The Impact of Religious Identity and Orthodox Christianity on Ethical Consumption

7/28/2019 The Impact of Religious Identity and Orthodox Christianity on Ethical Consumption

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The Impact of Religious Identity and Orthodox

Christianity on Ethical Consumption

Vasileios Vranas

Abstract This research reviews the literature relating to the impact that religious

identity and orthodox Christianity have on ethical consumption. Ethical products and

services are increasingly becoming more widespread among consumers but still

science has not explored all aspects concerning this specific behavior. This paper

outlines the existing knowledge about the connection of ethical consumption and

religious identity through literature review and case studies. Finally, with the use of a

citation matrix and diagrams the research gap in the literature is identified and a

number of suggestions for further research are made.

KeywordsEthical Consumption, Religious Identity, Orthodox Christianity, Decision

Making Process, Moral Development

Introduction

The present study is about the impact of religious identity on ethical consumption. To

illustrate this impact orthodox Christianity was chosen as one of the extant religious

identities. Ethical consumption means purchasing products or services that have been

produced in an ethical way or it can also mean not buying or actively boycott those

goods that do not mach the moral beliefs of consumers. Ethical consumption is the

final part of the decision making process and it can be influenced by many and

different stimuli such as the religious identity of the consumer. The term Religious

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Identity is here used also to denote atheism and agnosticism as a stance. This

clarification is important because in the literature there are numerous studies only

about ethical consumption and religions, mainly about Catholicism, Islam and

Judaism, but not enough literature about other beliefs such as Buddhism or Hinduism.

Most importantly, there is a scarce research on religious identity and no research

about atheism and skepticism in ethical consumption or even in consumers behavior

in general. As a result of this observation this thesis demonstrates orthodox

Christianity as a religious identity that has not been studied in marketing and

management at all. So this thesis has a research questions to answer: what do we

know about how religious identity and orthodox Christianity impacts ethical

consumption. It has to be mentioned that there is not enough literature in journals

about orthodox Christianity and ethical consumption and as a result of that, books,

internet blogs and web pages are used but all of these sources have credibility

although they are not from Journals because all the opinions mentioned in those

sources are from orthodox priests, archpriests and theologians who are expressing the

orthodox Christian doctrine. Finally to answer the research questions this thesis

utilizes the literature review method to identify the variables explored and content

analysis to construct a matrix, presenting the frequency of the examined variables in

the literature. Furthermore the findings are diagrammatically presented to illustrate

what researchers have done up to now in the fields of religious identity, orthodox

Christianity and ethical consumption and identify the research gaps.

Ethical Consumption

Before entering into research we have to make clear what do we mean by the term

ethical consumption and what is the difference with ethical consumerism. The use

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of the terms ethical consumerism and ethical consumption are being used a lot in

recent years and often those two meanings are used in the same way. In the literature

almost no official distinction has been done despite the fact that many writers have

used both terms. The etymology of the words consumerism and consumption may

enlighten us. So according to the widely accepted encyclopedia of the 21 st century

Wikipedia consumerism is a social and economic order that is based on the

systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods and services in ever

greater amounts. As far as consumption is concern according to Bee Dictionary the

etymology of the word means the utilization of economic goods to satisfy needs.

Although it is easy to find a definition for consumerism or consumption, finding a

definition for ethics is hard. What is ethical varies from person to person and in the

literature there are so many attempts to describe ethics from Plato and Aristotle to

Nietzsche and Sartre. In Emanuel Kants philosophy for instance justice dominates

his ethical theory or in Arthur Schopenhauer the landmark of ethics is compassion.

Contrary for Friedrich Nietzsche compassion means denying the gift of life and

believes that ethics is a bad look for all things . Philosophers through centuries

have given so many definitions and most of them reject its other so in order to

understand what ethics mean in general we will just satisfied our selves with a brief

definition from a simply online dictionary. So ethics descriptively refer to some codes

of conduct put forward by a society or normatively refer to a code of conduct that,

given specified conditions, would be put forward by all rational persons. After all

the different definitions above about consumerism, consumption and ethics we

will give our own definition of ethical consumerism and ethical consumption. So

according to what is mentioned above ethical consumerism could by characterized as

the desire to purchase goods in favor of the current codes for good and bad of

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society, based on the common sense of rational people. On the other hand ethical

consumption is the satisfaction of needs by using economic goods in a way that the

present codes of society about good and bad are not violated. As far as this research

is concerned, our study will stay focus in the aspect of ethical consumption trying to

find the impact that religious identity and orthodox Christianity have on that kind of

consuming behavior.

Religious Identity

According to Babiniotis, identity is all the features that determine in a unique way

someone or something. It is in other words what makes a person to be different from

another but also some times there is a collective identity that is expressing more than

one people. That means identity is used in two linked senses, which may be termed

social and personal and there is no necessary linkage between social identity and

personal identity. Religion is part of humans identity and in this point it must be

cleared that as long as this study is concern, by religious identity we also include

those who do not believe in any God or they are skeptical about it.

Orthodox Christianity

Christianity is the biggest religion in the world with more that 2.000.000.000

followers and exists more than 2000 years. Christianity has many different versions

from Catholics and Orthodox to Protestants and Jehovahs witnesses. Although the

followers of Christianity recognize the same founder, Jesus Christ, the history divided

Christians in many Churches, which differ in their organization and also in the

interpretation of the Gospels. To this point we are interested only in Orthodox

Christianity, which is also known as Eastern Orthodox Church.

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Ethical Consumption

Ethical consumption means the whole set of issues and considerations that might

impinge upon the purchase decision and the list of those issues is certainly growing as

new issues such as technology become introduced into purchase decisions.

Consuming is a mode of action in which people make use of consumption objects in

a variety of ways. One of these ways is the ethical way in other words, the ethical

consumption. On the one hand, ethical consumption might be defined in relation to

particular objects of ethical concern. In this sense, consumption research defines a

variety of issues as ethical, including environmental sustainability, health and safety

risks, animal welfare, fair trade, labor conditions, and human rights. On the other

hand, this focus on consumption as a means of acting in an ethical way toward

particular objects of concern extends across various forms of practice, including

shopping, investment decisions, and personal banking and pensions. The diversity of

objects and practices that might constitute ethical consumption is underscored by

considering the diversity of organizational forms that might be defined in this

category. These include ethical trading organizations; lobby groups; fair trade

campaign organizations; co-operative movements; consumer boycott campaigns; and

no-logo antiglobalisation campaigns. Even this short list indicates the high degree of

overlap between organizations, the diversity of strategies and issues adopted, and the

variability of scales at which ethical consumption activities operate. Ethical

consumption is becoming more and more widespread among consumers whose

purchasing behavior is changing rapidly. Consumers now are aware of their ability to

