From: National Post
Bankers say Jesus would have approved of fat paycheques
“Profit is not satanic,” Barclays chief executive John Varley said at the historic St. Martin-in-the- Fields church on London’s Trafalgar Square, one of several top executives to argue that Jesus would have approved of their pay packages.
Bloomberg reports:
The 53-year-old head of Britain’s second-biggest bank said banks are the “backbone” of the economy. Rewarding high- performing bankers with more pay doesn’t conflict with Christian values, he said. Varley was paid 1.08 million pounds ($1.77 million) and no bonus in 2008. …
True enough, maybe, but is the church the place to make the argument? Jesus wasn’t famous for his love of money-lenders. Wasn’t there something about chasing them out of the temple? …
Brian Griffiths of Goldman Sachs spoke at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Bloomberg reports, where he argued that “The injunction of Jesus to love others as ourselves is an endorsement of self-interest…We have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieving greater prosperity and opportunity for all.”