Brian Grim pictured with three of the Fellows from BYU Hawaii, (L-R) Soktheavy Phouk, Fahina Lauti, and Jane Sandberg
Washington DC, October 7
Dr. Brian Grim, President of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, addressed the 2022 J. Reuban Clark Law Society Religious Liberty Fellows on October 7. Now in its fourth year, the Fellowship was held in Washington, D.C. This year it was also cosponsored by the Bech-Loughlin First Amendment Center at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law.
Grim drew attention to “building” religious liberty, an approach that expands religious freedom by increasing the space in society where deeply held faiths and beliefs are respected, celebrated and engaged. The example Grim focused on was the growing acceptance in some of the world’s biggest and best companies of religion and belief as a full-fledged part of corporate diversity, equity and inclusion, as measured by the Corporate Religious Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (REDI) Index.
One example Grim shared of how this works is summarized in the following video introducing Google’s Inter Belief Network (IBN) Employee Resource Group (ERG).
Grim Also shared examples from numerous companies that participated earlier this year in the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation’s National Faith@Work ERG Conference, Dare to Overcome, including the testimony of American Airlines in the following video.
Grim also shared how, thanks to the senior counsel at PayPal, they were able to launch their interfaith ERG “Believe.”
In addition to hearing from Brian Grim, Fellows heard from federal judges, congressional staffers, nationally recognized religious liberty advocates and scholars, and interfaith representatives (see program). The Fellowship allows participants to build both their knowledge of the law, strengthen their networks, and formulate plans to promote religious liberty in their communities.
Related video:
Also see Brian Grim’s 2021 BYU Marriott School of Business NAC Presentation.