force corporation to adopt more social-friendly policies. The augmentation of

information received by people in the 21st

century and especially through internet

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gave the ability to consumers to the exact procedure that have been made to a product

before it shows up in the supermarket shelves. From raw materials to the working

conditions of the company staff, consumers can judge if the products development

stages mach to their ethical beliefs. So, does ethical consumption, have the power to

change the way corporations function? The answer would be yes, because numbers

show us that ethical market is gaining ground. For-instance, by typing ethical

consumption in Google (in December 12, 2011) more than 20.500.000 references

show up. Moreover in the UK, ethical market was worth 43.2bn in 2009 compared

with 36.5bn two years earlier and that was an increase of 18% with the sector of

clothing and cosmetics being the leader having and increase of 29% during the same

period of time. Those rates are indicating the need of the market for moral products

or services and that implies the existence of ethical companies. Despite that need,

consumers still believe that corporations are not using ethical practices. According to

a research by Financial Times, consumers in five of the worlds leading economies

( UK, USA, France, Germany and Spain believe business ethics have worsened in the

past five years (2002-2007) and in the same time they believe that brands with

ethical claims on environment policies or treatment of staff and suppliers, for

instance would make business more answerable to the public. It is obvious that

ethical consumption is an upcoming force that is about to change the world of

corporations as we know it, although there are some who believe that it is just a trend

which is about to end with the economic crisis that is now a global phenomenon.

According to the Ethical Consumerism Report of 2010 though, the growth in ethical

consumerism continues to outstrip the market as a whole and that came as a surprise

to those who thought ethical considerations could be the first casualty of an economic

downturn. However despite the rise of the ethical consumption, there are many who

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believe that moral purchasing is not a big deal because either it is not a strong enough

action to change the way corporations work or it is done just for hedonistic reasons.

Also some believe that while mere exposure can activate concepts related to social

responsibility and ethical conduct and induce corresponding behaviors; purchasing

green products may produce the counterintuitive effect of licensing asocial and

unethical behaviors by establishing moral credentials. Thus, green products do not

necessarily make us better people. We are not saying that individuals do not bring

values and beliefs into the purchasing context but however, this is not to say that these

values and beliefs are not so immutable as to be more than one of many contributors

to the individuals consumption decision. That is why we view the notion of the

ethical consumer with suspicion. As far as green consumerism is concern

consumer actions alone will not be enough to conserve plants and animals. and

they may become even a catastrophic mistake . Consumers primary motive for

green consumerism can be expressed or manifested with numerous different selective

motives and behaviors and requires the consumer to have certain practical skills and

task knowledge.

Environmental Sustainability

Environmental sustainability seeks to improve human welfare and by protecting the

sources of raw materials used for human needs and ensuring that the sinks for human

wastes are not exceeded, in order to prevent harm to humans. In other words

environmental sustainability means the protection of the environment but to achieve

this, proper valuation of natural capital must be central to economic development.

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Not only people should protect the natural sources but also corporations must be even

more sensitive for nature because they use the most of its resources as raw materials

for their products. But although more and more businesses are adapting a value

based model and expanding their view to include all stakeholders, not simply

shareholders, if a decision does not directly create shareholder value, it will simply

not be made. . Corporations usually are interested in quick and direct profit and the

use of ecological methods in production process will bring long term results and time

is money in business. At this point researchers need to better understand the role that

corporations can play in dealing with ecological problems. Corporations stand to

benefit by moving toward ecological efficiencies, capturing emerging green

markets, gaining first-mover advantage in their industries, ensuring long-term

profitability, establishing better community relations, and improving their image.

Religious identity in the case of environmental sustainability can provide help. All

religions have a special concern about environment and this is not only in modern

religions. Religious beliefs and traditions historically, have taught us to perceive and

act on non-human nature in terms of particular human interests, beliefs, and social

structures. Through religious beliefs and laws we have socialized nature, framing it in

human terms. And to a great extent we have done so to satisfy human needs, abilities,

and power relations. Besides the dominant religions of East and West, we have

numerous indigenous beliefs and traditions that have been used as the basis for the

traditional coping mechanisms long before the rise of any of the religious beliefs. .

Health and Safety Risk/ Labor Conditions

By the term Health and Safety Risk it is usually described the work conditions of

employees. Those conditions may be dangerous for the workers and specific safety

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measures by the corporations must be taken. Many firms are developing new health

risk assessment procedures and risk management strategies to reduce risks and

contain costs. Health risk assessment is an analytic process that promotes the

systematic identification of the hazard attributes of a proposed activity and the

measurement of the potential adverse impacts on human health and the environment.

Many major corporations have embraced this wholeheartedly and pursue safer and

healthier workplaces as a corporate value. Frequently corporate values are identified

in writing and supported by the chief executive officer, some companies even going

so far as to produce reports, equivalent to the corporate annual report, addressing

safety and environmental health effects. Generally a corporation must follow nine

steps in order to maintain the safety of its employees:

1 Decide what could harm employees in their job and the precautions to stop it.

2 In an understandable way, explain how risks will be controlled and tell who is responsible

for this.

3 Consult and work with employees and their health and safety representatives in protecting

everyone from harm in the workplace.

4 Free of charge, health and safety training employees need to do their job.

5 Free of charge, provide with any equipment and protective clothing it is needed, and ensure

it is properly looked after.

6 Provide toilets, washing facilities and drinking water.

7 Provide adequate first-aid facilities.

9 Have insurance that covers employees in case they get hurt at work or ill through work.

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All steps must be taken into serious consideration by all corporations not only for the

safety of their employees which is the major concern but also for the safety of their

sales because by the time ethical consumers know that the working conditions in a

corporation are bad they will stop purchasing as a result of that.

Animal Welfare

Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals. The term

animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a

debate on animal ethics and animal rights. Welfare is measured by indicators

including behavior, physiology, longevity, and reproduction. . The word welfare

also can be used by the scientific community, and it can be included in laws provided

that it is defined precisely and the concept of welfare can be adequately related to

other concepts. . Animal welfare is another crucial aspect of ethical consumption. By

the time a corporation is using animals in order to take their skin, or for tests or if

mistreat them in anyway then ethical consumers will boycott the products of those

firms and this is mostly common in products of beauty industry. At least three

overlapping ethical concerns are commonly expressed regarding the quality of life of

animals: (1) that animals should lead natural lives through the development and use of

their natural adaptations and capabilities, (2) that animals should feel well by being

free from prolonged and intense fear, pain, and other negative states, and by

experiencing normal pleasures, and (3) that animals should function well, in the sense

of satisfactory health, growth and normal functioning of physiological and behavioral

systems. Various scientists have proposed restricted conceptions of animal welfare

that relate to only one or other of these three concerns.

