Basic Reply: Individual moral culpability cannot be waived by hiding behind a “corporation”. And corporations do act with certain ethical codes and values.
Further Explanation: Two misunderstandings are at play simultaneously in this complaint.
First, statements like this reveal a magical understanding of what a corporation is and how one operates. Many people imagine a corporation as a building that walks around doing stuff. In reality, companies and corporations are owned and operated by real human beings.
As the Supreme Court recently recognized in the Hobby Lobby case, when a company is closely owned by a small group of like-minded people, the religious rights of the individuals becomes coterminous with the religious character of the corporation. Thus, we cannot ignore how asking a Catholic business to comply with a policy necessarily entails asking Catholics to do something. Underneath that business is the conscience of the individuals who run it.
We easily recognize this principle in other cases. Suppose there is a business owner who is vocally opposed to the use of sweatshops in impoverished nations. But then it is discovered that this same business owner got the best price on merchandise for his business by buying clothing which is made in said sweatshops. It wouldn’t take long for people to recognize the personal hypocrisy of the business owner.
Imagine he replied saying, “It isn’t me purchasing those T-shirts, it was my company.”
Well, those excuses would fall on deaf ears. Most people have the common sense to see the connection between personal ethics and business ethics. But the person making the “businesses aren’t people” complaint would be forced to accept that defense from the sweatshop-using businessman.
Second, it is completely untrue that businesses cannot have beliefs, values, or ethics. The idea of “corporate values” is utterly commonplace and uncontroversial. We find it perfectly acceptable for a corporation to have values when it involves things like:
- Buying from local suppliers
- Doing business with ethical trade partners
- Not overpaying executives
- Giving generous maternity leave
- Giving back to the community
- Caring for the environment
- Mentoring local schools
The people who claim corporations aren’t moral agents – or that personal ethics are untethered to business ethics - only bring out that objection when the owners of a corporation are trying to conduct their business according to their religious beliefs.
The complaint gets dressed up in intellectual language, but at rock bottom the principle is: “Screw you, fundie!!”
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