Church of England divests from US bulldozer biz

Al Arabiya ^ | 2-10-09 | Marwa Awad

[atomic conspiracy]

The Church of England announced Monday it had withdrawn its investments in a controversial company over the weekend following a threat by a group of vicars to publish a letter denouncing the Church's investment, but denied there were any political or ethical consideration in what it called an economically informed decision.

The Church of England said Monday that it withdrew £2.2 million ($3.3 million) from Caterpillar Inc. in late December 2008 because of economic considerations. Israel used bulldozers bought from the U.S.-based manufacturer of construction and mining equipment to demolish Palestinian homes.

" The Church of England withdrew shares it held in the company for purely investment reasons " Steve Jenkins, Church of England spokesperson

News of the church’s divestment came late Saturday just in time to prevent the planned publication of a letter in the Guardian signed by 23 theologians accusing the Church of England of not acting on its policy to promote morally and ethically responsible investments.

"We believe that given the events in Gaza as well as the continued illegal occupation of whole swathes of Palestinian land and the illegal land grabs by settlers, supported by the Israeli Government, that the Church of England must make good on its policy of disinvestment and withdraw its investments from those who profit form the misery of millions of Palestinians immediately," the unpublished letter stated.

But the church denied it had withdrawn investment for political or ethical reasons and said the timing of the announcement was coincidental.

"The holding status was made public when (the Church was) asked," church spokesperson Steve Jenkins told AlArabiya.net. "The Church of England withdrew shares it held in Caterpillar for purely investment reasons."

He added that the Church sold its shares in Caterpillar late December “on investment grounds," explaining that the church’s investment bodies is charged with making investment decisions and takes into account the recommendations of the ethical advisory group. Top

Activists say otherwise 23 vicars signed the unpublished letter denouncing the Church of England for not divesting

Activists, however, believed the church's last minute announcement proved it had given into growing pressure for an embargo.

"The Church seems very reluctant to promote the implementation of their own policy, and yes they snuck the news out, under the cover of darkness, with little in the way of a fanfare!" Niall Sookoo, media spokesperson for Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which issued Monday a press release lauding the church's long awaited divestment, told AlArabiya.net.

[atomic conspiracy]

“Sorry to interupt all the salivating and growling with a question, but do American churches invest in foreign companies that build hardware used by foreign militaries?”

Yes, if they own stock in, for example, Cerberus Group, BAe Systems, or even Cat’s arch-rival Komatsu, which sells heavily to the Japanese military. Fact is, it would be difficult to avoid such investments unless they have a stated and specifically managed policy of avoiding them. Liberal churches have such policies but they generally target only the US and its allies.

[atomic conspiracy]

Btw, is that the CoE’s policy, that they don’t invest in companies that sell to foreign militaries? If it is, they should say so. They haven’t and in fact they have specifically denied such a motivation in this case.

[QBFimi]

>> What are they going to use to tear down their churches when they finally lose all their parishioners?

Uh, actually - most of us have been gone for years. You don’t get out much, do you? ;o)

[monday]

“”The Church seems very reluctant to promote the implementation of their own policy, and yes they snuck the news out, under the cover of darkness, with little in the way of a fanfare!” Niall Sookoo, media spokesperson for Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which issued Monday a press release lauding the church's long awaited divestment, told AlArabiya.net.

Niall Sookoo needs to admit that he is media spokesperson for Hamas to the Church of England and is a terrorist supporter. I guess anyone with brains or an ounce of logic has long since departed the Church of England.

[ridesthemiles]

Are they going to withdraw investments from companies that make Tampons because the female Israeli soldiers use Tampons??

How about a paper company because notes and orders were written on paper for the IDF???

How about computer companies and softward companies because those items were also used by the IDF???

What a bunch of fruitcakes.

They keep this up, and there will be no one that comes to their rescue when they get overrun by their own policies of letting too many crazies into their country!!!