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UK: Sixfold increase in church attendance by young adults

8 Apr, 2025

The share of young adults who identify as Christian attending church in the UK has increased dramatically between 2018 and 2024, according to a new study.In 2018, 4% of young adults aged18-24, which includes Gen Z and Millennials, reported regular churchgoing. In 2024, the figure increased sixfold to 16%. A similar increase was also seen among those aged 25-34, according to the survey by the Bible Society and YouGov.

For an additional discussion, see story by Catherine Pepinste.

Religion in America: Decline Seems to Have Leveled Off

7 Apr, 2025

After years of decline, the Christian share of the U.S. population has been relatively stable since 2019. And the religiously unaffiliated population, after rising rapidly for decades, has leveled off – at least temporarily (see main report). These findings come from Pew Research Center’s 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS) and other Center polling. Learn more about the study at pewresearch.org/rls.

ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts.

The Power of Pluralism: Religious Inclusion and Cooperation in the Workplace

7 Apr, 2025

Americans are more likely to encounter religious diversity in their workplaces than in any other sphere of life. In an era defined by polarization, successful leaders recognize this diversity as both a challenge and an opportunity: acknowledging that team members hold fundamentally different worldviews while identifying the shared values that strengthen their team culture.

Join Interfaith America CEO Adam Phillips* and distinguished leaders from business and healthcare at Dare to Overcome, May 20-22, 2025, as they share powerful stories of interfaith leadership and proven strategies for transforming religious diversity into a competitive advantage through meaningful inclusion and cooperation.


*Adam Nicholas Phillips is the Chief Executive Officer at Interfaith America. Adam leads the institutional operations and strategy of Interfaith America, which is the nation’s largest bridge-building organization with programming and narrative efforts across campus, corporate, and civic spaces. Having spent two decades at the intersection of faith and public life, Adam previously served as a Biden-Harris Administration official leading Faith-based and Localization efforts at the United States Agency for International Development, where he served in both a development and diplomatic capacity. Working closely with the White House and Department of State, in his role at USAID Adam oversaw development policy, new and non-traditional partnerships, as well as democracy initiatives in nearly 100 countries. An ordained minister, Adam has also led and started new congregations, led faith mobilization efforts at advocacy organizations like ONE and Bread for the World, and worked on various political campaigns. Adam has been a TEDx speaker, and his work has been featured in The Atlantic, CNN, Washington Post, NPR, Huffington Post, Relevant Magazine, and the Christian Broadcasting Network’s 700 Club.

Four Models of Faith and Business

4 Apr, 2025

Join me and the JRCLS Student Board TODAY for an enlightening virtual discussion on how the concept of “Separation of Church & State” does not mean “Separation of Faith & Business. I’ll explore this by looking at four models:

  1. Faith Phobic
  2. Faith Forward Outwardly
  3. Faith Forward Inwardly
  4. Faith Friendly

Bring your questions and curiosity as we explore the synergy between faith and commerce in today’s world. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to network with others who are passionate about maintaining a harmonious relationship between faith and business within legal professions. Register here (free), see program below.

Pope’s April prayer intention: Technology should benefit everyone

1 Apr, 2025

In a video message with his prayer intention for April, the Pope urges putting technology at the service of everyone, especially those most in need. Read full story here.

Dr. Rahul Vishwanath Karad – Gold Peace Medal

1 Apr, 2025

Award Tribute Video Text:

The 2025 Global Business & Interfaith Peace Gold Medal goes to Dr. Rahul Vishwanath Karad,  Managing Trustee and Executive President of MAEER’S MIT Group of Institutions, which encompasses more than 70 institutes and nurtures over 80,000 students.

In 2005, Dr. Rahul Karad founded the MIT-World Peace University School of Government with the mission of shaping future political leaders who embody ethics, spirituality, and leadership. More recently he launched the National Legislators’ Conference Bharat, providing an avenue for legislators across India to gather at one place and exchange ideas.

Most recently, under his patronage, the MIT World Peace University’s Education Department piloted “Human Rights & Business Skills” secondary school curriculum in diverse schools, including Muslim and Christian minority schools, schools serving underserved communities, and the university’s own attached secondary school. The results were overwhelmingly positive, and a very promising feature of the curriculum is that Corporate Social Responsibility funding is a potential avenue to sustain and expand this initiative across India and the world. We congratulate Dr. Rahul Karad and the MIT Would Peace University’s Education Department for developing the world’s first business skills curriculum that reinforces and applies human rights.

Faith ERGs: Resources and Networking

28 Mar, 2025

UPDATE: #dare2overcome – 6th National Fortune 500 Faith@Work Summit

For the first time, Dare to Overcome (DTO) will begin with resource and networking roundtables for the four most prevalent faith employee resource groups (ERGs): Christian, Interfaith, Jewish, and Muslim.

Members and leaders of faith ERGs will have the opportunity to network and learn from their peers as well as benefit from the resources and experience of the convening sponsors: Coca-Cola Consolidated, Interfaith America, Clal, and the El-Hibri Foundation.

DTO is the premier annual gathering for Fortune 500 company ERGs, corporate chaplains, and other faith-and-belief workplace initiatives to share best practices and celebrate achievements.

To learn more or register, click here.

