A Little BP in All of Us?

No one disputes that BP did something terribly wrong--morally wrong--that resulted in eleven dead and the ensuing economic and environmental disaster. Some even see fault in the government restrictions on drilling that pushed the rigs so far out into deep water. But some are also pointing the finger at Americans in general, and the American way of life.

We're used to hearing this from Muslim jihadists and western leftists of all kinds. Even the American president himself, in his first Oval Office speech, accused us of being "addicted to fossil fuels." But here comes the Evangelical Christian mea cupla on behalf of us all: "Corporate Sin: We Wanted BP to Cut Corners." It's only a blog post from a Texas pastor at a happenin' church, but it doesn't surprise me either.

If we’ve ever complained about rising gas prices or the cost of air travel, we are participating in the world that drives companies like BP to cut costs. We want them to. We need them to. We don’t really want to know what BP is doing as long as it keeps our vehicles fueled and our computers powered. Not unlike Al Gore, who talks about the environment from the comfort of his personal jet, we love to talk about BP’s problems while consuming the product they provide at every opportunity.

In reality, more oil is spilled every year in Nigeria than what BP has spilled into the Gulf. We just don’t care because it doesn’t affect us. The BP oil spill, then, is not about the individual sins of a single, evil corporation bent on squeezing every last dollar out of the earth’s core. It is about the corporate sin of humanity bent toward selfishness at every turn.

A bit cynical. More than a bit.

Some Christians are never happy unless they are in the throes of conviction, preferably dragging everyone in with them, even if they have to invent the sin out of nothing. I understand that this man wants to alert is people and his readers to the idolatry that is throughout our culture. Good. But I think this spill is a poorly chosen lift off point.

Just because I drive a minivan and don't want to pay any more than I have to for gas does not make me in any way complicit in BP's wrongdoing. So too, my desire for inexpensive bread and clothes does not make me complicit in adulterated foods and illicit sweat shops. BP's motive not to mess up the Gulf should be good corporate citizenship if not enlightened self-interest. The same can be said of everyone. Bakers should not mix sawdust into their bread and textile manufacturers should not chain people to their looms. But because of the especially wicked among us, and also because of decent people who sometimes succumb to temptation, we add laws and regulations to supplement moral exhortation.


We all want a highly productive and efficient economy, and there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, it's godly! The Lord has set us in a potentially rich world, not a universal Chad. But we want that prosperity--and believe we can all achieve and enjoy that prosperity--justly.