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Fair Trade

The Fair Trade movement can, in one sense, trace its origins back to the

development of the cooperative movement in the late nineteenth century. In the form

in which it is recognisable today, however, it began with the Mennonite Central

Committee trading with poor communities in the South in the 1940s but only began to

expand and become a movement in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 21st century, fair

trade is gaining ground as a result of ethical consumption which is growing rapidly.

But what exactly fair trade is? Actually it is a system of exchange where purchasers

agree to pay a slightly higher cost to make sure providers are able to maintain a decent

standard of living.

Fair trade criteria

A price that covers the cost of production.

A social premium to provide funding for development projects.

A partial payment in advance to avoid small producer organizations falling into debt.

Contracts that allow long-term production planning.

Long-term trade relations that allow proper planning and sustainable production practices.

Producers must be part of democratic cooperatives.

Sustainable environmental practices.

For an increasing number of consumers in affluent societies, the social features of

products, such as decent living and working conditions for producers in developing

countries are important ethical criteria in their shopping strategies. Fair trade is

important for ethical consumers and corporations know it very well so companies

generally demonstrate their fair-trade behavior to consumers by means of marketing

fair-trade brands or by means of cooperating with fair-trade organizations that

accredit their fair-trade products and allow them to market these products using a fair-

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trade label. Fair-trade organizations, on the other hand, go through considerable

efforts to convince companies to comply with fair-trade rules and sell fair-trade

products. Fair trade has a big difference from what we have already examine

(environmental sustainability, labor conditions and animal welfare). In most cases

consumers must search for information in order to judge if a product is matching

their ethical criteria. For example, if a company is using animals for making or testing

products or it has bad labor conditions for its employees this is not something that a

consumer can easily learn but in fair trade this is different because all fair trade

products have a label on their package and so consumers can easily know whether a

product is matching their ethical criteria or not.

Human Rights

When talking about human rights there is one thing that comes first in mind and that

is the declaration of human rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a

declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (10 December 1948 at

Palais de Chaillot, Paris). The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the

Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all

human beings are inherently entitled. It consists of 30 articles which have been

elaborated in subsequent international treaties, regional human rights instruments,

national constitutions and laws .

Article 1 All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with

reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2 Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without

distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national

or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of

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the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs,

whether it is independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3 Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4 No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in

all their forms.

Article 5 No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or

punishment.

Article 6Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of

the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration

and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8 Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts

violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9 No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10 Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and

impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against

him.

Article 11 (1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until

proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his

defense. (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which

did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was

committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the

penal offence was committed.

Article 12 No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or

correspondence, or to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of

the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13 (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each

state. (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

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Article 14 (1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political

crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15 (1) Everyone has the right to a nationality. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his

nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion,

have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during

marriage and at its dissolution. (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of

the intending spouses. (3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is

entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. (2) No

one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18 Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes

freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in

public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19 Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to

hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any

media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20 (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21 (1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through

freely chosen representatives. (2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his

country. (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this shall be

expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be

held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22 Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to

realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the

organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for

his dignity and the free development of his personality.

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Article 23 (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable

conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. (2) Everyone, without any discrimination,

has the right to equal pay for equal work. (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable

remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and

supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. (4) Everyone has the right to form and

to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24 Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours

and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25 (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of

himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social

services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old

age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. (2) Motherhood and childhood are

entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the

same social protection.

Article 26(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary

and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional

education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on

the basis of merit. (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and

to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote

understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further

the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. (3) Parents have a prior right to

choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy

the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. (2) Everyone has the right to the

protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic

production of which he is the author.

Article 28 Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set

forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29 (1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of

his personality is possible. (2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only

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to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and

respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public

order and the general welfare in a democratic society. (3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be

exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30 Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person

any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights

and freedoms set forth herein.

The purpose of presenting the complete Declaration of Human Rights is because it

has to be clear that the violation of even one of those 30 articles by any corporation is

able to lead consumers in ethical consumption. For example in article number 2 it is

clear that no distinction such as race, color or sex must be made. Moreover in article

number 5 we read: No one shall be subjected to inhuman treatment. Or in article

number 23 Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions Moreover the

Declaration of Human Rights is also important in order to make a comparison with

the religion view of human rights. In general ethical consumer feels responsible

toward society and expresses these feelings by means of his or her purchasing

behavior and that is translated by means of buying products for their positive qualities

or by boycotting products for their negative qualities . There are many ways in which

a consumer is able to saw his moral awareness and its one of these ways has a

different dimension based in different aspects of life. A recent research on that area

managed to categorize ethical consumption in four dimensions: Distinction,

Hedonistic, Love and Aesthetic. There is the aesthetic dimension meaning the

knowledge of consuming something different to other mass produced goods. When

consumers buy in an ethical way, they seek for status gains and social visibility and

those activities are often performed in public. Moreover, ethical purchase can offer

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hedonistic pleasure that may be associated with feelings of self-respect or even

pleasure in terms of the good they may bring to others. That good often is an act of

love to people who are important to us such as family members, that behavior acts

like an active concern to others. . Doing the good thing is a subjective term and

can have different meanings among people. Although consumers sometimes believe

that even as they do-good through ethical consumption, they are not always

entirely convinced that good is being done; and matters can improve through

responsible consumer behavior choices. In order to better understand ethical

consumers in a deep level it is crucial to investigate the creation of that phenomenon.

There is enough literature on business ethics, ethical consumption and consumer

behavior but still few is known about the exact reasons of ethical purchasing.

Freestone and McGoldrick during their research on the motives of the ethical

consumer mentioned that little is known about the motives that drive some toward,

or deter others from, higher levels of the ethical concern and action. Shaw and

Clarke (1999) also outlined the gap on that area mentioning that despite the

increasing concern for ethical issues little research has explored this specific

phenomenon in depth. More than a decade researchers are trying to explore the

nature of the ethical consumer but still not enough progress has been done. But what

do we already know up to now despite the numbers and rates of the market? Auger et

al. investigated six countries and they found that there are indeed some variations in

the attitudes towards social and ethical issues but there are also some similarities. A

recent survey conducted in 2011, also found that consumers are price sensitive,

affected by personal experience, believe it is an ethical obligation for them and they

are taking into consideration the amount of information they have about the products,

the services, or even the companies. Moreover inertia appeared a strong barrier in

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ethical consumption with a compilation of guilt about exploited groups. .

