In an article on ChristianPost.com, Chuck Colson argues that the diminished cultural influence of Christianity is responsible for greedy companies replacing relatively pricey employees for cheaper employees.

What made these particular layoffs noteworthy was not their size but, instead, Circuit City’s stated reasons. They had “nothing to do with [employees’] skills or whether they were a good worker or not.” Instead, “it was a function of their salary relative to the market.”

In other words, Circuit City was laying them off so it could replace them with people who make less. Rotten!

It’s an interesting piece to read, but one I must disagree with. God does not stop working when the president of a company takes a perceptibly non-Christian tack and cuts costs. The market does not need to be “Christian” for it to work and even suit God’s purposes.

Employment is a voluntary contract. I agree to work for Halliburton; Halliburton pays me money. If Halliburton thinks I’m overpriced, they could lay me off. Such an action would be unprofitable for them, though: my first year’s field training cost $100,000 in schools and resources alone. There’s also my operations experience, software knowledge, and patience with oilfield hands who would rather do things on paper than on computer. In saving my salary (which is NOT six figures :) ), they lose six figures in training they have to embody into someone who would work more cheaply than I do. By the way, raises are coming up soon, and I am making the case that I am due! :)

Where is the hidden God, then, in the Circuit City layoffs? For those who love God all things work together for good, says Romans 8:28. The story of Joseph in Egypt, especially Genesis 50:20, shows us that God works things for good even when people mean it for evil.

Perhaps these people who were laid off can work for competitors or start out on their own. Perhaps there was truly some bad behavior on the part of some employees that they got on the lay-off list. Perhaps these people were offered continued employment for a lower salary, and they refused. We don’t know, but God does.

Cutting costs is not necessarily an anti-Christian behavior, either. Recall the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30. It would be un-Christian not to make the most of what one has. Would it have been better to keep these people employed and watch the whole company go under? In that case, those laid off would have been without work anyway.

We do need more Christians in the market, but not for Colson’s reasons. We need more Christians in the market because we need more Christians. There are souls yet to save, and we are all in this together. We need to preach the gospel, rather than set religious quotas for employers.