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At the pacifist Church of the Brethren, where obvious military investments have always been avoided, Treasurer Robert Greiner questioned the report's blackballing of standard blue chips like A.T. &T. (5.5% military sales, principally the Safeguard ballistic missile system and Nike Hercules missile). "You can't get out of everything," Greiner said. "To be a purist, you could hardly stay in the U.S." Even worse conflicts will probably be raised when the Corporate Information Center starts evaluating industries for their overall "purity," considering such factors as their consumer policies, minority-hiring practices and polluting of the environment. What if a major corporation turns out to have military sales but hires hundreds of blacks and gives the customer a good buy? The possible permutations boggle the mind.
In the end, the only solution left under C.I.C. standards may be literally to heed the words of that radical young Jewish rabbi in 1st century Judea: "Go, sell everything you have, give to the poor and come, follow me."
* Roman Catholic investments, which are mostly made by dioceses, are not covered in the report. Few bishops have released full information about them, and none have so far shown interest in the N.C.C. project.