Furthermore, consumers are willing to pay a significant percentage of the value of

the product for specific ethical features and some of them could be convinced to alter

their purchase patterns if relevant ethical information is presented. According to

literature, consumers have the ability to buy the product that is considered ethical and

ignore the rest. That means that their ability to purchase in a moral way, forms ethical

consumption. But there is also another aspect of this behavior, which is rising fast as

it will be examined later in this study. That is boycotting, in others words the decision

of a person or even of a group of persons to stop buying the products of a specific

company. Boycotts are a form of consumer resistance allowing moral self-

expression. On a deeper level, this self-expression seems to be motivated by a drive

for moral self-realization . Firstly the consumer purchase behavior will be

demonstrated as one of the two aspects of ethical consumption but this research will

focus in the second aspect of this moral consuming which is boycotting.

Consumer Purchasing Behavior

One of the two dimensions of ethical consumptions is the ability of consumer to make

purchases. Moral purchasing is coming to change the market horizon as we know it

and so corporations must better understand the way ethical consumers think and act.

The new consumer is individualistic, involved, independent and generally well

informed. Currently, new consumers are increasingly aware of all aspects involved in

purchase of products, from design, safety, origin, to their social and economic impact.

New customer check labels and study the content of products, compare prices, review

brands promises, weighing options, puts pertinent questions and knows his legal

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rights. On the one hand, ethical consumption behavior is a rational and voluntary

choice that reflects individual characteristics, taste, and preferences and it is

fabricated and imposed by a complex system of social, cultural, and material

(re)production. It is a fact that society and culture have an impact in behavior but

how do they form ethical behaviors? Trying to answer this question, two issues come

into surface, the first is Ethical Decision Making Process and the other is Moral

Development. Before making any purchasing consumers are following a series of

procedures inside their brain and most of the times they dont even know it. A

general model of consumer purchasing behavior is consisted of three stages: Stimuli

Processing of Stimuli and Response. The first stage, the stage of Stimuli consists

of stimuli from the marketing mix (product, price, place and promotion) and also

economical, technological, political and cultural stimuli. Afterwards those processes

are finished and they are transferred inside the consumers brain, also known as the

Black Box and during this stage the procedure of decision making is being created.

Finally, the last step is the Response stage where products, services, brands, time of

purchasing etc. are being chosen . Consumers are constantly making decisions and

they are often faced with a large number of alternatives, a large number of

information and also with difficult trade-offs. The large number of information that

consumers have, has an impact on their decisions. To better understand this, the

findings of four different studies will be presented in brief. Those studies, examine

fair trade products and corporate social responsibility and all of them realize that

information can form a persons mind when choosing products or services but

consumers not always have enough information in order to judge.

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Research 1: When asked if they were aware of any positive or negative behavior by

companies respondents demonstrated low levels of general awareness. Generally

participants stated they didnt really know much about corporate activities. Awareness of

company activity was very low, both in the case of negative and positive reputations.

Although the media are covering such stories more often, and business activity has risen in

this area, the effect is not filtering through to the average consumer .

Research 2: There are valence-based asymmetries in the effect of CSR information on

company evaluations. Consumers company evaluations are more sensitive to negative CSR

information than positive CSR information .

Research 3: Three major explanatory concepts have been identified (on Fair Trade

Consumption): first, consumer attitudes second, studies using the concept of information and

communication to explain the purchase of FT products and third, consumer values .

Research 4: Consumers perceive two core factors as decisive for a potential consideration

of CSR as a purchase criterion: information and personal concern. They are both

prerequisites for considering CSR in the purchasing process. The most important and

complex one is information on a companys CSR position. Information consists of two

dimensions: level of information and type of information. The former describes the extent of

knowledge (e.g., no, little, or extensive knowledge) consumers have about a companys CSR

initiatives. The second dimension focuses on whether the CSR information consumers have is

perceived as positive or negative. The following two statements illustrate how the type of

information shapes consumers perceptions

.

It is clear that information can have an impact on consumers decision although most

of the times there is lack of information. But in the customers black box there are

other things alongside information but also in order to understand what is on ethical

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consumers mind, researchers have suggested all these years a plethora of different

ethical decision making models. Up to now there are many practice-relevant models

that can be chosen as guides for ethical decisions in particular practice settings. As to

whether one model is better than another is yet to be determined. . Generally

speaking, a common ethical decision is a result of four stages: Moral Awareness,

Moral Judgment, Moral Intention and finally Moral Action . . Knowing the

procedure that is being followed by the consumers is a great step in understanding

their ethical purchasing behavior but the term Moral as it is used in the literature is

very broad term, so morality is perhaps the key in understanding the ethical

consumerism in depth. Finally, although purchasing behavior is one part of ethical

consumption there is also another part which is probably more dangerous for the

companies. And that is boycotting behavior. We have know as it was presented above

that ethical consumers buy products that are made in an ethical way, but they can also

do the opposite thing which means not purchasing as a result of companys moral

violations and that is known as Boycotting.

Boycotting

First of all boycotting does not just mean not to buy something and the difference is

that boycotts involve an active decision by consumers to refuse to consume a product

usually for political or ethical reasons. The term boycott may be known in vast

majority of people, but the history of this word goes back in the Ireland of the 19 th

century. The word boycott is derived from the name of Captain Charles Boycott, the

land agent of an absentee landlord, the Earl Erne, in County Mayo who was subject to

social ostracism organized by the Irish Land League in 1880. In September that year,

protesting tenants demanded from Boycott a substantial reduction in their rents. He

not only refused but also ejected them from the land. Charles Stewart Parnell

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proposed that, rather than resorting to violence, everyone in the locality should refuse

to deal with him. Despite the short-term economic hardship to those undertaking this

action, Boycott soon found himself isolated his workers stopped work in the fields,

stables as well as the house. Local businessmen stopped trading with him and the

local postman refused to deliver post. The concerted action taken against him meant

that Boycott was unable to hire anyone to harvest the crops in his charge. Eventually

50 Orangemen volunteered to harvest his crops. They were escorted to and from

Claremorris by one thousand policemen and soldiers this despite the fact that

Boycotts complete social ostracism meant that he was actually in no danger of being

harmed. Moreover, this protection ended up costing far more than the harvest was

worth. After the harvest, the boycott was successfully continued. Within weeks

Boycott's name was everywhere. It was used by The Times in November 1880 as a

term of organized isolation. Boycott still exists in the 21st century with the same

meaning but with a greater impact mostly in the corporate world and because of that

in this study a definition from a business dictionary was selected in purpose to give as

a brief definition of boycott, so boycott is a collective, organized, economic and

social pressure by public groups against unfair trade and employment practices,

environmentally irresponsible corporations, and oppressive regimens. Now that the

meaning of boycotting is clear what is needed is a review of the literature in order to

find what is already known about that dimension of ethical consumption despites

terminology. When a boycott arises, it is either a small persistent boycott against the

small firm in the industry, or a large transitory boycott against the large firm in the

industry that prompts the target firm quickly to accede to the boycott demands. It is

also common to see boycotting mentioned as a political act by many researchers and

the term political consumerism is used in the same spirit. When people engage in

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boycotts with the aim of using the market to vent their political concerns, they are said

to engage in the act of political consumerism. Political consumerism reveals itself in a

measurable and consistent pattern and should receive more explicit attention in any

future research on political participation because a growing number of citizens are

turning to the market to express their political and moral concerns. Political

consumers choose particular producers or products because they want to change

institutional or market practices. They make their choices based on considerations of

justice or fairness or on an assessment of business and government practices.

