In the film, Major Barbara (1941), Barbara, a Major in the Salvation Army, has been raised with her sister and brother by their mother. She is legally separated or divorced from the father, Andrew Undershaft, who nonetheless finances the lavish lifestyle of his family. Even Barbara, the idealist Christian evangelical, lives on her father’s armaments wealth. Yet when she meets him after several years, she leaves the Salvation Army after Andrew and an alcohol producer donate large sums. Although Barbara recognizes that the Army in London needs the money, she believes that the Army has sold out because providing weapons of death and alcohol are sinful. “What price salvation, now?” a customer at the Army’s soup kitchen asks Barbara after she had taken off her Army pin and given it to her father. Barbara is not willing to continue with the Christian organization because in her mind it has sold out even though it admittedly needs the donations to survive. But has the Army sold out? Furthermore, does Barbara sold out in using her father's business to convert workers. Ironically, that may be more ethical than the Army's approach to saving souls.
Andrew points out that he is
giving the donation against his company’s financial interest because he is
doing so anonymously and the Salvation Army preaches world peace rather than
war. The maker of canons and explosives would not fare well financially were
the Army to win the day. Similarly, the alcohol producer made his donation to
an organization that keeps the poor fed and thus in less need of alcohol
(excluding alcoholics).
From the standpoint of the modern business field of corporate social responsibility, wherein donations are typically strategically given so as to further the business interest, the film illustrates that self-sacrifice can indeed apply to company interests. The illustration may be idyllic, however, because businesses are set up and run to make as much profit as possible. If Barbara’s father runs a public company, then perhaps the other stockholders may object to the CEO giving away a substantial sum to an organization working at cross-purposes with the company’s financial interest. Andrew’s motive is likely to sway Barbara and her fiancée, Adolphus, in favor of the company so the latter may agree to be the next CEO without Barbara holding onto her scruples. Unless the company is privately held by Andrew, other investors and even creditors could reasonably object that the CEO’s personal life is interfering with his job.
Fortunately, Barbara has come to view the Salvation Army as not only selling out to unethical industrialist donors, but also as “bribing with bread.” Indicted are all religious organizations that tacitly bribe potential souls with earthly benefits. Come to our church for a free dinner! The hidden motive is likely to convert the hungry.
In contrast, if Adolphus takes the
helm of Andrew's armaments company, Barbara could work on the souls of workers who
have full bellies and thus would approach salvation for its own sake. Ironically, Barbara finds a company that makes weapons—fire
and blood—to be a better standpoint on which to utilize her idealism. Religious
organizations bribe, whereas a business focuses on material things and leaves
religion alone, hence giving Barbara an open birth to convert the willing. To be sure, converting the unwilling workers at a company would be quite unethical. Workers
don’t sign up for that in taking a job, and they should not feel pressure from the CEO's wife to convert to the couple's religion. This point is particularly important because Adolphus and Barbara intend to live among the workers on company grounds. Barbara sees in this an opportunity to receive willing people who
want God’s love for itself. Starting a Christian organization at the company without any pressure on employees to join could skirt the ethical problems, even as the Salvation Army is ethically challenged by bribing with bread. Also, the Army lives on, thanks to the large donations stained by the sins of alcohol and weapons geared to kill people. Perhaps the lesson is that
religious organizations are not as pure as we might think, whereas businesses
can allow for more than earthly pursuits.
