Greed Wins Again!

“Greed is the inventor of injustice as well as the current enforcer.”

Julian Casablancas

Earlier this month (October 8^th), a fan was kicked out of a basketball game for holding up a sign calling for freedom for Hong Kong and for yelling a freedom-for-Hong-Kong slogan. One of the teams on the court was a Chinese team from Guangzhou, the Loong Lions. But this game wasn’t being held in Beijing or Peking. It was in Philadelphia…the birthplace of American freedom. Just feet from where our forefathers signed the Declaration of Independence, Americans were told that they couldn’t show public support for basic human freedoms in China. This was right after the NBA forced an apology onto the Houston Rockets general manager for tweeting, “fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong.” Why? Greed!

  The NBA is poised to make $1.5 billion off its streaming agreement with Chinese media company, Tencent, over the next five years, so the NBA is willing to slam dunk basic human rights to increase their bottom line.

  Basketball is the most popular sport in the world’s most populous country. There are more NBA fans in China than there are people in the United States. The NBA is willingly being fiscally blackmailed by a repressive nation known for forced abortions, harvesting organs, and the abuse of religious minorities, like the Muslim Uighur community.

  That’s not to mention China’s recent blood-drenched history. Chinese Communists make the Nazis look like Boy Scouts. There’s a general consensus among historians that after Chairman Mao and the Communists came to power,  political purges caused the deaths of tens of millions.

  Today most have forgotten the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Estimates of the death toll vary from several hundred to several thousand, with thousands more wounded. What’s ironic is how quickly the NBA was ready to boycott North Carolina over bathrooms a few years ago, but now kowtow to a brutal Chinese government…all for the love of money.

  Yet, the NBA is hardly exceptional. In recent years, American and European companies have made a regular habit of apologizing for their accidental contradictions of China’s Communist Party line. Last year, Marriott fired a social-media manager for liking a post complimenting the hotel chain for its (unintentional) endorsement of Tibetan independence. Around the same time, Mercedes-Benz issued an apology for quoting the Dalai Lama on Instagram. After learning that one of its t-shirts featured a map of China that didn’t include Taiwan or various disputed islands in the South China Sea, the Gap expressed its regrets and affirmed its respect for “China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Versace apologized for a similar offense last August, saying, “Versace reiterates that we love China deeply, and resolutely respect China’s territory and national sovereignty.”

  By itself, U.S. consumer brands’ disinterest in advocating for Tibetan independence or democracy in Hong Kong isn’t especially concerning. But capitulation on these largely symbolic issues (symbolic in the sense that Gap T-shirts won’t make or break the “Free Tibet” movement) clearly indicate that corporate America is virtually absent of a moral compass or compassion for the oppressed or brutalized. Greed massacres freedom!

  Christians have largely been concerned about Big Brother, and the oppression of biblical values but been oblivious to Big Business’s oppression of Christianity. But corporate America is no friend of grace or the people of God. Think about it. If corporations won’t support the defense of basic human rights by an oppressive regime like China, do we believe that religious freedom won’t also be sacrificed? Giant corporations like Google, Twitter, Facebook have been caught censoring Christian posts and organizations.

  Just consider the malicious media slandering and political blackballing of Chick-fil-a because their owners dare to espouse a biblical worldview. Yet, it’s common knowledge that Chick-fil-A serves, employs, pays, and offers benefits to people who consider themselves gay, queer, lesbian, bi, and any other sexually-specific identity a person wants to claim. They don’t discriminate or show partiality or prejudice. They simply sell chicken sandwiches in clean restaurants (except on Sundays).

  What infuriates those who hold a different worldview is that the owners of Chick-fil-A are Christians who personally hold to a belief in the biblical moral ethic. That’s it! They’re believers striving to honor God and live in obedience to His Word. That obedience means loving others, serving others, helping others and doing all things (even selling chicken sandwiches) as though they’re working for God Himself and not for man.

  Even an innocuous site like Pinterest censors and blocks certain Bible verses and Christian terms in its search engine. While a quick search makes it clear that some Bible verses are still allowed on Pinterest, one employee whistleblower revealed that the company’s auto-complete function was modified and there is hostility against some Christian beliefs. 

  Yet, none of this should surprise us. Jesus promised that, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you” (John 15:18). While in America we should defend our Constitutional rights while we can, just as the Apostle Paul defended his rights as a Roman citizen, we must also be known as the people of love and grace. We’re to turn the other cheek (Mt. 5:38-40), and love and pray for our enemies (Rom. 12:14-21).

  Most vocations are no longer exempt from the conflict between career and convictions. As Christians, we must develop a “theology of getting fired” and answer the tough questions before they’re forced on us: “What am I willing to take a stand for and get fired over?” God’s grace is sufficient. He has called us to live as His light in an increasingly darkening world. We’re not the first who’ve faced these dilemmas. As God has been faithful to all those who have come before us, He will be faithful to us!

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