CANTERBURY, U.K. — The Church of England is conducting an investigation to see whether or not it has incidentally invested in companies dealing in porn.
The seemingly unnecessary undertaking was brought about after Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby discovered the Church had funded Wonga, a money lending business that he has said he wanted “out of existence.”
“I think that is highly unlikely but, as the Archbishop said, we are conducting a review. So, we will be checking,” said Edward Mason, secretary for the church’s Ethical Investment Advisory Group.
The EIAG recommends that the Church should not invest in any company that receives three percent or more of its revenues from distributing or producing porn.
It also says that the Church should refrain from investing in businesses that earn 25 percent or more of their revenues from tobacco, gambling, alcoholic drinks, high interest rate lending or human embryonic cloning.
Welby said that 25 percent may be too high of a cutoff level and is going to ask the ethical advisory board to review their decision.
“Is a little sin intolerable?" Welby said when pressed about the incident with Wonga.
He added, "Sin is a bad thing by definition. Just for the record, I'm not in favor of sin."
