- The Role of Religious Groups
Religious groups from many religions can be advocates for regula-
tions that motivate, and if necessary force, businesses into responsi-
ble behaviour. They can use their abilities to convey alternative eco-
nomic values through life in religious congregations and through
reading and reflection on sacred scripture. They can also use their
resources towards investments in businesses that are socially and
environmentally responsible. Socially responsible investment (SRI)
sends a market-oriented message to businesses that religious groups
care about values besides the profit motive, and that they are willing
to put those values into operation in the market place. Many church
related initiatives and organisations are now working for SRI. One of
the first such initiatives was the Interfaith Center on Corporate
Responsibility (ICCR) in New York, a ‘coalition of faith-based insti-
tutional investors’ founded in 1970.^7 Churches and church-related
organisations in Europe developed a platform for SRI^8 and the Inter-
national Association of Investors in the Social Economy (INAISE)
was created.^9
The movement to divest church stock portfolios of stock in South
Africa as a protest against apartheid, was for example an excellent
teaching tool for members of those denominations who were
involved, and it was also a way to send a powerful message to the com-
panies involved, and to show public and concrete solidarity with
black South Africans. Although perhaps more controversial, the
movement to divest stock in those companies involved in the violence
against Palestinians similarly raises the visibility of the issue and
sends a strong message.^10 In each of these cases, one of the messages
being communicated is that human beings, including religious groups,
but including many others, care for much more than for their own
economic self-interest.
Christians and those from other religions will and should debate
these questions among themselves and with others. For many reli-
gions one of the biggest obstacles to overcome is the tendency to sep-
arate faith from economic activity, and thus to assume that faith has
little or nothing to say to the powerful economic actors or about the
dominant issues in the world. In fact, faith is economically relevant
and Christian scripture, like that of other religions, is full of moral
reflection on issues that are essentially economic. The question of
business responsibility is also a question of faith.
NOTES
(^1) In a 1981 statement the Business Roundtable of the CEOs of the 150 largest public corporations
in the USA said : ‘The shareholder must receive a good return but the legitimate concerns of
other constituencies (customers, employees, communities, suppliers, and society at large) also
must have the appropriate attention ... (Corporate leaders) believe that by giving enlightened
An American Christian Perspective 231