Should a Christian own defense stocks? There is no single biblical verdict. Scripture both blesses peacemakers and grants government the sword to restrain evil, so faithful believers land in different places. The honest path is to know what you actually hold, decide where your conscience stands on war, and invest deliberately rather than by accident.
Few sectors create as much moral tension as weapons makers. Millions of Christians own pieces of Lockheed Martin or RTX through retirement accounts and index funds without ever choosing to — the holdings simply ride along inside a target-date fund. That accidental ownership is the real problem this guide solves. Defense is one of the harder calls in Christian investment screening, alongside the equally thorny healthcare and bioethics questions, and it deserves a decision rather than a default.
The Companies and the Scale
The modern defense industry is enormous, global, and more diversified than its reputation suggests. A handful of prime contractors dominate, most earning the bulk of their revenue from government contracts.
| Company | Ticker | Approx. annual revenue | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lockheed Martin | LMT | ~$67 billion | Aircraft, missiles, space; ~three-quarters government |
| RTX (formerly Raytheon) | RTX | ~$69 billion | Missiles, defense electronics, commercial aerospace |
| General Dynamics | GD | ~$42 billion | Combat systems, submarines, IT, business jets |
| Northrop Grumman | NOC | ~$39 billion | Aerospace, defense systems, technology services |
| Boeing | BA | ~$78 billion | Commercial aircraft plus a large defense unit |
| BAE Systems | BAESY | ~$33 billion | UK-based; broad defense portfolio |
Two things stand out. First, these are rarely pure weapons companies — RTX runs a major commercial aerospace business, General Dynamics builds private jets, and Boeing’s commercial division dwarfs its defense work. Second, the lines are blurring further as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Oracle win large defense and intelligence contracts. The neat category of “defense stock” is messier than it looks, which matters a great deal when you start screening.
What the Bible Says About War and Weapons
Scripture pulls in two directions, and pretending otherwise does no one any favors. On one side stand the texts of peace. Isaiah envisions a day when nations “shall beat their swords into plowshares” and “neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4). Jesus blesses the peacemakers, tells Peter to “put your sword into its sheath” (John 18:11), and commands his followers to love their enemies and turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:38-44). Paul adds, “if possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” (Romans 12:18).
On the other side stands the recognition that God ordains government to restrain evil, and that this restraint involves force. The governing authority “does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer” (Romans 13:3-4). From this angle, a nation’s capacity to defend the innocent and deter aggression is a legitimate, even God-given, function — and the companies that supply it are part of that work. Both sets of texts are Scripture. How you weigh them shapes your answer.
Three Traditions, Three Answers
Christians have wrestled with this for two thousand years and produced three broad positions. Recognizing which one you hold keeps you from borrowing a fund’s conscience by accident.
- Just War tradition. Rooted in Augustine and Aquinas and held across Catholic and most Protestant thought, this view accepts that war can be justified under strict conditions, and that legitimate defense is moral. Investors in this stream often see defense contractors as supporting a proper function of government.
- Peace Church tradition. Anabaptists — Mennonites, Brethren, and Quakers — read Jesus’s nonviolence as binding and reject participation in war-making, including profiting from it. For these believers, weapons manufacturing is a clear exclusion.
- Modern evangelical view. A broad and varied middle, often comfortable with national defense in principle while uneasy about specific weapons, foreign sales, or profiteering. Many here screen selectively rather than absolutely.
None of these is a fringe position; each has deep roots and serious defenders. The Mennonite-affiliated Praxis funds and the evangelical Timothy Plan, for instance, approach the question from genuinely different theological starting points, which is why their portfolios differ.
How Christian Funds Handle Defense
Faith-based funds fall into three camps, and reading a fund’s actual screen tells you where it stands.
Strict exclusion. Funds tied to Peace Church traditions screen out all weapons manufacturers and companies with significant military revenue. If avoiding any profit from arms is your line, these are built for you; our Praxis funds review covers one such family.
Selective exclusion. Many mainstream Christian funds take a middle road — excluding companies whose primary business is weapons, or those tied to especially indiscriminate arms like landmines and cluster munitions, while permitting diversified firms where defense is a minority of revenue. The screening question becomes: is military work 60% of this company, or 10%? Our Timothy Plan review shows how one evangelical family draws those lines.
No specific defense screen. Some faith funds focus their screening elsewhere — abortion, pornography, gambling, alcohol, tobacco — and do not exclude defense at all. If defense matters to you, do not assume a “Christian” label covers it; confirm it in the fund’s policy. Our overview of negative screening explains how these exclusion lists are built.
Why Investors Are Drawn to Defense Stocks
Set theology aside for a moment, because the financial appeal is real and worth understanding. Defense contractors serve government customers on multi-year contracts, which produces unusually stable, predictable revenue that holds up when consumer-facing businesses wobble. Many pay steady, growing dividends. And because the primes are diversified across commercial aerospace, IT, and services, they behave less like pure weapons plays than their critics assume.
That stability is exactly why these names sit in nearly every broad index fund and dividend strategy — which is how so many Christians end up owning them unawares. The investment case is sound; the question is whether it fits your convictions. For the parallel debate over other “stable but troubling” sectors, see our piece on sin stocks.
A Framework for Your Own Decision
Turn conviction into a portfolio with three moves. First, clarify your theology — decide honestly whether you hold a Just War, Peace Church, or selective view, because that determines everything downstream. Second, understand how your money is actually invested; most exposure hides inside index and target-date funds you never screened. Third, accept the tradeoffs. A strict exclusion may cost you some diversification and yield; staying invested may trouble your conscience. There is no option with zero cost, and pretending there is leads to paralysis.
It is also worth distinguishing ownership from other ties. Holding a company’s stock is not the same as working for it, supplying it, or directly building a weapon. Some Christians who would never design a missile are at peace owning a diversified aerospace firm; others see any profit as participation. Both are coherent. Owning shares also gives you a voice you can use, a route explored in our guide to shareholder advocacy.
Screening Your Portfolio: Practical Steps
- Identify your holdings. Pull the full holdings list of every fund you own. The big defense names hide in S&P 500 and total-market index funds.
- Determine fund content. Ask directly: does this fund screen defense, and how? Read the written policy, not the marketing tagline.
- Research the companies. For direct holdings, check the 10-K for the share of revenue from military contracts. A filing might show 60% of a company’s revenue is military and 40% commercial aerospace — a fact that changes how a selective screener treats it.
- Make intentional choices. Switch to a Christian-screened fund, swap specific names, or diversify into bonds, dividend stocks, or real estate to dilute exposure. Decide on purpose.
- Monitor and update. Companies merge and revenue mixes shift. Re-screen on a schedule so a clean holding does not quietly become a problem.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it a sin for a Christian to own defense stocks?
There is no consensus. Christians in the Just War tradition see legitimate national defense as a God-ordained function and owning defense stocks as acceptable. Those in Peace Church traditions read Jesus’s nonviolence as ruling it out. Most believers land somewhere between, screening selectively. The faithful step is to decide deliberately according to your convictions rather than owning these companies by accident.
Do my index funds own weapons makers?
Almost certainly. Lockheed Martin, RTX, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing are all large-cap stocks held in S&P 500 and total-market index funds, and in most target-date retirement funds. If you want to avoid them, a Christian-screened fund or a self-built portfolio that excludes flagged names is the practical solution. Check your holdings list to confirm.
How do I find out how much of a company is really defense?
Read the company’s annual report, or 10-K, which breaks revenue down by segment. You can see what share comes from government and military contracts versus commercial work. A diversified firm where defense is a small minority of revenue may pass a selective screen that a pure weapons maker would fail.
