Unitarians Withdrawing Funds From War Industries
Unitarians Withdrawing Funds From War Industries
By Mary Jo Staples
(News Religion Writer)
American churches are reaping big profits from the Vietnam war, a study reports.
Although America’s leading Protestant denominations have officially condemned their country’s involvement in the Vietnam War, a number of them continue to benefit from the financial profit that the war produces for companies with defense contracts.
Boards and agencies of 10 Protestant denominations hold more than $200 million worth of securities in 29 of the 69 prime military contractors doing business with the Defense Department. Earning for the church investments totaled $6.2 million in 1970.
Locally at least one church, First Unitarian, is attempting to withdraw all investments in mutual funds which buy stock in war-related industries.
Dr. Erwin Gaede, minister of First Unitarian, says, “Although churches espouse to ideals of peace and love, our treasury is not always where our heart is.
“We feel our church is responding to the national feeling that the church should be socially responsible and relevant.”
He admits finding other places to invest the church’s money is not always easy.
“We recognize the difficulty of finding investments that are 100 per cent free from war, pollution and racism but which also yield interest on the investment,” Gaede says.
The major source of investment funds comes from the Jackson Endowment Fund which was given to the church in 1955 by the late George L. and Bessie Florence Jackson for the support of the church.
Gaede says interest from the endowment fund had always been returned to the fund until last spring. Robert Reed, chairman of the church’s board, estimates the value of the fund now to be $100,000. The exact value fluctuates with the market. The church realizes from $5,000 to $6,000 a year profit from the investment of the funds.
Last March the board approved a recommendation that the Jackson Endowment Fund Investment Committee should seek investments that have social impact or promote efforts for peace and that investments be converted from mutual funds to the other investments.
Mrs. Maxwell Reade, chairman of the investment advisory committee, says, “We’re exploring all sorts of investments. We’re trying for a very good return too.”
The committee has considered real estate and utility bonds. “We’re gradually making the change,” she says. ‘‘There are few peace-oriented mutual funds. We’re also exploring them.”
The church decided to investigate its investments after the sit-ins of the Black Economic Development League (BEDL) in the fall of 1970.
“BEDL was kind of the thing that pushed up. They said you’re inconsistent,” ex-plains Mrs. Robert Teed, chairman of the church’s welfare and poverty committee.
Since May profits from the fund have been earmarked for social action. First Unitarian Church pledged half of the interest from the endowment fund to BEDL for the next three years.
Last week the church presented a $1,000 loan to Paul Johnson, a Chippewa and chief litigant for the children of the Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi Tribes in a lawsuit against the University of Michigan.
The money to pay legal fees will aid Johnson in his class action lawsuit. He is attempting to secure the educational rights he contends were granted by the University in exchange for the Indian lands entrusted to the University in the 1817 Treaty of Fort Meigs.