Greed, Sin and Shame

I have been part of an online project organised by Prof. Conor Gearty at the London School of Economics on the future of human rights (http://www.therightsfuture.org/). Actually, I am not so keen on the term "human rights" for reasons I will get into another time (I prefer "fundamental rights"). One of the most interesting discussions we had was on the relationship between religion and human rights. My view is that the prioritisation of the after life that is a feature of many religions, is inherently problematic for ensuring respect for human rights on earth, as, if this life is only of secondary importance, the person who forces you to live in accordance with what they believe to be the true religion and thereby saves your soul, is actually doing you a favour. Indeed I have often thought that Mormons are really not pushy enough if they believe that I will burn in hell for not converting to their faith.
That said, one of Prof. Gearty's best points is that those in favour of human rights can learn from (or at least draw on) some elements of religious teaching in their struggle. This idea came to me very strongly as I watched the CEO of Barclays Bob Diamond defend the obscene amount of money being paid to senior bankers. There is, obviously, nothing illegal in being paid £8 million as Mr Diamond is. I did however think that there should be more social consequences for demanding such a level of remuneration. Mr Diamond asserts that obsene rewards are necessary to keep top talent. Though abusive and repressive in many ways, the Catholic Church in Ireland has always stressed that greed is wrong (though one of their leading lights, Archbishop McQuaid, lived a life of notable luxury with champagne and hand-rolled cigarettes in the midst of the impoverished Dublin of the 1950s). I think that the idea that greed is shameful is something that we could useful draw from Europe's religious heritage. I was dying for one of the MPs questioning Bob Diamond last week to say "Would you leave Barclays if they paid you less than £8 million?" and if he said yes to follow it up with "Are you not ashamed to be so greedy?". The idea that in business one is entitled to take the very maximum possible and to resort to all strategems that not illegal to gain more money and to defeat one's rivals, is highly corrosive. We do not behave in that way in other areas of life and there is no reason we should do so in business. To ask for £8 million as a annual paypacket constitutes a sin, the sin of greed. The law cannot and should not make everything that is a sin a crime. The price of living in a free society is that people will use their freedom to do unpleasant things. It is a sin, but not a crime to be rude to one's neighbours, unfaithful to one's partner or to let down a friend who needs help. The state cannot punish these  things but society can. There can and should be social consequences for the kind of legal but wrongful behaviour of people like Mr Diamond. He is a greedy and selfish person. He should not be jailed but he should be ashamed, and be made to feel like that by the rest of society.