How Moral Is Ethical Investing?
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- Created: Saturday, 02 April 2005 18:22
- Written by Tom Lipp
Money and morality don’t mix well. That’s why for the most part I dismiss so called ethical mutual funds as a sales gimmick. To qualify for socially responsible investing a company must respect environmental and labour standards, while not deriving its revenues from tobacco, alcohol, gambling, military weaponry or nuclear power. It helps too if it promotes human rights, diversity, housing, charity and education. Screening against moral pollution such as pornography and homosexuality (the current political hot button) is rare.
This sad state of affairs demonstrates that in Canada there is a growing gap between what is legally right and what is morally right.About three years ago I was approached by a fund company to sell their ethical funds. Their top holding was one of the big six Canadian Banks. This bank had recently made the news by refusing to open an account for a group of Canadians opposing the Montreal 2006 Gay Olympics. When I wrote to the bank for clarification they sent me a letter stating that the bank might be “breaking the law” by assisting a group that “could incite fear, hatred and violence against homosexuals.” They assured me that they had “legal counsel” supporting their position. This sad state of affairs demonstrates that in Canada there is a growing gap between what is legally right and what is morally right.
About forty years ago homosexuality was legally and morally wrong in Canada. Smoking on the other hand was just fine. Now the tables have turned and certain courts have decided that smoking is more of a social scourge than sodomy. What has happened? Ethical norms have shifted away from the moral absolutes hard-wired into the human conscience and amplified by the Holy Spirit and the Bible. Ethics have moved toward a religion of cosmic humanism where moral absolutes are disdained. There is more emphasis on saving trees and grizzly bears than on human souls. If this rate of change continues then the financial costs to our health care system of tolerating sexual behaviour that is unnatural, unhealthy and immoral will exceed the costs of tolerating smoking.
Why is there so much controversy over this issue?
Most of the confusion stems from blending the behaviour with the individual. God tells us to hate the sin yet love the sinner. Not communicating the reality of sin and its consequences is rather like not warning a smoker. The smoker continues smoking, thereby hurting both himself and those around him. Love helps those addicted to smoking while speaking up against the proliferation of cigarettes. Hate the cancer but help the victim.
Next to religious pride, “gay” pride is one of the most Biblically condemned forms of wickedness. Fortunately in Canada we have freedom to express moral viewpoints based on the supremacy of God as imbedded in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and championed by such great Canadians as former Governor General George Vanier. Otherwise those intolerant of traditional moral values would censure even this article. Nowadays many hate God. Having just celebrated Good Friday we see how the courts mistreated Him. The Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect example of hating wickedness while loving those trapped in sin. He did not retaliate in kind. He even called Judas “friend.”
About six months ago this same bank unsuccessfully tried to encourage the “gay” lifestyle again, this time internally with its employees. Be careful. Those who promote ethical investments may be promoting immoral investments. So what is a good investment? I like mutual funds that specialize in small Canadian companies. During the last 15 years this category of funds has averaged a return of over 11% annually.
Morality and money don’t mix well.