Moreover often consumers boycott products and services when they feel that they are

unfairly treated by sellers. When that happens consumers want to punish the

corporation or the seller by not buying from him anymore or for a short period of

time. So consumers boycotts may be usefully understood as consumers exercising

consumer sovereignty. This suggests that consumer sovereignty may be seen as

having two dimensions: degree and domain. Degree refers to the amount of consumer

authority relative to producers. Domain refers to the jurisdiction of that authority. In

2005 a research by Tyran and Engelmann on how consumers react in an unfair price

increase showed that boycotts are mainly called and executed for expressive reasons

and may be triggered by a feeling of being treated unfairly and so consumer boycotts

serve to punish sellers . The above conclusion is verified by another study about the

motivations of consumers when boycotting which shows that half of the sample of the

study indicated that they would boycott to express anger or to punish. Further more in

the same research it was outlined that boycott effectiveness is highly dependent upon

consumer participation at the level of the individual consumer, however, it seems

likely that participation may be driven by a variety of motives, some expressive and

some instrumental. A consumer might be angry at a firm and also hope to change its

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practices. There is also a third set of possible motivations: consumers may participate

in order to feel good. In other words people differ in their reasons for participating in

a boycott and that most individuals have mixed motivations for their participation.

Three years later, in 2004 another research by Klein as well, confirmed that people

boycott to feel good about themselves as he had mentioned in 2001 and also they

are less likely to participate if they believe that the boycott has negative outcomes, if

consumers believe that the boycott will influence the firm, they are more likely to

participate . This search mentioned two aspects of boycotting, the expressive

behavior and the instrumental. The term expressive refers to those consumers who

boycott individually, in other words not in organized words. Contrary the term

instrumental refers to a boycotting behavior by more than one people and usually in

an organized way. In 2003 an article in the Management Science Journal by Andrew

and Klein confirmed that boycotting is either an individual act or an instrumental act

and also examined which of these two behaviors is more capable to change a

corporations policy. Their findings suggest that boycotts are now a major tool for

consumer protest groups, the actions of a single consumer are generally imperceptible

to a firm, and so it is improbable that an individual boycotter truly expects to

influence the behavior of the firm. Also another study by Delacote confirms the

need for boycotts as an organized action and not as a individual participation because

individual participation of any consumer only has a marginal impact on the

probability of success. In other words, any individual has an incentive to free ride,

that is, not to participate in the boycott while hoping for it to succeed. . The use of a

case study of a real boycott will be of great use trying to better understand the way a

boycott is getting started, how its is organized and what was its outcome. For this

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purpose in this paper a case research follows based on published sources and web

content.

The Coca-Cola Case

Coca-Cola is by all means one of the most recognizable brands of the world for more

than a century. It all began on May 8, 1886, when a pharmacist named Dr. John

Pemberton carried a jug of Coca-Cola syrup to Jacobs Pharmacy in downtown

Atlanta, where it was mixed with carbonated water and sold for five cents a glass. 125

years ago the company has evolved from one product -- Coca-Cola -- to more than

500 brands in 2011. Coca-Cola grown from selling a modest 9 drinks a day in 1886 to

1.7 billion a day, and it has expanded from one city in one country to availability in

more than 200 countries around the world. Despite the success of this product

although there many consumers who have reasons to believe that Coca Cola has a

history of human rights abuse. It is a fact that the soft drinks giant from Atlanta,

Georgia collaborated with the Nazi-regime throughout its reign from 1933 1945.

Sales of Coke in Germany went from zero in 1929 to 4 million cases in 1939. When

the Nazis began their invasions of Italy, France, Holland, Luxembourg, Belgium and

Norway Walter Oppenhof, Coca Colas German company lawyer, and Max Keith

were employed by the Nazis Office of Enemy Property. They travelled with Nazi

troops and were responsible for setting up Nazi Coca-Cola factories in expropriated

soft drinks plants in countries occupied by the Nazis. Moreover, in recent years

several South Indian states, including Kerala and Tamil Nadu, boycotts have been

running for years, in protest against Coca Colas excessive water consumption,

pollution of local wells and destruction of agriculture. Currently SINAL TRAINAL,

the Colombian workers union is promoting a world wide boycott in order to raise

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awareness of the intimidation, torture, kidnapping, illegal detention and murder of

workers in the Coca Cola bottling plants in Colombia. Especially the Columbia

boycott is now the number one issue in the firms agenda as far as brand reputation is

concern. Recently a documentary was filmed showing what had happened in

Colombia. The boycott went further and a web site called killercoke.org, urges

consumers to boycott all Coca-Cola products because the company is responsible for

the murder of union leaders. As a result of that manny lawsuits are pending against

the famous corporation and mostly because of human rights violation in Guatemala,

Turkey, China, Mexico, El Salvador and India. Boycott of Coca Cola can be

measured by just taking a look at the famous social media platform Facebook, where

there are web pages with thousands of members dedicated to this. Not to mention that

by typing the key word Coca Cola Boycott Google finds (in December 12, 2011)

2.010.000 sites that the bad policies of the company are mentioned. Recently this

issue took even more publicity, when a journalist named Max Keiser decided to start

boycott plan for Coca-Cola Company by taking advantage of his reputation. Keiser

has joined forces with the editor of the Ecologist magazine, Zak Goldsmith, to launch

a hedge fund that will donate the profits from short-sales in Coke's stock to the

"victims of Coke's business model in places like India and Colombia. Finally

another boycott campaign is taking place nowadays the boycott of Coca-Cola in Israel

which the second biggest issue after the boycotts in Colombia that were mentioned

above. According to Palestinian sources the company must be boycotted because it

has been well known that Coca-Cola has been a supporter of Israel since 1966. There

have been a number of recent events which clearly prove this. In July 2002, it was

announced that Coca-Cola was to build a plant on stolen Palestinian land at Kiryat

Gat, in return for millions in incentives from the Israeli government. The new plant

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will be employing 700 Israelis. The land, Kiryat (Qiryat) Gat, has an industrial park

built on the lands of the village of Iraq Al Manshiya. The residents were ethnically

cleansed in 1949 in contravention of International Law. This land would have been

part of Arab Palestine under the partition plan adopted by the United Nations in 1947.

