Monthly Archives: April 2024

A Mental Wellness Event For Youth, Young Adults, Parents And Guardians

Friday, May 10, 2024 – 7 PM ET

• Register (free)

On May 10, 2024, 7PM ET, Atlanta based youth outreach ministry, Reach Worldwide, will present A Night of Education: Mental Health in the Digital Age. The event takes place live at Excel Church (Atlanta, GA) and streamed live to churches and audiences across the nation. The event is supported by Saint Paul’s Church (Richmond, VA), Oak Street AME (Detroit), Mt Pleasant Church and Ministries (Baltimore) and others.

CVS Health®, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation and Excel Church are proud supporters of the live-streamed and in-person event.

Many young adults experience positive mental health, but, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, young adults aged 18-25 years had the highest prevalence of any mental illness (33.7%) compared to adults aged 26-49 years (28.1%) and aged 50 and older (15.0%). Further, an estimated 49.5 percent of adolescents has had a mental health disorder at some point in their lives.

The good news is that promoting positive mental health can prevent some problems. For young people who do have mental health disorders, early intervention and treatment can help lessen the impact on their lives.

“During a meeting with the CVS Health Faith-based Advisory Council, we learned about the event and are excited to participate,” said Dr. Brian Grim, the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation’s president. “My daughter, Melissa Grim, J.D., and I look forward to speaking drawing on our research showing how faith is indispensable in preventing and recovering from substance abuse. We are so pleased to see one of America’s biggest and best companies support this event to help young people engage on this topic.”

The event will provide teens, young adults, parents and guardians with resources to leave informed, encouraged and empowered! It is hosted by Faith Shamley, Founder, Reach Worldwide.

• – Faith and mental Well-being in the Digital World
• – Finding Purpose in a Digitalized Society
• – The Power of Digital Detox

How building religious freedom through business relates to the US Constitution

This May 21-22 marks the 5th time the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation will convene the “Dare to Overcome” National Faith@Work ERG Conference. The mission is to build freedom of religion (and/or belief) for all people everywhere by encouraging workplaces to adopt and practice robust religiously inclusive policies and programs. These include (but are not limited to) such things as providing substantial support for faith-and-belief Employee Business Resource Groups (EBRGs) and formalizing workplace spiritual health programs carried out by multifaith workplace chaplains and/or other EAP programs.

Conference’s Guiding Philosophy: Covenantal Pluralism

The beginning point for religious freedom is human dignity. Human dignity is something that separates people not only from others in the animal kingdom but also from human-like capabilities that AI is creating. This can be understood from a religious “created in the image of God” viewpoint or a humanist viewpoint that emphasizes that each person has the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives.

Recognizing each other’s human dignity in the area of religion and belief is a foundation for peace, especially when we are committed to defending each other’s right to believe and behave in accordance with those beliefs without necessarily lending equal validity to all beliefs. This commitment is in essence putting to practice the Golden Rule – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you – by also constructively, curiously, and humbly engaging with one another, and respecting the same right and responsibility for those around them.

The Templeton Religion Trust – set up by the late mutual fund pioneer Sir John Templeton – refers to putting this commitment to practice as “covenantal pluralism.” This is the guiding philosophy of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation. We believe covenantal pluralism is a useful framework that guides efforts to build religious freedom for everyone, including those who have no religious affiliation or beliefs.

Relation to U.S. Constitution’s Purpose

Indeed, we believe that this philosophy is in the spirit of the US Constitution which was “ordained” and “established” “in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”

Each of the sessions, awards and activities of the conference will reinforce these concepts and aspirations.

Join us!

Pre-Conference Roundtable: Chaplaincy Case Studies Review

Join Wendy Cadge to give feedback on case studies being piloted by Brandeis University’s Chaplaincy Innovation Lab to help non-chaplains understand what chaplains do at a pre-conference roundtable at Dare to Overcome, Tuesday, May 21, 2024, from 9:30-11:00 am. Location: Busch School of Business, Washington DC. To apply to participate, email Brian Grim (must be registered for Dare to Overcome).

The Chaplaincy Innovation Lab has developed a series of case studies designed to teach non-chaplains (i.e. healthcare workers, first responders, executives, police officers, etc.) what chaplains do and how spiritual care providers can support their work. Each case study features a situation in which a chaplain supports the work of a colleague who is not a chaplain in their institution. Join us for a 90 minute conversation about these case studies and to see if they might be helpful in your setting. Draft case studies will be provided in advance and the feedback shared will be used to strengthen them before their final release in the fall 2024.

