Confronting Corruption

One of the greatest challenges I have struggled with for the last twenty years has been how to live with integrity when you work in an environment of corruption. Russia is a profoundly corrupt place. I read about this aspect of Russian life in graduate school while pursing my doctorate in European and Russian history, but it was unsettling to actually face the reality of it in person. I was robbed at a Metro station by police in 1995 and there was no recourse, no way to file a complaint in the anarchy that characterized Moscow in the mid-1990s.

After we purchased a land lease in Moscow in a public auction in 2001, it took us five years to get a building permit. The normal time period to secure a permit in Russia is 18 months, but we refused to pay bribes to government officials and, as a result, it cost us time and considerable money because of subsequent inflation. Yet for the Board of our Institute, we were agreed that we were not going to pay bribes because of our commitment to train a new generation of Russian youth to be people of integrity.

The Russian Ministry of Economic Development recently reported the results of a survey it conducted in 2010 that noted that 90% of the foreign investors they interviewed cited the high level of corruption as the principal barrier to their investing in Russia. Even Russia’s President, Dmitri Medvedev, has described Russia’s investment climate as “very poor.” Bribery and corruption have become a part of the very structure of Russian life.

Recently I found out that you can buy a diploma from the Russian-American Institute on the Internet in Moscow. For a few hundred dollars, you can purchase a diploma from our school without ever having sat in one class. Diplomas from Moscow State University are also available for purchase, but they are a little more expensive than ours!

These illustrations show sin and evil are not just problems on the personal level, but also how evil infects society and corporate life. Part of the stimulus for the riots all across the Middle East is years of pent-up frustration with corrupt government officials and police, and with rich elites who control power and wealth and are not accountable to their fellow citizens.

If we are to live as peacemakers in this kind of a world, we need to have eyes to see how evil infects the structures of society and then the courage to choose not to live this way. We need to be bold and argue our case by saying “There is another way to live!”

Here’s a situation where the Old Testament prophets, God’s loudspeakers to his people, can teach us some important lessons on how to live in this kind of world. They made it clear when sin and evil were present in society and they were fearless – most of the time – in announcing the consequences of violating God’s laws.

For example, Isaiah repeatedly warned Judah that the sins of the Southern Kingdom would result in her destruction and captivity at the hands of Babylon. Isaiah clearly warned the people of Judah that their sins were not only causing them pain and suffering in their personal lives, but were also inflicting evil on others in their society. In a powerful indictment of the people, Isaiah told them that God found no pleasure in their burnt offerings or religious ceremonies because, when they spread out their hands in prayer, they were full of blood (Isaiah 1:15).

God through Isaiah warned the people of Judah in no uncertain terms: “Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow” (verses 16b-17). Categories of vulnerable people who were being wronged in Jewish society were clearly spelled out here. These were people without power, without anyone to defend them.

Later in this same chapter, Isaiah stated God’s judgment against Judah’s rulers who are described as “rebels, companions of thieves” who “love bribes and chase after gifts” (v. 33). Unfortunately sin doesn’t simply limit its destruction to individual acts of evil, but penetrates the structures of a society and causes the oppression of groups of people, especially those who are weak. Evil knows no bounds. It is an obstacle to God’s shalom in our personal lives and in our corporate lives.

So What?

• Sin is not only shalom’s enemy that attacks the hearts of individuals, but sin also finds expression in our corporate lives. Evil can become imbedded in the structures of society that often favor the rich and hurt the poor. When we see it around us, we ought not to close our eyes and walk away. Why? Because it doesn’t have to be like this!
• Think about your context. Where do you see evidence of sin and evil that have impacted corporate life in your community? Share some examples with me and others who read this blog.
• When the Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn was sent into exile in 1974, he encouraged his fellow citizens to action by saying “Live not by lies (Marxism-Leninism)!” Through his writings and his example, he helped to bring down the Soviet regime. If individuals would begin making up their mind to “Live not by lies” -- this could lead to a halt in purchasing diplomas on the Internet and a commitment to actually get the education represented by the degree. Perhaps we would see a movement that would begin to curtail the corruption that pervades many societies. What a great peacemaking movement this would be!