Wisdom on Socially Responsible Investing

This is an excerpt from Faithful Investing.

by Mark A. Regier, Praxis Mutual Funds® and Everence® Financial

As we consider how investing can help shape the world around us, in a way that is pleasing to God and responsible to those around us, we’re challenged to reflect on both the “vertical” and “horizontal” natures of our faith.

The vertical dimension concerns our direct relationship with God – our desire to reflect God’s values in our worship, our thoughts, our prayers and our deeds. The horizontal aspect reflects our relationship with the individuals and communities around us, including our relationship to Creation itself.

We see this clearly in Christ’s response to a question about the greatest commandment, recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, clearly describes these two aspects of faith.

“The most important one,” answered Jesus,” is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31, NIV)

Historically, faithfulness on the vertical axis of our relationship to God has been measured through the purity of our choices, actions and thoughts – often called “holiness.” In the field of investing, holiness has often taken the form of avoidance. Religious organizations and individuals have long sought to reflect their faithfulness to God’s values by the investments they’ve rejected.

And as our world—both socially and economically—has grown more complex, however, this approach to faithfulness has become an increasing challenge. As we address modern slavery found in conflict minerals inside every cellphone and laptop, or the sweatshops hidden behind our favorite clothing brands, or the racism and sexism that can lurk within even the most respected corporations, being pure is difficult.

In addition, this vertical emphasis focuses on our own reflection of God’s purity, potentially overlooking the horizontal call to love our neighbor and other aspects of God’s Creation.

How, then, should we respond to the horizontal, reflecting the gift of life and grace from God? What is our response—through our investments--to repeated calls throughout Scripture to care for the widow and orphan, protect the weak, and minister to the poor?

Just what is required?

This question (and answer) by an Old Testament prophet in Micah is fundamental to our fullest understanding of Christian discipleship. People of faith are called to “do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8, NRSV) Micah tells us that our actions and choices here on earth do matter—and we believe our investments do too.

This surprising message follows a series of questions about which offerings and sacrifices are required to bring restoration to the sinning, straying children of Israel. The questions betray a misunderstanding of God’s larger purpose, focusing on pursuing the correct ritual for the situation instead of striving for justice and kindness as they interact with others.

Many Christians have taken this call seriously – looking to their faith as a guide for their charitable giving, support for missions, choice of vocation, and the ways they relate to their families and local communities. Far fewer, however, have explored how this call to justice, kindness and a humble walk with God impacts their investment portfolio.

A lesson from the Good Samaritan

If God’s values and concerns are the objective of our investing witness, how do we measure and manage the impact our investments are having?

Authentic Christian faith requires engagement in the world, with all of its contradictions and nuances. What better example of a person trying to live faithfully in a heated political and religious setting than the Samaritan in Jesus’ familiar parable?

This parable was offered in response to a question posed to Jesus, asking, “And who is my neighbor?” It again focuses on the horizontal axis (“others”) of our relationship with God. And it is a question that remains as important today as it was then.

Found in Luke 10:25-37, this story – in its simplest form – has been baked into American culture. Many, regardless of religious background, will recognize the story of the virtuous man who helped a person in need while others passed by.

In short, the Samaritan, from an ethnic group scorned by the culture of Jesus’ audience, stopped to help a man wounded by robbers while a priest and a Levite passed him by. These holy men presumably continued on their way because touching the wounded man would have made them unclean, according to the religious rules of the day.

When Jesus flipped a question back to the questioner, asking, “Which of these three ... was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” the answer was obvious: “The one who showed him mercy.” (Luke 10:36-37, NRSV)

Jesus emphasized the horizontal relationship between fellow travelers despite their different ethnicities and beliefs, and by doing so, admonished the characters who placed a higher value on their narrow understanding of what was expected of them.

We could replace any of these characters with modern stand-ins and get a similar reflective opportunity. The call, then, is to self-sacrificial action on behalf of the disadvantaged or vulnerable – a message repeated frequently throughout the New Testament. It would seem credible that a similar approach could be applied to at least a part of a mission-oriented portfolio.

With more than 2,350 references in the Bible to money and resource-related issues and it seems clear that the writers and the early church understood the power and importance of the financial aspects of our lives. And while the financial tools of our society differ greatly from those of the first century, many of the challenges remain the same.

Impact InvestingFaith Driven TeamJuly 31, 2020Mark RegierComment