However, this has not been the case. In October 2005, Coca-Cola increased its

investment in Israel by buying a 51% controlling interest in the Tavor Winery. Tavor

Winery is an Israeli company that is based on occupied Palestinian land at the foot of

Mount Tavor, overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Al the above are clearly show the

importance of boycotting behavior for a company and how this can destroy the brand

image. It does not matter whether the web pages, the articles or posters are reliable to

derive information. What is important is that the corporate name is being discredited

and that can cause even the collapse of the company in some cases.

Religious Identity

Every person has an identity and that identity makes people unique, but there are

cases in which two or more people form a team, community etc. consisting of people

sharing the same beliefs and so there are communities of people supporting the same

football team, or supporting a specific political party they have lets say a mass

identity. Identity in other words makes a person or a group of people distinguish

from other people or groups. That is also the case in religious identity where there are

people or groups of people with specific religious beliefs and take for example those

who believe in Islam, for them, Islam is their religious identity. A survey follows

demonstrating what is known in the literature about the state of religious identity.

Although the sample of this survey is limited to the American population, it uses a

sample of many different backgrounds such as age, gender and education. So the

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findings of this report give us an image of the state of religious identity in the 21 st

century. Individuals who identify with no religion are a growing population.

Approximately one of every six Americans has no religious identity and sixteen

percent of United States adults either fail to place themselves in any denominational

category, or they describe themselves as secular, humanist, ethical-culturalist,

agnostic, or atheist. Younger Americans are less religiously identified than older

Americans Younger adults (under 35) are most likely to be non-identifiers, and those

over 65 are least likely to be. Religious identification shows a steadily increasing

association with age. It is unclear whether this represents a persistent growth trend in

non-identifiers, or if it reflects a snapshot in time, with younger people likely to

become more affiliated with religion as they pass through customary life-cycle stages.

Non-identification in the United States likely will continue to increase. Men are less

likely to identify with a religious denomination and are more likely to be non-

identifiers than women, 20% versus 13%. The largest number of non-identifiers

(35%) was not raised in any religion as a child. Nevertheless, 62% of them had

religious training or background. Also the higher is the education the higher are the

ratings of those who have no religious identity. This study presents that young men

of high education level are less influence by religious beliefs and on the other hand

older women of basic education are more sensitized in religion. It has to be mentioned

that there are not only differences among genders but we can also find differences

between generations. There are four different generation categories of consumers

according to their age and so there is the Mature Market (1909-1945), the Baby

Boomers (1946-1964), the Generation X or Baby Busters (1965-1976) and

Generation Y or Baby Boomlet (from 8 to 19 years old). A study of 2006 took as

a sample 264 Baby Boomers and 213 members of the Generation X and found that

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embers of Generation Y were more materialistic and more likely to use brands as

communication devices than members of the Baby Boom generation and they were

also significantly less religious on every measure. . What is important is that there is

a great number of people who have a religious identity and many of their actions are

based in this identity. Religions typically prescribe their followers to display distinct

behavior in consumption, production, and exchange . The existence of a religious

norm does not by itself imply or guarantee that it is always observed by all followers

of a religion. In general, not all religions utilize the same types of consumption norms

for religious expression or require their followers to observe them perpetually; even

when they do, not everyone observes them strictly. Knowing that religious identity

does have an impact in peoples behavior it is time to examine the procedure of the

creation of this identity.

Stages of Religious Identity

According to Peek there are three stages of religious identity development: (i)

religion as ascribed identity, (ii) religion as chosen identity and (iii) religion as

declared identity.

Religion as ascribed identity: This is the stage that most people have their first contact with

the religious beliefs of the social environment. This stage is usually in the childhood and

rarely in elder ages.

Religion as chosen identity: This is the stage where mature people begin to view religion not

as an unquestionable, ascribed characteristic, but as a chosen identity.

Declared identity: In this stage people strengthen and assert their identities and this is in other

words the final stage in which the religious identity is taking its final form.

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Now that the general idea of how the religious identity is grown we have to examine

what exactly a person learns by the social environment and how this information

forms the religious identity. The first contact of the child with the religious

phenomenon is crucial for his behavior in his mature life so the question is how

religious identity is grown in the child. By answering this and understanding it, we

will be a step closer in finding out the impact that religious identity has in ethical

consumption. We know through literature that there are three factors responsible for

the development of religious identity: a) Family, b) School and b) Social

environment. In most religions, believers have their first contact with religion by

their early years of life because most religions require from parents to baptize their

children in infancy. It is the beginning of a relation between the person and the

church. A relation that will lust until the end of its life, unless this connection is

destroyed by a plethora of reasons. Since child in most cases does not choose its

religion but instead its parents do, the first stimuli are from the family. What come

next are school and the course of religion. The development of religious

consciousness of the students through the course of religion is an arduous and

complex process because young people make questions and criticism and either find a

deeper meaning in religion or they reject it. The religious experiences though are also

related to the standards of family and social environment of the student. As far as the

course of religious is concern, it contributes in: i) knowledge transfer ii) cultivation

of critical thinking iii) creating standards and virtues. It is obvious that religious

identity has a vital role in childs morality and that proves once again that the

standards and virtues created by religion are some of the criteria consumers use when

judging products. But religious identity is form not only through family and school

but also through the society. Probably society has even more greater impact on person

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that family and religion because as Sigmund Freud mentions, when a person is

among a crowd, then he acts in a way matching to the crowds believes and not to the

persons. Freud in his book Psychology of the masses and analysis of the ego

mentiones that there are a lot of different kinds of masses in society which are

separated into two categories natural masses and artificial masses . Moreover

Sigmund Freud believes that church is an artificial mass preserved by a relevant

compulsion which prevents changes in its structure . In other words those who have

a religious identity are forced metaphorically speaking into having a behavior like

those who have the same religious identity. Finally, according to Freuds theory on

his book Civilization and Its Discontents, those who have a religious identity

usually believe because their ancestors believed and they base those believes in

evidences they have from the prehistoric era. More over believers are related to a

sense of entitlement with religion and in most case they are prohibited from asking for

any certifications. . That means that religious identity in most cases is responsible for

peoples behavior and in other words we can tell that religious identity may have

indeed an impact in ethical consumption at least in theory. We have to mention in this

point that those who have a religious identity are not always fans of a religion. They

may be Atheists or even Religious Indifferent.

Atheism

Theism is defined as the belief in a god or gods. The term theism is sometimes used

to designate the belief in a particular kind of god the personal god of monotheism but

theism signifies the belief in any god or number of gods. The prefix a means

without, so the term a-theism literally means without theism, or without belief in a

god or gods. Atheism, therefore, is the absence of theistic belief. One who does not

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believe in the existence of a god or supernatural being is properly designated as an

atheist . Most of the times Atheism, is aggressive towards religion and can have

many different levels.

