The "church and estate"

Many of us believe in God as much us we believe in religious freedom or the separation of the board and prayer rooms and that spirituality must be regarded as a private pursuit as it is with a private enterprise.

Hence faith and fortune do not mix - or so they say.

Because of this common and old-age belief of what I would like to call the separation of the church and estate, many businesses have immortalized themselves out of their dark and despicable past - usually of slavery, usury and power. And still many of them today are purposely prepared to survive longer than the resources the earth could offer. And so it's funny to think that businesses are created only to outlive the very people who once created them.

The belief in the separation of the church and estate has also created businesses that attempts to un-create human kind - falling water tables, soil erosion, water and air pollution, denuded forests, loss of species and toxic industrial wastes.

The Holy Bible tells us that "Man is given dominion over the Earth." while "Allah entrusted man with the guardianship of the Earth," according to the Qu'ran. The Vedic scriptures also say that "It is we who belong to the Earth."

Undoubtedly almost all religions affirm that it [church and estate] is an inseparable canon and holds a crucial role to man's present day existence and that is our business to preserve what it is entrusted to us as much as we preserve our very own survival.

On the same token, the church and estate should neither be separated even at the workplace. Avodah is a Hebrew word for "work and worship" which means you can exercise your faith even at work.

A responsible corporate citizen should not only cover its respect for religious freedom but should encourage their people to practice their spirituality in the factory or office to make the workplace a more ethical and humane arena where believers and nonbelievers alike can find fulfillment.

While industrialization is one of society's highest forms of human achievement but there is a higher calling than what businesses can give or what it can get for a profit and that is the spiritual side of it. The entire activity revolving around trade and industry is a web of relationships - the environment and the people around us - and our spirituality enables us to choose the importance of relationships over profit.

Tomorrow's business organizations can be spiritual and learning organizations. The people in the new organizations should see themselves as functioning within a "church and estate system" where business and spirituality are the cornerstones of an honest and responsible enterprise.

Have a Holy Lenten Season and a Happy Easter ahead!

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