For many people, the idea of corporate America inventing religion rings falsely. It starts to unveil when you realize that a large number of corporations in the late 1930s had a common interest with the religious leaders prompting a collaboration. The article “How Corporate America Invented Christian America” features the 1940 address by Reverend James W. Fifield Jr. at the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) annual conference and subsequent advancement of Christianity (Kruse, 2015). Fifield defended the rights to free trade and strongly opposed members of the executive that were against the proposal. The reverend referred to the actions of the opponents as one interfering with the freedom.
The mergers of religious groups and corporates helped built a foundation in which businessmen were not affected by the bad governance and discriminative laws. The religious group also took advantage of the platform to advance their agenda of a God-fearing nation by denouncing “satanic statism.” Fifield viewed Christianity and capitalism as correlated and advancing one needed the help of another (Kruse, 2015). Fifield’s involvement with the corporation in fighting the government that were undermining free enterprise and Christian values shows how corporate America were involved in creating a religious nation.
Fifield’s approach to various audience was courageous but also tactical. Most of the minister’s congregation were millionaires who needed an assurance of safety of their wealth. Totally ignoring the New Testament interpretation of wealth and poverty, Fifield asserted that “men were creatures from God…in which freedom of choice of enterprise and of property is inherent” (Kruse, 2015, para. 12). The corporations involved the religious groups in most of their programs and reminded them that their rights were also threatened. Therefore, it was the fundamental role of Christians to protect the freedom against state interference. The period marked the rise of the religious activists through the input of the corporate society. Fifield’s Spiritual Mobilization program quickly grew in various states and became part of religion.
Reference
Kruse, K. M. (2015). How corporate America invented Christian America. Politcomagazine. Web.