The growing indignation industry
The Presbyterian Layman March/April 2000 Volume 33, Number 2, April 3, 2000
It’s ironic. While it has become politically and theologically incorrect to express moral outrage about some things – such as two guys getting hitched by a Presbyterian minister – other expressions of moral outrage have become a growth industry.
That’s the indignation aimed at corporate America. To its own investment disadvantage, the Presbyterian Church (USA) is still in the business of declaring what is morally un-Presbyterian and identifying corporations that have violated the ever-changing PCUSA Commandments, the latest being: Thou shalt not plant with genetically altered seed.
The revelations of corporate irresponsibility are emitted on a regular basis by a General Assembly committee named Moral Responsibility through Investment. Its name is more high-minded than its duties. What MRTI folk do is team up with like-minded allies from other mainline denominations to pressure corporations through shareholder resolutions. Furthermore, by declaring some stocks off-limits, they hamstring some of the PCUSA’s investors, especially those who handle the pension funds that will provide retirement income for pastors.
One long-time observer of MRTI edicts recalls that General Electric was deemed offensive and ineligible for PCUSA pension investment because more than a quarter of its sales were in products and services for national defense. When he complained, he was instructed that the PCUSA could simply buy shares in a competitive company that was not so heavily involved in defense. But that was no quid pro quo. GE’s stock performance was substantially better.
Now MRTI’s reach has been broadened. Previously, the committee was required to get approval from the General Assembly Council for each expression of outrage. Now, if company X commits the same egregious offense as company Y– such as having staggered terms for directors to avoid sudden and possibly financially ruinous change in direction – duplicate resolutions can be dispatched.
Already, MRTI is meddling in the business of more than 160 corporations. That list includes some of the best investments in the market. All are major corporations whose names are household words.
So what are the offenses? Staggered terms for directors are intolerable. Tobacco and alcohol products and defense business are no-nos. Manufacturing operations utilizing low-wage workers in emerging nations are serious violations. Global finance is troublesome. The list goes on: environmental issues, human rights, community reinvestment, energy, equal employment opportunity.
Corporations are not theological institutions. Profit is their priority. But they employ men and women – including Presbyterians – who can be powerful influences for corporate virtue. A church committed to cultivating that witness from within – with sound training in the life of faith – sends a living message to corporate America. That’s more powerful than any resolution.