Levels of Atheism

The hesitation of shared principles and truths that are taught by God

Doubt about the existence of the metaphysical world

Agnosticism who argues that it is impossible to know the world is beyond the senses

Other forms of Atheism

Nihilism

Dialectical and Historical Materialism

Existential Atheism

Rational Positivism

Source:

Religious Indifference

According to Begzos in atheism, there is absolute denial of God but indifferent

people observe only a relative denial of God. The religiously indifferent person is

reserved against any form of religion and believes that religion is needed but it is not

enough for the individual moral improvement of human.

Characteristics of religious indifference

Reservedness

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Neutrality

Tolerance

Source:

Furthermore, the lack of religiosity does not suggest that atheism and religious

indifference are synonyms. The terms religious indifference and atheism are used

only as opposed to theism. Religious identity according to literature review has an

impact in humans behavior and it can also have many different dimensions. There are

many different religious believes from Christianity, Judaism and Islam to Atheism

and religious indifference. In all these cases people are developing a system of moral

values and those values are coming up when choosing products and services. That is

also the case in the following case study research which is based on published sources

and web content.

The Faith Based Funds Case

In recent years religious identity intervenes more directly in ethical consumption not

only by buying ethically made products or boycotting others but also by choosing

moral services. In most studies ethical consumption is examined as phenomenon of

products purchasing but this is a myopic view. Ethical consumption is not only what

customers buy from stores shelves but it can have a different meaning. An example

of that is the Faith Based Funds as they call it by paraphrasing Hedge Funds in

other words we talk about financial services. Consumers may use their money in order

to buy a product they want such as food or they may choose a service such as an

accommodation in a hotel but they can also decide to invest their money. In most of

the cases consumers-investors choose a financial company in order to invest their

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money on companys investment products. So we talk once again about consumption

here and in the case of Faith Based Funds we talk about ethical consumption in a

way that it has not been previously researched. Consumers-investors put their money

on those funds and the job of those financial companies is to invest money in

companies that follow the rules of religion. There are investment corporations or

better Faith Based Funds of Catholics, Protestant Muslims etc. For example Ave

Maria Catholic Values and Amana Funds are investment companies following the

values of the Christian Catholic Church and Islam and invest mostly in mutual funds

of corporations that follow the same values.

Ave Maria Catholic Funds

The Firm was established in 1980, and is a registered investment adviser dedicated to

helping clients reach their investment goals. If a security seems attractively priced to

the analysts and portfolio managers, then, the company is screened based on the moral

criteria. The distinguished Catholic Advisory Board, which is loyal to the

Magisterium of the Church, sets the criteria for screening out companies based on

religious principles. They actively seek the advice and counsel of Catholic clergy in

making these determinations. Using a proprietary moral screening process, companies

eliminated from investment consideration would, in general, encompass two major

categories: first, those involved in the practice of abortion, and second, companies

whose policies are judged to be anti-family, such as companies that produce or

distribute pornography or whose policies undermine the Sacrament of Marriage.

Amana Funds

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In 1984, the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) approached Nick Kaiser, an

experienced mutual fund manager in Indianapolis, with the idea that Muslim investors

had needs that were not being met. With an unaffiliated board of trustees, Mr. Kaiser

(now Chairman and Equity Portfolio Manager of Saturna Capital Corporation)

worked to start the first fund in North America specifically designed to meet the needs

of Muslim investors. Saturna Capital is Amana's Investment Adviser and

Administrator) and selects investments in companies that to its knowledge do not

violate the requirements of the Islamic faith at the time of investment. The Amana

Funds invest according to Islamic principles. Generally, these principles require that

investors avoid interest (riba) and investments in businesses such as liquor,

pornography, gambling, and banks. The Funds avoid bonds and other interest-bearing

securities while seeking protection against inflation by making long-term equity

investments. The above financial services are guided by ethical values coming from

a different religions and what we have hear in other words is religious identity and

ethical consumption. There are investors who are also consumers and they want to

invest their money in an investment product which is matching with their religious

believes. It is clear that religious identity has an impact in ethical consumption and it

is also clear that religious identity must be taken into more consideration by managers

and corporations. For now the next step into our research is the examination of a

specific religious identity, the one of the Orthodox Christian Church.

Orthodox Christianity

Trying to better understand ethical consumption and what form this specific behavior,

we will present the basic ethical principles of orthodox Christianity and its teaching

toward consumption. The aim of this paper is to present the value system of this

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religious identity and in order to study the orthodox Christian ethics, it was a

conscious choice to use theological books and only some information from the

internet just to demonstrate the teaching of the orthodox Christian church in action.

Generally there is not enough literature about orthodox Christian ethics in scientific

journals and especially religion and ethical consumption need further research in the

future. Now that we made clear the methodology that it will be used let us enter into

the orthodox Christian philosophy of morality.

Orthodox Christian Ethics

God is the source of Christian ethics and in the face of Christ it was revealed the

truth about what is morality and believers must be involved experientially in religion

and not theoretically. There are three different sources from which believers are

being taught Christian ethics and only those sources have reflect the authentic

Christian faith and they also called Carriers of the Divine Revelation.

Carriers of the Divine Revelation

Holy Bible: The New and the Old Testament are called Bible, and the supernatural

revelation of God is embodied in them. They are the safe guiding principles of truth and faith

and are inspired by God.

Sacred Tradition: The term sacred tradition is understood as the divine truths revealed by the

incarnation of God's speech and declared by Him and his apostles. Holy Bible and Sacred

Tradition are equal and equivalent.

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Actually for some orthodox Christian theologians there is a third source which reflects

the Christian faith and its called Sacred Rules, but in general Sacred Rules teach no

ethics. There are the fundamental sources from which regulate ecclesiastical affairs

and regulate administrative matters. Sacred Rules, from Holy Bible and Sacred

tradition. Sacred rules teach no ethics and so we chosen no to include them in this

study in the Carriers of Divine Revelation part. Up to this point, it is clear that

believers follow what is written in those sources, and everything opposite to them is

opposite to Gods will. But what does this mean in the ethical consumption behavior?

When an Orthodox Christian use his morality as a guide for choosing products and

services that means that orthodox Christian ethics form its opinion. In other words the

Holy Bible and the Sacred Tradition are responsible up to a point for the ethical

decisions of orthodox Christian consumers. This study, is trying to discover the

volume of the impact that this specific religion has in moral purchasing behavior. In

the beginning we made clear that ethical consumption as a term defines a variety of

issues as ethical, including environmental sustainability, health and safety risks,

animal welfare, fair trade, labor conditions, and human rights. Now it is time to

explore what values does Orthodox Christianity teaches regarding modern issues that

have to do with consumption.

