Dion, Michel (2000).
Business ethics and spirituality among Jews, Christians and Muslims, in T.C. Pauchant and Associates, Ethics and spirituality at work. Under revision in the U.S.
In this chapter, lawyer, theologian and ethics professor, Michel Dion compares the principles of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and relates them to the economic system, management and, more generally, to work.
To do so, he comments on the inter-religious declaration initiated in 1984 by Prince Philip of Great Britain and Prince Hassan Bin Talal of Jordan, that has resulted in a code of ethics for international business signed in 1993. This declaration has been specifically designed to address the globalization of economic exchanges and to increase high moral standards in business practice.
Michel Dion comments on three fundamental themes: social justice and the search for common good; the management of Creation; and the principles of political economy including those related to competition, prosperity, the function of the State, human dignity and the environment. He concludes by arguing that the development of a collective ethic from these three monotheistic religions is not incompatible with the affirmation of their specific differences. A real inter-religious dialogue can overcome this paradox.
This dialogue can be seen as a continuation of the work on existing relationships between religions and economy initiated by the great sociologist Max Weber at the beginning of this century . Considering religion as the very foundations of our cultures and our societies, the work of Weber nonetheless had a certain bias; the author was interpreting each religion alone, and his standpoint was sociological hence more general. Michel Dion's commentary, based on the 1993 inter-faith declaration, is more faithful to the three religions themselves. His commentary emanates from a dialogue of each group's own members, and is particularly applied to the business world since each specific community has been invited to participate into the dialogue. In the concluding chapter I will introduce another statement of inter-religious ethics proposed by the Parliament of the world religions, established in 1893.
