{"id":8902,"date":"2026-09-20T21:24:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T01:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/?p=8902"},"modified":"2026-09-20T21:26:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T01:26:34","slug":"corruption-by-doug-bennett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/?p=8902","title":{"rendered":"“Corruption,” by Doug Bennett"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Message given at Durham Friends Meeting, September 20, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is corruption that is on my mind this morning.  Corruption.  We seem to be living in a world that is soaked in corruption:  that\u2019s how it seems to me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I can\u2019t talk about this without straying a bit into politics.  But ultimately, my message isn\u2019t about politics.  It\u2019s about the human capacity for selfishness and sinfulness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems like every day we read about big league corruption in the news.  Federal contracts are given on a no-bid basis, and they are given to donors of the ruling party.  Members of Congress grow wealthy on stock trades for which they have inside information.  The children of high officials take advantage of their connections to make millions \u2014 or billions \u2014 of dollars.  A foreign prince donates an expensive airplane for the president\u2019s personal use.  Criminals are pardoned and we learn they, too, are donors to the ruling party.  This is big league corruption, on scales of money or participants that we may never have experienced before.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we speak of \u201ccorruption\u201d today we generally mean a kind of theft that is accomplished by collusion and paperwork rather than by brute force.  It is theft accomplished by taking advantage of special access \u2013 taking advantage of others, not treating them equally.  It is accomplished by kickbacks and bribes, by no-bid contracts, by sweetheart deals made in darkness, by insider information, by shell corporations and by bitcoin.  It is generally what we call \u201cwhite collar crime\u201d to distinguish it from housebreaking or purse snatching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is mega-corruption we are seeing today  But that mega-corruption doesn\u2019t have anything to do with us, does it?  We\u2019re not engaged in it, we ordinary people, and we\u2019re not benefitting from it.  We p[ay our bills; we pay our taxes.  I am talking about wrongdoing that is not what ordinary people do because ordinary people don\u2019t deal much in shell corporations or insider trading or bitcoin.  I am talking about the corruption of those in situations of power and wealth. We\u2019re on the sidelines.  Or are we?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How is it, I wonder, that we come to live in a time when there is so much of this big league corruption?  Why do we see so many headlines that suggest this kind of corruption?  Why now?  What conditions have allowed this big league corruption to flower?  What soil has it grown in?  I wonder about this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so I find myself wondering if it is something about our ordinary, everyday assumptions and values.  Perhaps we as ordinary people have come to be too accepting of smaller, ordinary, everyday versions of these kinds of corrupt practices:  looking the other way, helping ourselves from common stores, taking gifts for favors in return, engaging in the quid pro quo, finding and not returning something that does not belong to us.  Have we brought this on ourselves? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do we expect of one another, I find myself wondering?  What do we expect of ourselves?  Do we expect selfish behavior or generous behavior?  Do we expect one another to be our \u201cbrother\u2019s keepers?\u201d  Do we hold ourselves to the standard of \u201cthe good Samaritan?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking just for myself, I know that it is all too easy for me to slip into favoring myself, thinking first of myself, and suspecting others of always favoring themselves, thinking first of themselves.  Isn\u2019t this the broad door to corruption, a world where everybody is just out for themself?  Something\u2019s missing?  Someone else took it, I find myself thinking!  Only later do I find where I myself misplaced it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do we stop this easy drift into selfishness and corruption?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are passages in the Bible that speak forcefully, even eloquently, about corruption.  For example In the Second Epistle of Peter, the second chapter: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\u00a0false prophets also arose among the people,\u00a0just as there will be false teachers among you, who will\u00a0secretly bring in destructive heresies,\u00a0 \u2026 <\/em> 2\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth\u00a0will be blasphemed.\u00a03\u00a0<\/strong>And\u00a0in their greed they will exploit you\u00a0with false words.\u00a0<\/em>… 19\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>[These false prophets] promise [the people]\u00a0freedom,\u00a0but they themselves are slaves\u00a0of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.\u00a0\u00a0 (2 Peter 2)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bible \u2014 especially the Hebrew Testament \u2014 is an assemblage of stories of the people falling away from God, and then being called back to faithfulness.  What does this falling away look like?  Is it corruption?  That\u2019s not the word we find; \u201ccorruption\u201d is not a common word in the Bible.  