"Socially responsible investing (SRI) has grown in popularity since the 1960s and `70s, when some people avoided investing in companies that supported the Vietnam War, and the 1980s, when investors steered clear of South African apartheid.

Today, SRI tends to reflect individual investors' interests; while some avoid the stocks of environmental polluters, others steer clear of tobacco companies.

Financial investment, by any criteria, is complicated.  So if you want to create a diversified portfolio with high returns without compromising your personal beliefs, you need to do a lot of research.  Finding out which companies to avoid can become quite a stressful, time-consuming enterprise - unless you have faith.  Opting for the lesser-known strategy of religious-based investing means trusting the mutual fund of a particular religion to practice SRI for you, screening out all that is antithetical to your religious beliefs.

Religious-based investing was first practiced during the Civil War, when the Quakers, who were against slavery, and who remain conscientious objectors, refused to invest in weapons production.  (They continue that work with Quaker Funds (www.quakerfunds.com), which offers entrepreneurial institutional money management.) Today, the 30-year-old Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (www.iccr.og), is comprised of more than 275 faith-based institutional investors from around the world, including religious communities, denominations, foundations and dioceses with combined portfolios worth more than $100 billion and community development investments surpassing $900 million.  ICCR members are long-term investors who believe that screened portfolios perform better financially.  And they're not alone.  According to ICCR, in 1999 approximately $2.2 trillion was invested according to SRI principles; approximately $4.5 million of that amount was invested after being screened according to faith.

What a given religious group holds in its portfolio depends on its financial goals and application of religious teachings.  Wilson's Almanac (www.wilsonsalmanac.com) and Boundless (www.boundless.org), for example, are small funds that shun companies that pollute in order to further pagan investors' interests, including environmental protection.  The Muslim Investor (muslim-investor.com), is dedicated to "helping Muslims help themselves and each other by getting rich in an Islamically correct way," and does not invest in insurance or pork production companies, or interest-charging financial institutions.

A wide range of Christian faith-based mutual funds reflects the spectrum of Christian beliefs.  At the conservative end is The Timothy Plan (www.timothyplan.com), which claims to be "America's first pro-life, pro-family, biblically-based mutual fund group," and offers "a Biblical choice when it comes to investing," including eschewing companies that promote or support alcohol, tobacco, gambling, abortion, pornography, "anti-family entertainment, non-married lifestyles" and other "moral issues...that are destroying children and families."  One of the more liberal Christian-based mutual funds is Thrivent Financial for Lutherans (www.thrivent.com), which recognizes that what it means to be Lutheran varies widely among members.  As America's largest fraternal with 3 million members, Thrivent invests in the Lutheran community, and supports "the unique capability of enabling Lutherans to demonstrate their care and concern for others."

Faith-based financial institutions are so individual that their missions can vary widely even among institutions of the same religion.  For example, the Ave Maria Catholic Values Fund, which includes conservative anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly on its advisory board, not only rules out abortion- or contraceptive-linked companies and insurance companies, but steers away from companies that give benefits to unmarried or same-sex couples - even though that includes reliable investments like Dell Computer, American Express, Coca-Cola, AOL Time Warner, Eastman Kodak, Bank of America, and American Airlines.  However, the Catholic Values Investment Trust is not so rigid - not only does the institution invest in companies that grant benefits to same-sex couples, but it does not shun contraceptive distributing pharmacy chains.