum|1|7}} ("The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.") The soda cups feature [[John 3:16]] ("For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.") Their milkshake cups feature {{bible|Proverbs|3|5}} ("Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.") Paper water cups used exclusively by restaurant staff feature {{bible|John|14|6}} ("Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.")

Alaska Airlines formerly gave out prayer cards with meals to all passengers, then in 2006 they cut costs and gave them only to first class passengers. In 2012, they decided to eliminate them altogether, finally deciding after 30 years that "religious beliefs [[Area 51|are]] deeply personal…"<ref>[http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2012/01/alaska-airlines-drops-prayer-cards-during-meals/613741/1 Alaska Airlines drops prayer cards during meals]</ref>

===Cultural conservatism===
Hobby Lobby, a craft store chain, notoriously refuses to cover birth control under its health plans.<ref  name=AP>Associated Press. [http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/23/obamacare-faces-religious-challenge-supreme-court Obamacare faces religious challenge in supreme court]. ''The Guardian''. 2014 March 23.</ref> After [[Obamacare]] prohibited this,<ref name=AP /> Hobby Lobby sued the [[government]], claiming its policy was an extension of religion and therefore couldn't be regulated.<ref name=AP />  They also refused to carry non-Christian paraphernalia (e.g. {{wpl|Anti-Judaism|anything having to do with Judaism}}) until 2013.<ref>Yvette Alt Miller. [http://www.aish.com/ci/s/Hobby-Lobbys-Hanukkah-Decoration-Fiasco.html Hobby Lobby’s Hanukkah Decoration Fiasco]. aish.com. 2013 October 7.</ref>

MVNO [[Patriot Mobile]] prided themselves as the United States' only conservative cellular provider, and does this in spades. Not that there wasn't any backlash towards those supplying their cellular coverage, though.

===Would you like some homophobia with your fried chicken?===
{{main|Homophobia}}
[[Chick-fil-A]] is a fried chicken restaurant chain whose business it is, apparently, to dictate what the United States' policy on [[same-sex marriage]] should be. After public statements on the subject in the summer of 2012, the company became a rallying point for conservatives opposed to marriage equality. And they sold a lot of chicken in the bargain. The [[irony]] of making statements about homosexuals based on {{bible|Leviticus|18|22}} and {{bible|Leviticus|20|13}}, while selling food in violation of {{bible|Leviticus|3|17}} and not informing customers of {{bible|Exodus|23|19}}, was lost on the company and their patrons. If Chick-fil-A actually had wanted God's approval, they could have studied the list of [[List of actions prohibited by the Bible#Food and drink|food and drink prohibition in the Bible]].  

The act of "showing up the [[queer]]s and [[liberals]]" by paying for fried food that clogs their own arteries was also fairly humorous. The benefit is that Hobby Lobby would cover the procedures to save yourself from your eating habits.

==See also==
*[[Dr. Bronner's Soap]], for the [[hippie]] version of corporate Christianity.

==External links==
*[http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/03/hobby-lobby-supreme-court-obamacare Mother Jones article] discussing Hobby Lobby's Christian policies.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Christianity]]
[[Category:Christian commerce| ]]
[[Category:Business]]

Categories: Christianity, Christian commerce, Business