People of faith looking for ethical investments

jdemaistre

Looking at ethical funds, most seem to be concerned with the environment, tobacco, firearms, alcohol, gambling etc.

Here's my question - does anyone know of any ethical funds that would be of interest to people of faith who object to investing in abortion, contraception, and pornography? Seems to me that nearly all of the equity funds put money in "healthcare", which often will include some degree of investment in the first two, while the third is now mainstream to the point that a lot of media/entertainment investments will end up going into it.

I'm guessing the Church of England and other such bodies don't invest in these things, so how do they avoid them?

gozomark

Why would C of E avoid investing in companies involved in contraception, or indeed abortion ? It isn't against either

Personally, I'd say its unethical not to fund research into both, especially contraception. I think you are confusing ethics with religious dogma. As for pornography - what is pornography ? where do you draw the line ?

jdemaistre

I guess I'm not terribly interested in turning this into a discussion of which sect believes what, or whether or not they're right to believe it. I know evangelical Anglicans who are opposed to abortion and certain forms of contraception, so they obviously exist. I just wondered whether there are funds designed for them, since there must be demand. (And by the way, I think those people who subscribe to these faiths do regard abortion and contraception as matters of ethics/morality, even if you don't.)

A lot of ethical funds currently available don't invest in pornography, so I imagine there must be a widely-accepted definition; as Potter Stewart put it, you "know it when you see it"!

LardyCake

Not trying to wind you up, but the Islamic Bank of Britain might meet your requirements - not the same religion but they seem to have a very strict ethical stance.

Rollinghome

jdemaistre wrote: »

as Potter Stewart put it, you "know it when you see it"!

Do you?

Not investing in arms companies seems straightforward enough. But what about the banks that fund them, the engineering companies that supply their machine tools, the steel companies and chemical companies that supply the ingredients?

I try to invest ethically but seeing where the line is anything but easy.

cheerfulcat

jdemaistre wrote: »

Looking at ethical funds, most seem to be concerned with the environment, tobacco, firearms, alcohol, gambling etc.

Here's my question - does anyone know of any ethical funds that would be of interest to people of faith who object to investing in abortion, contraception, and pornography? Seems to me that nearly all of the equity funds put money in "healthcare", which often will include some degree of investment in the first two, while the third is now mainstream to the point that a lot of media/entertainment investments will end up going into it.

You could have a look at this Ethical Fund Directory. There is also an American fund specifically for those with Catholic beliefs - might be worth checking whether such a fund exists in the UK?

I'm guessing the Church of England and other such bodies don't invest in these things, so how do they avoid them?

The Church Commissioners run the CoE fund themselves.

jdemaistre

LardyCake wrote: »

Not trying to wind you up, but the Islamic Bank of Britain might meet your requirements - not the same religion but they seem to have a very strict ethical stance.

Yes, they do seem to. Surprised to see that the Scottish Widows Islamic Global Equity fund has Pfizer holdings, so I'm not quite sure how rigorous some of these products targeted at Muslims are.

Rollinghome,

I was being a bit facetious. I think most of the funds avoiding pornography just don't put any money into TV, cinema, hotel chains etc. Not quite sure how they draw the lines, though.

Cheerfulcat,

The Ave Maria funds are interesting, but I don't think there's anything like that available in the UK. Thanks for the other link, though - very useful.