Appeal for shareholder value in christian churches

[Solve et Coagula]

Appeal for shareholder value in christian churches?

My dear brothers and sisters should we ask for sharholder value in the official churches? Just read the following arti?le...

Appeal for shareholder value in christian churches

Jewish leader attacks Anglicans over Israel vote

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's most senior Jewish leader has condemned the Church of England for voting this month to review its investments in companies whose products are used by Israel in the occupied territories.

Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks said the Anglican vote on whether to pull money from "companies profiting from the illegal occupation" was ill-judged and would inflame relations between the two religions.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual head of the world's 77 million Anglicans, sparked anger by supporting the vote at a meeting of the church's governing body.

"The vote ... was ill-judged even on its own terms," Sacks wrote in the Jewish Chronicle newspaper on Friday. "The timing could not have been more inappropriate. (Israel) needs support not vilification."

He warned that the row would reduce the church's ability "to act as a force for peace between Israel and the Palestinians".

"The church has chosen to take a stand on the politics of the Middle East over which it has no influence, knowing that it will have the most adverse repercussions on a situation over which it has enormous influence, Jewish-Christian relations in Britain," Sacks added.

The Archbishop of Canterbury sought to take the heat out of the growing controversy last week, saying the vote was an "expression of concern" rather than a policy shift.

Williams said it would have no bearing on church investments in companies such as U.S. heavy equipment maker Caterpillar Inc., whose bulldozers are used by Israel to demolish Palestinian houses.

Caterpillar has said it has no control over how its products are used once they have been sold.

"Much distress has been caused, especially to our Jewish friends and neighbours," Williams wrote to Sacks last week in a letter released on the church's Web site (www.cofe.anglican.org). "This distress is a cause of deep regret."

He added that although the demolition of Palestinian homes raised "moral issues of some seriousness", the Anglican church did not want to start a boycott or question Israel's legitimacy or right to self-defence.

The vote angered many within the Anglican church and drew criticism from Jewish groups around the world.

Williams' predecessor as Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, said the vote made him "ashamed to be an Anglican".

In a letter to the Times newspaper, Carey said it was a "one-eyed strategy to rebuke one side and forget the traumas of ordinary Israelis who live in fear of suicide bombers and those whose policy it is to destroy all Jews".

comment: in my opinion all official churches should be as much transparent as possible... what is amazingly shocking to me that these churches do invest their assets more or less in "worldly" companies, instead of improving the life for example in 3rd world countries to help the people which starve to death... what are they waiting for??? Do they wait for judgement day until they start to help their brothers and sisters in need or is it easier to preach in their churches how to behave "godly" to receive their collects to invest afterwords in blue chip companies? It might be interesting to analyse which teaching the churches follow when god/jesus teached them disinterestedness...

What an upside down world we're living in...

best wishes from Switzerland

lwwb
Roger

[McCulloch]

This is finally a topic with some meat. Just how should various churches be responsible with the investment of their funds? Should they take a lower rate of return and endanger the pensions of retired and soon to be retired church employees in order to have ethical investments? How does a church decide how to invest their funds? Which ethical principals should be applied and how strictly should they be watched? Did Jesus even authorize church savings accounts? Didn't Jesus say, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. " and "Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. "

[juliod]

Good post McC.

I don't see how any church could be bible-based and maintain any wealth at all. You'd think at the end of each month they would just give away any excess randomly to the poor.

But still churches are the greatest money-collectors the world has ever known.

DanZ

[The Persnickety Platypus]

One of my great issues with modern Christianity.

I wonder how many starving children could be fed with that hearty investment in stained glass windows and the rotating neon cross?

Any worship building more embellished than my grandmother's trailer home cannot be considered a church, and should lose it's nonprofit status.

[1John2_26]

Three atheists with great Gospel preaching.

So the message isn't difficult to understand at all?

Rowan Williams is anything but a good example of a good Christian. He being the guy propped up to bring in the new version Jesus that isn't the same one in the Gospel's. Since you guys know the Gospels so well would know that though.

Also, Israel has laws against Christians evangelizing in Israel.

By the way, I do remember a parable about money invested wisely.

what is amazingly shocking to me that these churches do invest their assets more or less in "worldly" companies, instead of improving the life for example in 3rd world countries to help the people which starve to death... what are they waiting for???

Roger,

The Christians are feeding the world's starving. How many Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims are running commercials for the world's poor starving children? How many Christians are being expelled from Venezuela and being shot in African countries while doing something for the poor "over there?" "Venezuela" a country so rich it could wipe out poverty in most hurting places. But they don't.

[The Persnickety Platypus]

How many Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims are running commercials for the world's poor starving children?

In America? A country 87% Christian? None, obviously.

Worldwide? A lot more than you would be willing to admit.


I am really tired of your Christian charity argument. Show me your statistics and I will show you mine.

Muslims in America alone gave $70 million to charity in 2001. Just how many Muslims are there in the US? Five or Six?

On average, Muslims give at least 10 percent of their income to religious and/or secular charities, totaling between $250 billion and $1 trillion annually. 10 percent. If I am not mistaken, that has the average Christian beat.

The central tenant of Buddhism is giving (along with detaching oneself with material desires, of course). I really don't think you want to compare Buddhist philanthropy to your religion's. Buddhists get extra points for never having caused a widescale attrocity.

More than 75 million Hindu households give for charitable causes annually in India. Interestingly, two thirds of all givers live in rural areas.

Type in Islamic/Buddhist/Hindu/ charitys in Google. Look beyond our own borders for once.

"Venezuela" a country so rich it could wipe out poverty in most hurting places. But they don't.

That's certainly news to the Venezuelans.

You've really got it in for these guys, don't you?Look who is ranked number 60

You want to talk about countries who could end poverty overnight? Look around you. The most professed Christian nation on earth (and number four on the GPD list) could raise peanut taxes a nickel and have enough money to feed every starving kid in Africa until they are twenty. But they don't.

Of course, despite all these Christian charities we supposedly have, 2 million Americans still live in poverty. It's a good thing Venezuela has a president decent enough to offer reduced oil prices to the lower class (as well as to every country in South America, FYI).

All these philanthropolic Christian TV ads can't be working too well. Look which industrialized 87% Christian country gives the least amount of money to charity.

But I guess I can't be too hard on American Christians. Afterall, those rotating neon crosses and stained glass arches arn't going to pay for themselves. Maybe the donations can pick up after everyone has their Lincoln Navigators paid off.