If you're a Christian investor who wants to put money into companies that align with biblical values, Inspire has spent the last decade trying to build the products to do that. BIBL is their flagship ETF, and it's the closest thing to a "Christian S&P 500" that exists in a liquid, tradeable form.

Here's the honest look at what BIBL is, how the Inspire Impact Score works, what's in the fund, and whether it delivers on its promise.

The Inspire Investing Story

Inspire Investing was founded in 2015 by Robert Netzly, a Christian financial advisor who wanted to build investment products that actively avoided companies involved in activities he considered contrary to biblical values. The firm is based in Boise, Idaho, and has been steadily building out a family of ETFs and separate accounts under the BRI (Biblically Responsible Investing) label.

Inspire's core differentiator is the Inspire Impact Score, a proprietary scoring methodology that rates companies on their alignment with biblical values. The score ranges from negative 100 to positive 100, and Inspire only includes companies above a certain threshold in its funds.

The Inspire Impact Score Methodology

The scoring system looks at 36 different criteria across two buckets: avoidance (things the Bible teaches against) and alignment (things the Bible teaches for).

Avoidance criteria include: abortion (any corporate involvement), LGBTQ+ advocacy spending, pornography, adult entertainment, embryonic stem cell research, alcohol production, tobacco production, cannabis, gambling, predatory lending practices, human rights violations, and weapons of mass destruction.

Alignment criteria include: biblical stewardship, caring for the poor, sanctity of human life, marriage and family, religious liberty, and ethical business practices.

Companies get scored based on public disclosures, news coverage, lobbying records, and policy documents. The Inspire team updates scores regularly and companies can move in or out of eligible status between rebalances.

The honest caveat: this scoring is subjective and Inspire makes judgment calls that not all Christians will agree with. A Catholic investor, a Southern Baptist, and a Pentecostal Christian might all define "biblical values" slightly differently. Inspire has made choices that reflect generally evangelical priorities.

What BIBL Holds

BIBL tracks the Inspire 100 Index, which is an equal-weighted index of the 100 large-cap US stocks with the highest Inspire Impact Scores. Launched in October 2017, BIBL is the largest Christian ETF in the US.

Equal weighting is interesting here. Instead of market-cap weighting (where Apple and Microsoft dominate), BIBL gives each of the 100 holdings roughly 1 percent weight. This produces a very different return profile than the S&P 500.

Typical holdings include companies like Walmart, Berkshire Hathaway, Cintas, Chipotle, Hershey, Paychex, Rollins, Texas Instruments, Waste Management, and Tractor Supply. Notice the absence of most big tech names. Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon have generally not made the cut under Inspire's scoring because of various corporate policies related to LGBTQ+ advocacy, abortion benefits, or other scoring factors.

This is the biggest surprise for new investors. You might expect a large-cap Christian fund to hold the same companies as the S&P 500, just screened slightly. Instead, BIBL has a dramatically different composition because so many mega-caps fail Inspire's scoring.

Expense Ratio: 0.35 Percent

BIBL charges 0.35 percent per year. That's actually reasonable for a faith-based ETF, and notably cheaper than the halal ETFs SPUS and HLAL (both around 0.49 to 0.50 percent). Credit where it's due: Inspire has priced BIBL competitively.

Vanguard's S&P 500 fund VOO is 0.03 percent for comparison. So you're paying about 12 times more for the biblically screened version, which is the typical premium for faith-based investing.

AUM: Around 400 Million Dollars

BIBL is running approximately 400 million dollars in assets as of early 2026. That's small-to-medium for an ETF but meaningful within the faith-based category. Liquidity is adequate for retail investors, though spreads can widen to 3 to 5 cents in off-peak hours.

Performance Estimates

Here's where BIBL gets interesting. Because the fund is equal-weighted and excludes mega-cap tech, its return profile has diverged meaningfully from the S&P 500 in recent years.

One-year total return: approximately 14 to 18 percent. BIBL significantly lagged the S&P 500 during 2025's tech rally because it doesn't hold Nvidia, Apple, or Microsoft.

Three-year annualized: approximately 9 to 12 percent.

Five-year annualized: approximately 10 to 13 percent.