Orthodox Christianity and Environmental Sustainability

The construction of a product involves the use of raw materials derived from nature.

Most of the times, however, companies trying to maximize their profits do not

calculate the consequences of their actions on the natural environment. Although there

are laws that protect the natural wealth is not often applied by companies and the

consequences are devastating for the environment and thus to humans. The ecological

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crisis has made consumers more aware of these issues and therefore, as earlier

presented in this study that turns consumers into ethical consumption such as buying

products of recycled materials or boycott companies that pollute the environment. The

orthodox Christian turns into faith in order to derive values regarding the approach to

be followed. Below are presented some church positions on the environment and its

protection and the obligation of Christians to protect it. The purpose for which God

placed humans in the natural setting, was to maintain and preserve the work of God.

So God gave humans the command to protect the environment and instead people are

ignoring the will of the Lord according to Orthodox teaching. In the view of both the

priests and theologians, the cause of this behavior is the lack of moral values plaguing

modern society. In other words, the root of the problem of modern human

relationship with the natural environment is caused by the moral stance towards

it.Human must stop consider themselves as the owner of nature and understand that

nature is God's creation and human is just an administrator. The internal crisis of

man leads to mismanagement of the natural resources and as a result in human sin.

Sin is ecologically presented as a perversion of care and affection for the creation to

exploitation and destruction. Christians however according to their faith must keep

intact the command of God and therefore to restore their relationship with the natural

environment. As social and economic subjects, Christians do not remain impassive

in the face of ecological disaster, but they work to prevent it. With the ascetic

conception, Orthodoxy teaches avoidance of redundancy, therefore, repentance and

returning to the simple and humble life is the only real way out. At this point it is

evident that according to orthodox Christian values, environmental destruction is

considered a sin and disobey of Gods commandments and so believers are required

by doctrine to comply with the divine command. When a company is destroying the

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environment through its actions or does not care to protect it then comes in direct

contrast to the orthodox Christian doctrine. Therefore, it is very likely that such

companies to be target of ethical consumers whose moral-religious values are

affected.

Orthodox Christianity and Human Rights

In the New Testament, in Mathews gospel (19, 19), we read that once a wealthy man

approached Jesus and asked him what it takes to get to heaven. Then Jesus replied:

eep the commandments. What are these commandments teacher he asked. Jesus

replied: Do not kill. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not tell lies. Honor

your father and your mother and Love the person next to you. The above dialogue is

of the most known in the Bible and perfectly sums up the church's teaching about

human rights. The Christian should love his neighbor as himself' and in the light of

this, not violation of human rights is permitted. In Orthodox Christianity, the

salvation of one presupposes the salvation of others and the salvation of the whole

world. It is known as orthodox Christian value, that we should love each other and

believers know that through the study of New Testament. But from time to time,

Church is reminding through its teaching that we must respect human rights. So for

example every Sunday, when believers go to Church in order to exercise their

religious duties they can read the official Church's position on current issues through a

brochure called: Voice of Lord. This brochure is written in simple language so that

everyone is able to read it and like that believers know what is ethical correct to do, so

their values are built on that teaching. To better understand how this procedure

happens we will be able to read a Voice of Lord brochure, which divided the Greek

Orthodox churches in 2006 on human rights: All declarations of human rights say

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that people are born and remain free and equal in rights. In spite of the good

intentions of the statements, people born in the world are objectively the same

opportunities and life chances. Among the people are healthy and the sick, disabled

and able-bodied, strong and weak, plain, intelligent and capable and incapable. Others

are born in rich countries and other poor. Others in civilized and uncivilized in other

countries. Other liberals and others in tyrannical regimes. How then shall be deemed

and remain free? Human rights are guaranteed, when linked to the rights of God. The

rights of God and enforce compliance with the commandments of, involving the

application of justice in their daily lives. When these rights are respected, then are

respected and human rights. Knowing the above teaching of orthodox Christian

Church, we can understand that when a company is accused of violating human

rights, such as child labor and poor working conditions it is against the

commandments of God according to the Christian teaching so by the time that this

value, the value of human rights, is violated, orthodox Christian consumers are guided

to ethical consumption.

The orthodox Christian teaching about current issues

The society is a constantly changing body and therefore the teaching of Christianity

should be placed on all subject of concern to humans. Bishops, priests and theologians

entrusted with the spiritual guidance of the faithful and lead them through articles,

books interviews etc, so believers are fermented on the values of orthodox

Christianity. Trying to better understand what does the Church preaches its

placements are demonstrating like the way a believer receives them. We will be able

to understand the process by which believers learn about the correct behavior to retain

towards the modern human problems. At this stage where we are given that we

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examine the ethical consumption, we will focus on those lessons having to do with

consumption and the use of products and services in general. Here are some positions

of orthodox Christianity: The phrases that follow are opinions of priests and

theologians and those opinions are forming more or less the consumers behavior. Let

us see the orthodox Christian teaching in action begging with a phrase of an archpriest

about consumption: Consumerism creates illusions of happiness. Even though it's

hard to shake off as a way of life, we can learn from the lives of saints of our Church

and make small steps. Steps that will lead us to independence. The lack of measure

will keep us prisoners of our passions. And consumption will become a permanent

trap confinement ourselves away from true life. That was a general opinion about

consumption but there are more specific issues that affects companies in a direct way

such the phrases following: In terms of Christian ethics is not allowed intervention

to the biological functions of the human body with drugs, etc. The artificial human

intervention in healthy human nature is an expression of selfishness and arrogance .

That was the opinion of a theologian about birth control products. It is obvious that

pharmaceutical companies are directly affected. Furthermore we can see than in other

occasions there are tobacco companies, gambling companies or even channels that are

affected by the orthodox Christian teaching. According to an archbishop for instance

smoking is forbidden: Our Church is opposed to everything wears out our body,

which is the temple of God. And the smoke wears our body. Still with the addictive

nature smoke has, it makes us prisoners . Those entire teachings can been found

everywhere, from newspapers to blogs or just books. For example the phrase

following was from a book : Gambling is clearly unethical, harmful to humans and

corrosive to society and the rules of the church; punish those playing gambling

games with excommunication . These phrases are from internet sites mostly used by

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the youth: About Eurovision Music Contest: What are all these extravagant, and

what is behind them? The more lights the more darkness. These things take us away

from God . About the film: The Da Vinci Code: This is a miserable movie, which

leaves nothing standing. No Christian should see this movie on cinema . By the time

the above opinions are published a big or a small number of believers will follow

them trusting those expressing them and that in many cases will harm the sales of

companies. As a result, managers must k

Documents

The Impact of Religious Identity and Orthodox Christianity on Ethical Consumption