Enlighten Me

A neighbor (who doesn't know I'm an atheist) expressed confidence in a contractor because he's a church-going Christian. I wanted to comment in a way that would show support for atheist business people, but I had to admit that I could totally understand where she was coming from. A church-goer would not only be accountable to his customers to be fair and ethical----he would be accountable to his church, as well. And to his God, for that matter....
Anyone care to comment on my conclusion?

Tenek

Or, if he's unfair, unethical, and generally a greedy backstabber, it's all right, God will forgive him anyways. Or maybe God will save him from lawsuits/jail time if he does something particularly bad.

sakrilege

Remember the Texas Seven? They escaped from Texas prison last year(?) and killed a police officer. They hid out at a religious camp. Some of them attended the bible sessions at the camp. Religion makes a good facade to hide behind.

Also think of the Boston archdiocese.


edited to add, most people in prisons are religious.

LeftCoast

It's been my experience that in business, the people to really look out for are the ones that wear their religion on their metaphorical sleeves. The people who have given me the most trouble are the ones that take great pains to let you know what good Christians they are.

Speechless

What, like Torquemada?

CheeseheadHeathen

Couldn't that same logic be used in hiring for companies? I'm an HR consultant, and I do a lot of corporate recruiting. Should I only hire churchgoers because they're fair and ethical, etc?

I've never seen anything to indicate that churchgoers are, as a group, more or less ethical, fair, etc. than anyone else. In fact, I think any group of humans has its good and bad people.

If I'm hiring a contractor (or anything else), I evaluate them on the quality of their work, their references, how they treat me, what kind of price I can get, etc. I don't care where they go on Sunday mornings.

SiliconWolf

I think some people react this way more out of elation at finding someone who agrees with them than anything else. Sort of like hearing someone quote from your favorite movie, where you think they're cool because they like that movie too.

Although I suppose this lady could think that conscientiously going to church every Sunday makes one conscientious in other matters. In that case, what about someone who gets up at dawn every Sunday to go fishing? Are they conscientious too?

Or does the power of jebus make you better at plumbing/hanging drywall/whatever? :banghead:

pariah

What's odd is this seems to be the general concensus among christians. Where I live at least. Most of the small buisinesses find a way to put a jesus-fish on their billboards, commercials, pens, phamplet...you name it.

I don't see how it makes a difference in terms of ability to do their service...yet it makes a difference. I think most small buisniess owners wouldn't want anyone to find out they are atheists lest they lose buisiness.

i saw a public opinion poll on cnn (or maybe here) and 48% of people in the US wouldnt vote for a president ONLY because he was an atheist.

For example I remember being at a friends house once in high school and his mom found out that my friends younger-brothers teacher was a, GASP, , ATHEIST. And that one of the children had asked her what church she went to, she said she didnt go, after lots of questioning (after class) the teacher admitted to being an atheist. The parent was looking into having the kid switch classes to a different teacher! How in gods name does being a christian make you any less able to teach long division??? It could have been something with evolution...but xian teachers have to teach evolution too so...

some people are just ridiculous

Josie

My Mom had some work done on her house a couple years ago, and the contrator she ended up with was a good christian. (She got a loan from the state, and they were paying, so she didn't have a lot of choice in the selection process, he was the low bid.) He played only christian music, and talked frequently about religon. Unfortunately, he appaered to be a much better christian than he was contractor. The work was shoddy,(a later inspection from some one high up in the dept. lead to Mom having lots more work done at no cost to her), he was slow getting the work done, knowing that Mom was living in very less than ideal quarters, and he didn't even always show up when he said he would. I make it a point to never do business with anyone who uses their faith as a calling card. They seem to care more for what God might think of them, than what their customers do.

MasterJackass

This is a little off topic, but sometimes when I read a post like pariah's it sounds like they are on some bizarro world that is the exact opposite of what I see where I live. It can be difficult for me to comprehend that some people actually think and act like that.

/derail done