When it talks about wrongdoing, the Bible, is either maddenly specific (like Leviticus) or maddenly vague and general.  The Bible speaks much more often of \u201cwickedness\u201d and of \u201cwrongdoing.\u201d  Corruption is a word not much used. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We do find this:  \u201cLove your neighbor as yourself.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My father, a chemist during the week but also an amateur theologian on Sundays, used to note that we are commanded not be selfless but rather to love equally both our ourselves and our neighbor.  \u201cLove your neighbor as yourself.\u201d  Not more, not less.  We are expected to love ourselves, but we are expected to love others just as much. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That commandments is something that does not change in the Bible.  It first appears in Leviticus 19:18<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/em>You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.\u201d<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That advice is repeated by Jesus in two of the Gospels, Matthew 22:39 and Mark 12:31.  Both say roughly the same thing.  Jesus is asked, as a kind of trap, which is the most important Commandment, referring we suppose to the Ten Commandments.  And Jesus\u2019s response doesn\u2019t really refer to the Ten Commandments at all:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

29\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\u201cThe most important one,\u201d\u00a0answered Jesus,\u00a0\u201cis this: \u2018Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. \u00a0<\/em>30\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.\u2019\u00a0 <\/em>31\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The second is this: \u2018Love your neighbor as yourself.\u2019\u00a0 <\/em> There is no commandment greater than these.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward to today.  Today we seem to live in a confusing world.  Sometimes we hear encouragement to be helpful and generous to one another.  But more often we are instructed, even encouraged or cajoled, to \u2018look out for number one.\u2019  Satisfy yourself.  Do what gives you pleasure. Let others take care of themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take precautions against those around you, we are urged, because you should expect those others to take whatever they can.  Beware the immigrant, beware the stranger, beware even your neighbor or your brother.  Is this not our daily bread?  Is this not the guidance of advertisements and influencers, of self-help books and celebrities?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you expect selfish behavior from others, why should you not indulge in selfish behavior yourself?  Isn\u2019t it what is expected?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is this not the root of the corruption I started by speaking about?  \u2018Get away with whatever you can\u2019 seems to be the watchword of the day \u2014 not just for the rich and the rulers, but (to be honest) for all of us.   Who is going to stop us?  The police?  If your taking is noticed, then do what you can to escape any consequence \u2013 lies or lawyers, or silence.  And isn\u2019t that what we expect anyone and everyone to do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have we become too comfortable, too familiar with selfishness?  Have we not come to accept, even expect, selfish behavior from everyone around us, and even from ourselves?  Have we not?  How can we insist on honest and generous behavior in others if we will not insist on it for ourselves? Thinking of ourselves first and foremost may be the common way, but we are called to something better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who will do this calling? How and where will be learn to \u201clove our neighbors as ourselves\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To some extent, we all learn by example.  Dolly Parton\u2019s various obituaries were full of her generosity, her support for literacy efforts and for the part of Tennessee where she grew up. Her younger sister, Stella Parton, said,  \u201cMy sister was always thinking of others and if you want to honor her legacy, show more kindness, lift others up and give more of your time and resources as she continued to do to the very end.\u201d  Do we have enough such examples or are they too rare?  Dolly was noticed because her behavior had become so rare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to close with a teaching by the Jewish sage Hillel the Elder \u2013 from a very long time ago.  Perhaps you know it.  \u201dIf I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?\u201d<\/em> [From  Pirkei Avot<\/a> (Ethics of the Fathers), 1:14]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who will teach us this today?  Who will teach us to turn away from a culture of everyday, everywhere selfishness?  Who can we hear teaching us \u201cto love our neighbors as ourselves?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also posted on River View Friend<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Message given at Durham Friends Meeting, September 20, 2026 It is corruption that is on my mind this morning.  Corruption.  We seem to be living in a world that is soaked in corruption:  that\u2019s how it seems to me.  And … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":213,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-message"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9rLvf-2jA","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8902"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8904,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8902\/revisions\/8904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}