Resource Roundtable: Meet & Interact With Our Supporting Sponsors

Our Supporting Sponsors look forward to networking and exploring synergies at Dare to Overcome, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, from 12:00-12:45 am and 1:45-2:30 pm. Location: Busch School of Business, Room 207.

A21 is one of the largest organizations in the world that is solely fighting human trafficking. The annual Champion Award goes to a company carrying this mission forward.

ChaplainCare provides professional, reliable and agenda-free interfaith support and confidential care for all through the ministry of presence.

Catholic Charities DC is largest independent social services agency in the D.C. region providing critical services to people in need.

Cities Project Global is a global organization whose  mission is to awaken, equip and unleash leaders for impact leading to the flourishing of their cities.

Interfaith America inspires, equips, and connects leaders and institutions to unlock the potential of America’s religious diversity, normalizing interfaith cooperation.

Interfaith Photovoice uses an arts-based approach to interfaith and intergroup dialogue. They are curating our Golden Rule in Action photo contest.

JustServe’s mission is to improve the quality of life in communities through service. The organization is sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Marketplace Chaplains is the largest and longest continuing provider of workplace chaplains to corporate America today, with chaplains in more than 1,500 companies.

Masjid Muhammad, The Nation’s Mosque, is the place of worship for several thousand Muslims in the Washington, D.C. area, and a leader in interfaith engagement.

Pray.com – the world’s #1 app for faith and prayer – is a social impact company: we’re driven by a mission to grow faith and cultivate community.

Tanenbaum works with leading companies and organizations to ensure that employees of all religious beliefs and none have their religious or non-religious beliefs and practices respected in the workplace.

Templeton Religion Trust (TRT) is a global charitable trust chartered by Sir John Templeton in 1984 that seeks to enrich the conversation about religion.

True Summit, led by extreme explorer Kevin DeVries, helps individuals & organizations achieve peak performance through well-being.

USA for UNHCR is a non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., established by American citizens that envisions a world without refugees.

PayPal Roundtable: The role of an interfaith community in times of extreme transition

PayPal will lead this roundtable discussion at Dare to Overcome, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, from 9:00-9:45 am. Location: Busch School of Business, Room 204.

Description forthcoming.

Deloitte Roundtable: Sharing the journey of launching a Faith-based BRG with Q&A

Deloitte will lead this roundtable discussion at Dare to Overcome, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, from 9:00-9:45 am. Location: Busch School of Business, Room 207.

Description forthcoming.

DELL Technologies Roundtable: Peace Through Service

DELL Technologies will lead this roundtable discussion at Dare to Overcome, Tuesday, May 21, 2024, from 2:30-3:15pm. Location: Busch School of Business, Room 207.

Description forthcoming.

Coca-Cola Consolidated Roundtable: Scripture & Prayer Programs in Practice

Coca-Cola Consolidated will lead this roundtable discussion at Dare to Overcome, Tuesday, May 21, 2024, from 4:30-5:15pm. Location: Busch School of Business, Room 207.

Join Mark Whitacre and Julia Oltmanns from Coca-Cola Consolidated for an interactive discussion of success stories and learnings gained from the implementation of different leadership development initiatives, mentoring programs, prayer groups and other methods of employee engagement that include a faith component.

Mark and Julia will share examples that are based on Bible studies or scriptural references and will also discuss examples that are useful for employees from different faith backgrounds. Please come with examples of studies or groups from your own workplace so that this can be a collaborative time of information sharing.

Faith in Unity: Harnessing the Power of Cross-Company ERG Collaboration for Spiritual Inclusion

Equinix will lead this roundtable discussion at Dare to Overcome, Tuesday, May 21, 2024, from 3:30-4:15pm. Location: Busch School of Business, Room 204.

Description forthcoming.

The 2024 theme for Dare to Overcome, our 5th annual national conference for Fortune 500 faith-oriented ERGs, is The Golden Rule Across Faiths and Beliefs.

Every major faith or belief system has a version of the Golden Rule at its core – do to others as you would have them do to you. This is part of our ongoing vision: Daring to Overcome those things that prevent unity, justice, tranquility, security, general welfare, and the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. 

Indeed, we believe that this vision is in the spirit of the US Constitution which was “ordained” and “established” “in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”

Each of the sessions, awards and activities of the conference will reinforce these concepts and aspirations, which are not unique to those in the US, but common to all humankind.

Join us!