Faith values
We explored five of the world’s major religions in consultation with leading faith-based organizations (FBOs) to identify the overarching values of Buddhism, Catholicism, Islam, Judaism and Protestantism.
This section of the online platform and the downloadable documents are a result of our research and consultations with faith leaders, networks and FBOs regarding how faith values can be contextualized against modern-day social and environmental challenges, and what role these values can play for faith-based investors who wish to address those challenges. FIIND Impact Foundation has aligned the values with SDGs, targets, indicators as well as exclusions. In that way we hope to facilitate the alignement of faith-based investments to the faith values by both FBOs and their fiduciary intermediaries.
Shared values
While these five world religions may be distinct from each other in terms of for instance, creed, belief system, scriptures, law and traditions, they have one important thing in common. Namely, they provide an ethical code or moral guidance for humans to live by, with the aim of ensuring common good and a prosperous existence for all.
For the Faith Impact Project, we explored each religion and identified several values/teachings that were found to be particularly relevant to the modern subject of social/environmental sustainability and applicable to impact investing for faith-based organizations (FBOs).
Based on these findings, and building on previous works such as An Interfaith Shared Values Framework on Ethical Finance, we arrived at five overarching themes that are shared among them. These include:
Stewardship
Justice
Solidarity and compassion
Balance
Peace
Fill out the form below to receive the full Shared values document.
Catholic values
This section contextualizes Catholic values against today’s most pressing social and environmental sustainability challenges. As such, it proposes that the Catholic faith not only calls for its followers to avoid causing harm, but to also strive to create a positive change through its investments. By taking inspiration from, among others, Pope Francis’ Laudato Si. Its purpose is to provide guidance for Catholic investors who wish to practice their faith through their investment management.
Our findings are summarized in the downloadable document, it:
Contains common exclusions among Catholic faith-based investors
Identifies which Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets are most relevant to each of the discussed faith values
Identifies which investable impact themes contribute to each of the aforementioned SDGs, with the help of IRIS+ Categories
For faith-based asset owners, this document may assist in identifying which impact investment themes and SDGs are particularly relevant to their mission and beliefs. For fiduciary intermediaries, this document may assist in gaining a better understanding of FBOs, and creating financial products that are better aligned with the mission and needs of the latter.
Some of the major themes we have selected from Catholic teachings or tradition include:
Life and dignity of the human person
Rights and responsibilities
Community and participation
Preferential option for the poor and needy
Solidarity
Care for God’s creation
Fill out the form below to receive the full Catholic values document.
Protestant values
This document provides an overview of several overarching values within the Protestant faith. These values and the explanations for them
have been compiled based on our findings from secondary research, and in consultation with Protestant faith leaders, networks and faith-based organizations (FBOs).
Protestantism
Initiated by Martin Luther in 16th century Germany, Protestantism carved itself out of Roman Catholicism. The Protestant movement arose partly in response to the Catholic Church’s sale of indulgences, which it perceived as an economic and political abuse of religious authority. In very general terms, Protestantism can be distinguished from Catholicism in several ways. Firstly, the faith proclaims the Bible to be the highest level of authority. Secondly, Protestants share a belief in sola fide, or that justification (salvation) is achieved by faith and forgiveness by God’s grace alone, as opposed to good works. In addition, Protestantism does not vest power in the papacy. Rather, the faith was founded on a political tradition that challenged the exclusivity of priesthood and what it viewed to be the monopolization of religious authority by the Catholic Church.
Major themes in Protestantism
Some major themes we have selected from Protestant teachings and traditions include:
Human dignity
Helping the poor and vulnerable
Workers’ rights and well-being
Stewardship of God’s creation
Justice and solidarity
Fill out the form below to receive the full Protestant values document.
Islamic values
With estimates of over 1.5 billion followers, Islam is one of the three major Abrahamic religions. Like Christianity and Judaism, it is a monotheistic religion and believes in common prophets and messengers. An important distinction is that in Islam, Jesus is regarded as a prophet and Muhammad is declared to be the last messenger who completed God’s final message to man. The Islamic faith originated in the Arabian Peninsula between the period 610 – 632 CE. Since then, Islam has become the most represented religion in large parts of North Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. It is also significantly present in other regions such as Europe, North America and South Asia through large Muslim minority populations.
Our Islamic faith-value document contextualizes Islamic values against today’s most pressing social and environmental sustainability challenges. As such, it proposes that the Islamic faith not only calls for its followers to avoid causing harm, but to also strive to create a positive change through its investments. Its purpose is to provide guidance for Muslim investors who wish to practice their faith through their investment management.
Major themes in Islam
Some major themes we have selected from Islamic teachings and traditions include:
Social/distributive justice
Peace, compassion and common good
Balance and moderation
Stewardship
Knowledge
Water
Fill out the form below to receive the full Islamic values document.
Judaic values
Dating back 4000 years, Judaism is the oldest of the three major Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). As the three religions developed in succession, some teachings found in Judaism can also be found in Christianity and Islam. However, Judaism did not remain static after the founding of the other Abrahamic religions, instead developing a substantial body of teaching from which ethics and law continued to derive.
Within Judaism, there exists a number of different rites as well as denominations, including Reform, Conservative and Orthodox Judaism (the three largest in North America). The denominations are typically distinguished from each other based on their interpretation and observance of halakha and mitzvot (religious commandments) in the context of a changing, modern society.
Major themes in Judaism
Some of the major themes we have selected from Judaic teachings and traditions include:
Do not destroy (Bal Taschit)
Repair of the world (Tikkun Olam)
Justice (Tzedek) and helping those who lack (Dei Machsoro/Tzedekah)
Avoidance of oppression to the worker (Lo Ta’ashok)
Education (Torah)
Support for Israel (Yishuv Eretz Yisrael)
Human dignity/respect for God’s creation (Kavod Habriyot)
Fill out the form below to receive the full Judaic values document.
Buddhist values
Dating back some 2,500 years ago, Buddhism is one of the oldest religions in the world. It was founded by Siddharta Gautama, who was born into an aristocratic family from a regional clan based in present-day Nepal. According to his legend, Gautama was raised in luxurious confinement in order to shield him from having to witness human suffering.
Today, Buddhism is the third largest religion in the world, with an estimated half a billion followers worldwide. Most of its followers can be found in East Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia, and tend to fall under three schools: the Mahayana, Vajrayana (Tibetan) and Theravada (or Hinayana) schools, each of which focuses on different canon or scriptures. Over the past century, Buddhism has also gained followers in Europe and the Americas, in part due to migration and increased exposure to the religion in public space.
Some major themes we have selected from Buddhist teachings and traditions include:
Cause no harm/sanctity of life
Interconnectedness and oneness of all beings and surroundings
Compassionate sharing of wealth so all benefit
No one left behind, all elevated together
No killing of any living being
Purity of thought, body and mind
Live simply, avoid excess
Fill out the form below to receive the full Buddhist values document.
Faith-value documents request form
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