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From Washington DC to the Economist to World Economic Forum – RFBF has impact

17 Jul, 2015

RFBF-impactPRESS RELEASE, Washington DC – The impact of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation continues to grow. This past week saw the release of the Foundation’s new resource for businesses to include respect for freedom of religion or belief into their mission statements and corporate documents. The resource was launched at the Religious Freedom Center of the Newseum Institute, just a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol.

RFBF President Brian Grim also discussed the Foundation’s initiatives at a private briefing at the State Department for the U.S. Ambassador for International Religious Freedom, Rabbi David Saperstein.

This past week saw work of RFBF Senior Fellow Pasquale Annicchino featured in the Economist. The article discusses a new global force fighting liberal social mores and promoting traditional family values – the United Nations. Surprised? Here’s the story.

Recently, on the World Economic Forum’s Agenda-setting blog, RFBF board member, Chris Seiple, and RFBF’s Grim published a call for business schools to offer courses on the faith factor in the economy. The article observes that very few business schools are offering courses that equip their graduates to engage and capitalize on the role that the faith factor is playing and will play in emerging markets. The article lays out five principles for shaping an elective course, if not a concentration, that business school deans and professors might consider as they prepare entrepreneurs for doing business in a world where the influence of the faith factor will only grow.  MBAs-WEF

The Foundation’s work was also discussed at a high level event at Georgetown University’s Religious Freedom Project, which also featured Judge Ken Starr, Congressman Keith Ellison, USCIRF Commissioner and Chair Katrina Lantos Swett, and Congressman Frank Wolf. You can see some of the writing that lead up to the event below.

Response to President Obama on Countering Violent Extremism,” Brian Grim calls for greater socio-economic freedom for religious minorities in Western societies as an effective way to counter radicalization and religious extremism.

Help Me to Stay,” Congressman Frank Wolf calls for greater US intervention to put an end to the persecution of Christian religious minorities in the Middle East.

Iraq: International Religious Freedom and Women’s Experiences on the Extremist Battlefield,” Engy Abdelkader analyzes the intersection of international religious freedom and global women’s rights by examining the violence committed by ISIS against women in Iraq.

The Women Justice Ginsburg Forgot,” Helen Alvaré discusses the relationship between religious freedom and women’s rights in the United States following the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision.