Corporations are People

I was out and about running errands today when I came across a bumper sticker in the BJs parking lot.  It said “Corporations Are Not People.”  Next to it was a “Hillary for America” sticker, so I think I got a pretty good understanding of where she was coming from, but I must say a bumper sticker like that is part of what’s wrong with our political process.  It makes your opponent faceless so you can vilify them easier.  The reality is corporations ARE people.  I’m guessing she didn’t get the irony that she was in the parking lot of what is a major corporation.  The guy behind the deli counter, the woman at the register, the kid organizing the shopping carts, and the guy punching her receipt (What’s the deal with that policy anyway?) are all a part of a corporation.  I’m sure if I had the opportunity to ask, this woman would have told me that corporations are just greedy entities made up of fat cats and the one percent, but it’s just not accurate.  Those corporations also have administrative assistants, janitors, I.T. guys, cafeteria workers, middle managers, receptionists, etc.  Also it should be noted that most corporations are not the colossal fortune 500 types, they are actually small businesses; the “main streets” as opposed to the “wall streets.”  In summary, it was just a dumb bumper sticker that upon closer examination makes little to no sense.

I push my blog as a Christian one, so what’s the Christian perspective on all of this?  Here’s what I am thinking; if corporations actually are people, then Jesus loves them and cares for them.  He even cares for those rich one percenters that help make some of those corporations run, because Jesus came to this earth not to condemn it but to save it.  And He didn’t just die for the lowly, the down and out, or whoever else the woman with that bumper sticker may have in mind.  He died for people who work for corporations; many of whom are in my congregation.  They work hard, come to church, and are faithful givers.  We in turn take that money they’ve given and use a good chunk of it to support those in need in our community and around the world so that even more people can hear about how Jesus died for them too.  Corporations are not faceless.  They are not evil.  They are people.  We should all be thankful for them and the good they do.