Editing Amway (section)

===Religion===
Several sources have commented on the promotion of [[Christian right|Christian conservative]] ideology within the Amway organization.<ref name=zibrowski/><ref name= butterfield>{{cite book |title=Amway: The Cult of Free Enterprise |author=Stephen Butterfield |publisher=[[South End Press]] |year=1985 |url=https://archive.org/details/amwaycultoffreee00butt |url-access=registration |at=[https://archive.org/details/amwaycultoffreee00butt/page/185 185] pages |isbn=9780896082533}}</ref><ref name=henein>{{cite web |title=The Revenge of the Amdroids |author=Maryam Henein |newspaper=[[Philadelphia City Paper]] |date=November 28 – December 5, 1997 |url=http://archives.citypaper.net/articles/112896/article009.shtml |access-date=May 11, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130414080932/http://archives.citypaper.net/articles/112896/article009.shtml |archive-date=April 14, 2013 |df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Do You know these godfathers? You should |author=Zina Klapper |work=[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]] |date=February–March 1981 |page=33–M |url=http://motherjones.com/ |access-date=May 10, 2011 |archive-date=March 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210312000510/https://www.motherjones.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]]'' magazine described the Amway distributor force as "heavily influenced by the company's dual themes of Christian morality and free enterprise" and operating "like a private political army".<ref name=zibrowski/> In ''The Cult of Free Enterprise'', Stephen Butterfield, who spent time in the Yager group within Amway, wrote "[Amway] sells a marketing and motivational system, a cause, a way of life, in a fervid emotional atmosphere of rallies and political religious revivalism."<ref name=butterfield/> ''[[Philadelphia City Paper]]'' correspondent Maryam Henein stated that "The language used in motivational tools for Amway frequently echoes or directly quotes the Bible, with the unstated assumption of a shared Christian perspective."<ref name=henein/>

''[[Businessweek]]'' correspondents Bill Vlasic and Beth Regan characterized the founding families of Amway as "fervently conservative, fervently Christian, and hugely influential in the Republican Party", noting that "Rich DeVos charged up the troops with a message of Christian beliefs and rock-ribbed conservatism."<ref name=vlasic/>

High-ranking Amway leaders such as Richard DeVos and Dexter Yager were owners and members of the board of [[Gospel Films]], a producer of movies and books geared toward conservative Christians, as well as co-owners (along with [[Salem Communications]]) of a right-wing, Christian nonprofit called Gospel Communications International.<ref name=zibrowski/><ref name=henein/><ref name= williams>{{cite book | title = How to Be Like Rich DeVos: Succeeding with Integrity in Business and Life | publisher = HCI | year = 2004 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4-ggPcMN-skC | isbn = 9780757301582 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name= hkdsa>{{cite web| title = Asian Symposium on Direct Selling 2007: Speakers Bios—Doug DeVos| publisher = Direct Selling Association of Hong Kong| url = http://www.hkdsa.org.hk/symposium/2007/speakerbio/DougDeVos.htm| access-date = May 11, 2011| archive-date = March 24, 2012| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120324121455/http://www.hkdsa.org.hk/symposium/2007/speakerbio/DougDeVos.htm| url-status = dead}}</ref><ref name= calvin>{{cite web| title = Gospel Communications International/Billy Zeoli Scholarship in Christian Media and Communication| author = Calvin College| year = 2011| url = http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/scholarships/| access-date = May 11, 2011| author-link = Calvin College| archive-date = July 5, 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110705202946/http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/scholarships/| url-status = dead}}</ref> Yager, interviewed on ''[[60 Minutes]]'' in 1983, admitted that he promotes Christianity through his Amway group, but stated that this might not be the case in other Amway groups.<ref name="60 minutes">{{cite episode |title=Soap and Hope |series=[[60 Minutes]] |credits=Presenter:[[Mike Wallace (journalist)|Mike Wallace]] |network=[[CBS]]. Year 1983 }}</ref>{{request quotation|date=March 2016}}

''[[Rolling Stone]]'s'' Bob Moser reported that former Amway CEO and co-founder Richard DeVos is connected with the [[Dominionist]] political movement in the United States. Moser states that DeVos was a supporter of the late [[D. James Kennedy]], giving more than $5&nbsp;million to Kennedy's [[Coral Ridge Ministries]].<ref>[https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/7235393/the_crusaders/ "The Crusaders"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080318185336/http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/7235393/the_crusaders/ |date=March 18, 2008 }} Bob Moser, April 7, 2005, '' [[Rolling Stone]]''</ref><ref name=ReligionDispatches>{{cite news |last=Berkowitz|first=Bill |title=Worse Than Madoff: Amway Launches Domestic Revival |url=https://religiondispatches.org/worse-than-madoff-amway-launches-domestic-revival/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060953/http://religiondispatches.org/worse-than-madoff-amway-launches-domestic-revival/ |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |access-date=November 29, 2024 |newspaper=[[Religion Dispatches]] |date=June 18, 2009}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name=AlbionMonitor>{{cite news|last=Berkowitz|first=Bill|title=Amway Shoots For Comeback, Despite Right-Wing Ties of Founders|url=http://www.albionmonitor.com/0901a/copyright/amwaycomeback.html|access-date=May 17, 2011|newspaper=Albion Monitor|date=January 30, 2009|archive-date=April 13, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120413042613/http://www.albionmonitor.com/0901a/copyright/amwaycomeback.html|url-status=live}}</ref> DeVos was also a founding member and two-time president of the [[Council for National Policy]], a right-wing Christian organization.<ref name=Zirin>{{cite book|last=[[Dave Zirin]]|title=Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love|year=2010|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|isbn=978-1-4165-5475-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/badsportshowowne0000ziri/page/91 91]|url=https://archive.org/details/badsportshowowne0000ziri/page/91}}</ref>

Sociologist [[David G. Bromley]] calls Amway a "quasi-religious corporation" having [[sectarian]] characteristics.<ref name="bromley-quasi-religious"/><ref>''Transformative movements and quasi-religious corporations: the case of Amway'', by [[David G. Bromley]]. In ''Sacred Companies: Organizational Aspects of Religion and Religious Aspects of Organizations'', edited by Nicholas Jay Demerath, [[Peter Dobkin Hall]], Terry Schmitt and [[Rhys H. Williams (sociologist)|Rhys H. Williams]], pages 349–363. [[Oxford University Press]], 1998</ref> Bromley and [[Anson Shupe]] view Amway as preaching the [[Prosperity theology|gospel of prosperity]].<ref>''Rebottling the Elixir: The Gospel of Prosperity in America's Religioeconomic Corporations'', by [[David G. Bromley]] and [[Anson Shupe]]. In ''In Gods we trust: new patterns of religious pluralism in America'', edited by [[Thomas Robbins (sociologist)|Thomas Robbins]] and Dick Anthony, pages 233–254. [[Transaction Publishers]], 1990</ref> Patralekha Bhattacharya and Krishna Kumar Mehta,  reasoned that although some critics have referred to organizations such as Amway as "cults" and have speculated that they engage in "mind control", there are other explanations that could account for the behavior of distributors. Namely, continued involvement of distributors despite minimal economic return may result from social satisfaction compensating for diminished economic satisfaction.<ref name="bhattacharye-mehta">''Socialization in network marketing organizations: is it cult behavior?'' by Patralekha Bhattacharya and Krishna Kumar Mehta, Journal of Socio-Economics. 29(4):361–374.</ref>