Jesus, he walked on water, raised the dead, and turned water into wine. Regardless of your religion, this guy would be great at a party. Since his ceremonial birthday is coming up soon, it’s no better time to role out Christian oriented investment funds (via ScratchPad).
FaithShares, an investment company that manages ETFs (similar to mutual funds) tailored to various Christian denominations has found a way to capitalize on Christian values.
They’ve got ETFs for Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, and Christians in general. That’s right, there is a big enough difference in investment philosophy for Christian denominations to warrant this.
For example, the Baptist fund invests in large companies that aren’t involved in abortion, alcohol, gambling, tobacco, military weapons, and porn. Whereas Lutherans think beer and wine are okay (remember Jesus’ party trick) along with guns, but no nuclear/bio/chemical weapons. Catholics allow companies that derive no greater than 5% of revenue from guns (not sure which gospel that one is in) but will have nothing to do with contraceptive products, which would leave out some pharmaceutical companies and plastic makers. Complicated sure, but the fruit these funds could bear would make Adam and Eve blush.
This is an evolution of socially responsible investing, which started out as investing in companies doing good by the environment. To show their commitment to these funds, FaithShares donates 10% of proceeds from each fund to organizations backed by these Christian denominations.
Is there demand for such investments? Look at what religion gets people to do. Even the mildly faithful are easily influenced by the teachings of their services. Religion gets people excited enough to picket doctor offices, flood Congress with letters, and even kill. You darned right if these funds catch on in a few congregations they’ll take off. Even more though is the potential to invest the budget surpluses of the churches themselves. If I’m a Catholic church with a $1 million surplus that I want to park for a few years, what better place to park it than in a fund that supports the values taught by the church!
FaithShares isn’t the first Christian invasion of Wall Street. Christian Brothers Investment Services already specializes in institutional investment for Catholic organizations. Thrivent Financial offers investment, banking, and insurance services to Lutherans. That was just a couple of simple searches, I’m certain there are more.
So where would Jesus invest His money? Is he okay with beer and wine? How does he feel about guns? Contraceptives? Well if we knew all that stuff, we’d probably have a lot less to fight about now wouldn’t we?
Photo: midiman
 By The Weakonomist |
The Weakonomist is the founder of Weakonomics. Clicking the picture of the puppy will tell you more about him. If you like what you're reading consider subscribing to the blog, following him on Twitter, and checking out the related posts below. Please consider a donation if you really enjoy Weakonomics. Also keep in mind that nothing I say can be construed as financial advice. |
