Thrivent Update

Thrivent has issued a statement regarding the flap that has erupted over a Planned Parenthood branch winding up on a list of approved non-profit organizations that Thrivent members can direct dividend dollars towards, as I noted yesterday.  

Their statement places a moratorium on funds headed towards any pro-life or pro-choice organizations (although they don’t indicate what sorts of organizations might be affected by this).  They also are temporarily stopping the process of adding (or removing) any organizations to (or from) their lists while they undertake a “comprehensive review”.  

While I’m surprised that they took this step, it doesn’t promise any change in the organization’s fundamental direction.  Because they cater to a broad range of Lutherans – and now non-Lutherans as well – Thrivent is going to find that these sorts of fiascos are going to be hard to avoid.  On one end of the spectrum or the other, somebody is not going to be happy with decisions that local chapters and members make regarding who can get funding.  It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if they scrap this whole Thrivent Dollars program and go back to other forms of distributing dividends to member organizations.