Since inception (October 2017): approximately 10 to 12 percent annualized.

Compared to the S&P 500 over the same periods, BIBL has lagged by roughly 3 to 5 percent per year in most measurement windows. That's the cost of conviction. When mega-cap tech drives the market, BIBL can't participate.

In 2022, BIBL actually outperformed the S&P 500 because it was less exposed to the tech selloff. So the fund isn't permanently broken; it's just tilted toward value and equal-weight factors that go in and out of favor.

Distribution and Dividends

BIBL pays quarterly distributions. Current yield is approximately 1.2 to 1.6 percent. The equal-weight structure and the tilt toward value-ish names (consumer staples, industrials, some financials that pass screening) produces a higher yield than market-cap-weighted tech-heavy funds.

The Banking Question

Here's an interesting quirk. BIBL can hold banks, unlike halal funds which exclude financials entirely. Inspire's scoring doesn't penalize conventional banking as long as the bank doesn't have other disqualifying activities. So you'll see names like First Financial Bankshares or Cullen Frost Bankers in BIBL holdings at various times.

This matters because it means BIBL's sector exposure is more balanced than halal funds. You actually get financial sector participation, which helps diversification and provides a dividend-rich sleeve that halal funds can't offer.

Comparison to CATH

The other major Christian ETF is CATH (SPDR Bloomberg SASB Catholic Values ETF), which takes a different approach. CATH tracks a market-cap weighted index using exclusions based on US Conference of Catholic Bishops guidelines, and includes most of the S&P 500 after exclusions.

CATH and BIBL differ in meaningful ways. CATH is market-cap weighted, so it holds the big tech names as long as they pass Catholic exclusions. BIBL excludes many of those same big tech names based on LGBTQ+ advocacy and other Inspire Impact Score factors.

Practically: CATH looks and performs much more like the S&P 500. BIBL looks and performs very differently. Which one is "right" depends on how strict you want your biblical screening to be.

Who BIBL Makes Sense For

Christian investors who want active exclusion of companies involved in specific activities related to abortion, LGBTQ+ advocacy, and other Inspire-scored factors. Investors who are comfortable with the performance tracking error relative to the S&P 500 because they believe conviction matters more than short-term returns. Evangelicals specifically, since the scoring methodology reflects generally evangelical priorities.

Who Should Look Elsewhere

Christian investors who want S&P 500-like exposure with minimal tracking error (they should look at CATH instead). Catholics who want alignment with USCCB guidelines specifically. Investors who can't accept lagging the broader market by 2 to 5 percent per year in strong bull runs. Anyone who wants mega-cap tech participation as part of their portfolio.

The Tracking Error Reality

You need to understand this before buying BIBL. Over a 5 or 10 year period, the fund is likely to trail the S&P 500 by a meaningful margin in environments where tech leads. In environments where value leads, BIBL can outperform.

If you can't stomach watching your Christian fund lag while your non-Christian neighbor's index fund rips higher, BIBL will frustrate you. If you view that lag as the price of putting your money where your values are, BIBL does its job.

Inspire's Product Family

BIBL is one of several Inspire ETFs. The family also includes BLES (Inspire Global Hope, international exposure), IBD (Inspire Corporate Bond, fixed income), RISN (Inspire Faithward Large Cap Momentum), and PTL (Inspire Fidelis Multi Factor). Together they give Christian investors a more complete multi-asset toolkit, though each fund has its own tracking error relative to mainstream benchmarks.

Bottom Line

BIBL is a legitimate Christian ETF that does exactly what it says: excludes companies involved in activities Inspire considers contrary to biblical values, and gives you exposure to the 100 highest-scoring large-cap US companies under its methodology.

Whether it deserves a place in your portfolio depends on how closely you align with Inspire's scoring approach and whether you're willing to accept meaningful tracking error versus the S&P 500.

For committed BRI investors, BIBL is reasonable. For investors who want Christian values with minimal performance impact, CATH might be a better starting point. And honestly, for many Christian investors, a blend of the two gives you diversified exposure across different screening methodologies.

Inspire 100 ETF (BIBL): The Christian S&P 500 Alternative