Is It Ethical for For-profit Firms to Practice a Religion? A Rawlsian Thought Experiment

Recent judicial rulings and changes in federal and state legislation have given for-profit corporations a growing list of rights and constitutional protections, including the right to practice religion free from many types of federal or state restriction. In this paper, we highlight the implications...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of business ethics 2020-09, Vol.166 (1), p.159-174
Main Authors: Fitzgerald, M. Paula, Langenderfer, Jeff, Fitzgerald, Megan Lynn
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Business and Management
Business Ethics
Companies
Consumers
Education
Ethics
Freedom of religion
Freedoms
Justice
Legislation
Management
Original Paper
Philosophy
Private sector
Quality of Life Research
Rawls, John (1921-2002)
Religion
Religious conversion
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Recent judicial rulings and changes in federal and state legislation have given for-profit corporations a growing list of rights and constitutional protections, including the right to practice religion free from many types of federal or state restriction. In this paper, we highlight the implications of these developments using Rawls' (A theory of justice, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1971) Theory of Justice to explore the consequences of for-profit corporate religious freedom for consumers and employees. We identify preliminary principles to spark a discussion as to how expanding religious freedom for businesses and fair access to goods and services can coexist in the for-profit marketplace.
ISSN:0167-4544
1573-0697
DOI:10.1007/s10551-019-04136-5