The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a correspondent for Reuters. This column is part of the weekly Reuters Sustainable Finance Newsletter, which you can sign up for here https://www.reuters.com/newsletters/reuters-sustainable-finance/.

By Ross Kerber

Oct 22 (Reuters) - With $3.6 billion in total assets, Inspire Investing calls itself the world's largest provider of faith-based ETFs. Its fund lineup is aimed at Christian investors and others who share what it calls its "conservative, biblical values." One product is the $344 million Inspire 100 ETF, which holds "biblically aligned large companies" in the U.S. as determined by their scores on issues like whether they produce or distribute abortion drugs or alcohol (bad) or if they responsibly address product-safety issues (good).

In his new book "Biblically Responsible Investing: On Wall Street As It Is In Heaven," Inspire CEO and founder Robert Netzly reviews the firm's history and its rising influence as social conservatives put more focus on business issues.

Among other things, Netzly says he convinced Costco COST.O to end its sponsorship of gay pride parades and, more recently, was told by Walmart WMT.N executives that they had no plans to sell abortion drug mifepristone. (Neither company commented for this article.)

But Netzly also has criticism for ostensible allies like those who preach a "prosperity gospel" that individuals should desire to become rich. While Inspire removed "ESG" from the names of all its ETFs in 2022, it still evaluates companies on criteria such as how they treat their workers.

Below are some exchanges I had with Netzly in a recent interview, edited for length and clarity. You can click here for a full recording.

Q: Tell me about your screening process?A: By and large, we are an index firm. Biblically responsible investing is what we call our methodology. We're trying to identify the most positive, inspiring, most biblically aligned companies.

What are the companies that are really providing the most blessing to the people who work there, the people who use their products, the communities they operate in, to the world at large? We really are looking to deploy capital in the companies that are most closely aligned with God's will for his creation.

Q: How is it that having a high score on the Human Rights Campaign (an LGBTQ+ rights group producing the Corporate Equality Index) gives companies a negative score?

A: Certainly abortion and LGBT activism are the two categories that are sort of on the top of the things we screen for. We believe that companies should not be using shareholder dollars to donate money to activist campaigns or to promote legislation that is decidedly pro-LGBT, anti-traditional family, let's say, or pushing mandatory trainings.

We don't screen companies out because, let's say, Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple AAPL.O, is gay. That's not a violation for us. We're not giving Apple red marks because of his personal life or because a company hires gay people or employs gay vendors.

(Also) IVF products and services we do have as a negative. Unfortunately, the IVF industry has a long way to go to meet some pretty basic standards of respect for all life, beginning at conception.

Q: Maybe you could explain something I picked up in your book. Buying the products is different than buying the stocks?

A: The easiest way to think about this is really plainly identifying that when you buy a stock or invest in a company, you're buying a piece of ownership, so you are an owner of that company. That is a very different responsibility than someone who shops somewhere.

Q: Couldn't somebody say back to you, "Well, I'm going to take the profits that I make off the improper stuff, but then I'm going to donate them to some good cause"? Maybe that's a simpler way to handle the objection?

A: Yeah, I like to call that spiritual money laundering, right? We're making money in an evil way, and then we're saying, "Well, I'm going to do something good with it, and now it's washed and clean."

Q: Your ability to file shareholder resolutions is a major leverage point for you?

A: This shareholder engagement has been something that we've gotten much more involved in over recent years, that we sort of stumbled across.

Q: Do you see the Trump administration's overall efforts allied with what you're trying to do? SEC Chairman Paul Atkins has been very critical of shareholder resolutions, for example.

A: The Trump administration, without a doubt, has been the most supportive advocate and partner with the faith-based community we've ever seen in the White House. Specifically related to the SEC, this is a little bit of the knife that cuts both ways.

Q: Maybe you see things getting to an equilibrium? Glass Lewis has said it will have no more benchmark policy, but the average support for the anti-ESG resolutions has remained quite low.

A: I think we are getting to that equilibrium point. Whether we stay there is another question.

After we spoke I saw a strongly worded article by Netzly stating that "Corporate America must answer for its part in the assassination of Charlie Kirk " and that many corporate institutions spew "leftist ideology."

I asked Netzly about this via email and whether the event will prompt a new focus for Inspire. He wrote back that he was referring to "a few bad apples in the corporate world." His firm, he said, is working "to identify the particular board members who have been planted by activist groups to introduce and advance far-left ideology throughout the corporations over which they preside, so that we can leverage our proxy votes to get them replaced by board members who will truly act as fiduciaries rather than ideological mercenaries."

(Reporting by Ross Kerber in Boston; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

((ross.kerber@thomsonreuters.com; (617) 412 0093;))