Turning shares into swords

The Church doesn’t invest in defence companies but it prays you continue to do so

ON THE NIGHT BEFORE HEdied, Jesus told his disciples “But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it … and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.” This is not necessarily the clinching Scriptural argument for the arms trade but it’s pretty much the only one we’ve got so I’m going to run with it. The ethics of investing in the arms trade are interesting. The Church doesn’t do it. The Church Commissioners have a £10.2 billion portfolio of assets to generate income which they are supposed to spend on funding the cure of souls in poorer parishes (which they have mostly redirected to other things, but that’s a separate issue). They are banned from investing in “any company deriving more than…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, August/September 2024

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