The Amish – the subject of a previous post – are not the only religious group whose values have helped them in business.

Monasteries are essentially co-operatives, but the shared religious commitment of their members usually enable them to avoid the disputes over strategy and structure that break up many of even the most well-meaning secular co-operatives.

The irony of the worldly success of organisations set up to help members reject the world has a long history. Most famously, the Cistercian Order made a point of building their monasteries in wild places, fit only for sheep, far from distractions. However, such was their work ethic that it was hard for them to avoid making a profit from the wool of those sheep, and their monasteries became some of the biggest and most profitable businesses in medieval Europe.

Other orders continue that tradition today. Another irony is how many monks have thrived by producing alcoholic products: the Trappists brew strong beer, the Carthusians invented Chartreuse, and the Benedictines of Buckfast Abbey developed a tonic wine.

Buckfast is a peaceful place by the beautiful River Dart in Devon where it is not hard to think of another world – perhaps a better world – a better world, certainly, than the mean streets of Glasgow, probably the hardest city in Britain. Buckfast and Glasgow have nothing in common – except the tonic wine.

For some reason, the tonic wine developed by the innocent monks, who probably thought it would be used as a healthy digestif, has become the tipple of choice for Glaswegian drunks.

The monks themselves are not to blame for this. For one thing, they are no longer directly involved in the production of the tonic wine. More importantly, if the tonic wine did not exist, it is a fair bet that dipsomaniac Scots would find something else to drink.

In any case, the monks set a good example by running their own businesses. In doing so, they demonstrate that their commitment to live a life of prayer is not motivated by a desire to live off the backs of others. One feels that the small businessmen who founded the Church – Jesus the carpenter, Peter the fishing boat owner, and Paul the tent manufacturer – would approve.