Sermon: Truth in Investment

Written by Writings & Sermons by others — 17 July 2009

Times Online – July 10th 2009  – to see the article in the Times click here.

The world has never been fully created. Judaism teaches that each human being is God’s partner in the continuing work of creation, through the concept of Tikkun olam, our responsibility to repair the world in order that it can achieve the perfection that was intended for it. In his 1967 Encyclical Populorum Progressio Pope Paul VI stated the Christian parallel to this doctrine: “Everyone who works is a creator”. Many quotations from Populorum Progressio are included in the encyclical Caritas in Veritate (Truth in Charity) published on July 7 by Pope Benedict XVI, which is the latest statement of Catholic social teaching for today.

Human work is never morally neutral. We always do it within the context of the economy of the time and place. Decisions need to be made about how people are treated in our common enterprise, how we will relate to the natural environment in which we work and how we will share the proceeds of our work. As Pope Benedict writes, “justice must be applied to every phase of economic activity … locating resources, financing production, consumption and all the other phases of the economic cycle inevitable have moral implications.”

The Encyclical notes that major changes to the business environment have taken place since 1967 that call for an updated response. Pope Benedict points out that today it is rare today for a substantial business to be in the hands of a stable long-term director, or to depend on a single territory. Outsourcing of resource procurement and production means that there is a weaker sense of responsibility towards stakeholders such as employees of the companies and local communities who are manufacturing or providing your service for us or for their “downstream” suppliers. Judaism and Christianity agree that, since we are created in the image of God, we all have an inviolable human dignity and a right to be treated as being of equal value in the universe as a whole. This means that we cannot regard globalisation of production and consumption as a reason to care less about the people who are involved in the process, simply because they are more remote from us.

This has implications for the investments decisions that religious people make. Pope Benedict’s Encyclical quotes from Pope John Paul II’s encyclical, Centesimus Annus, where he taught that “investment always has moral, as well as economic significance”. The International Interfaith Investment Group (3iG) reaches out to Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and all peoples of faith to encourage them to invest their own assets in accord with the teachings of their faith. What we have found over the years that we have been coming together is that each of these faiths teaches that our investment decisions have moral dimension and have real consequences. Thus we have a duty to make investment choices based on the social, environmental and justice principles and performance of the companies in which we invest alongside our God given ability to create wealth and prosperity by our economic activity.

Just as we expect a good standard of ethical practice from charities and governmental bodies, so too should we expect and demand a good standard of ethics from the businesses in which we invest. Our faith demands that we do no less as we seek to realise our commitment to one another and to our earthly home. As Pope Benedict’s Encyclical teaches corporations are just as much participants in God’s world with duties as well as rights as we are as individuals.