Monday Deadline: 2025 Faith-Friendly Workplace REDI Survey

28 Mar, 2025

REDI Index: Benchmarking Faith-and-Belief Friendly Workplaces

The REDI Index is the premier benchmarking measure of an organization’s commitment to including religion & belief as part of its overall people and belonging initiatives. You can download a pdf of the questionnaire here. If you want to participate, please request a personalized survey for your organization by email that can be saved and accessed on separate sittings or devices using the unique link that will be provided.

DEADLINE: March 31, 2025 (extensions possible upon request)

REQUEST REDI Survey


Congratulations to MIT-WPU Education Department

27 Mar, 2025

By Brian Grim

Greetings from Washington DC and from all my colleagues and partners at the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation.

On May 21, in Washington, in recognition of the success of the pilot Human Rights & Business Skills curriculum, which I will briefly describe in a moment, we will be conferring the Global Business & Interfaith Peace Gold Medal to MIT-World Peace University’s Executive President, Dr. Rahul V. Karad at our Fortune 500 Dare to overcome conference..

Dr. Rahul Karad is carrying on the noble and world-changing work of Revered Professor Dr. Vishwanath D. Karad, established the university’s guiding principle based on the teachings of India’s Noble Son Swami Vivekananda, “The union of science and spirituality will bring peace and harmony to mankind.”

I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to Professor Dr. R.M. Chitnis, MIT-WPU Vice Chancellor, for his enthusiastic support of this initiative, without which it would not have been possible. And the expert support of MIT World Peace University School of Education department head Dr Shalini Tonpe ensured our success. Thank you to both of you!

So … Last month, I had the tremendous opportunity to observe four of the 10 schools in the Pune region that participated in the “Human Rights & Business Skills” secondary school curriculum pilot. MIT World Peace University School of Education professors and student teachers supplemented the curriculum, which is based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with parallel articles from the revered Indian Constitution along with business skills that reinforce and apply the human rights.

Before my visit to the schools, School of Education professors and student teachers kicked off the week with a roundtable demonstrating how they adapted the curriculum to the Indian context and piloted the curriculum.

The Roundtable conference began with Asst Prof Rahul Landge delivering a comprehensive report on the implementation of human rights curriculum, which was piloted across different schools of Pune city. The report provided valuable insights into curriculum’s execution, identified opportunities for growth, highlighted the challenges encountered, and included series of accountable recommendations for enhancing future efforts. This review played a crucial role in assessing the curriculum’s impact and its adaptability within diverse educational settings.

The human rights were very well received, and each of the 10 school principals were especially attracted to the practical business skills tied to higher values. Asst Prof Priya Kale, as seen in the photo, shows that while none of the schools has a business skills curriculum and only four are aware of such a curriculum, they all would like to implement such a curriculum in their schools.

The team’s student teachers demonstrated as part of the roundtable four of the 10 human rights lessons that they piloted in the fall: Freedom of Religion, Protection from Child Labor, Right to Marriage and Family, and Freedom from Bullying.

In the Schools

The class teacher at Anjuman Islam Peer Mohamed High School – Pune, an all-girls Muslim school (pictured below, bottom right), gave a ringing endorsement after the demonstration lesson, Protection from Child Labor. She and the chief school administrator invited us to implement the curriculum on an ongoing basis. I was particularly impressed to see how well students and teachers from different backgrounds — Muslim, Hindu and Christian — worked together joyfully and productively. It was a wonderful demonstration of India’s national motto Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam — “the world is one family”.

At a Pune school for underprivileged students, the Bharati Vidyapeet School, the pilot was on the fundamental human right to Marriage and Family. The class was executed effectively, with a variety of engaging activities designed to raise awareness about this right. Students actively participated in role-playing exercises, group discussions and case studies, which helped them explore marriage laws, family dynamics and personal freedoms.

A highlight was the performance of one of the 10 original songs written by one of the Hindu student teachers. He partnered with a Christian student teacher (both pictured) to write the songs to go with each of the 10 lessons.

At a prep school attached to MIT WPU, the pilot class on Religious Freedom was animated through “gamification” – using games and competition to motivate learning. In one game, teams competed to see who could find the most similarities between India’s multiple religions. My minor but really fun part was to come on stage and hand out the awards.

The final demonstration pilot was at a tutoring center giving evening classes for underprivileged students. The center is an act of love by a husband and wife team who offer daily coaching classes on English and math as well as other subjects as needed. The lesson was one that hits close to home for these students: Freedom from Bullying.

The Impact and Next Steps

Comments from students ranged from, “I didn’t realize we had universal rights at birth,” to coming up for strategies on how to combat discrimination.

We are working towards sustainability and expansion of the initiative across India and worldwide through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funding. Indian companies must spend a minimum of 2% of their average net profit over the preceding three years on CSR activities.

The results were overwhelmingly positive, and with Corporate Social Responsibility funding, we can see the real potential to sustain and expand this initiative not only across India and but throughout the world.

I congratulate the MIT Would Peace University for developing the world’s first business skills curriculum that reinforces and applies human rights. This is truly a recipe for peace and prosperity. Thank you!

Join us in Washington DC May 20-22, 2025

22 Mar, 2025

6th Annual Fortune 500 Faith@Work ERG Conference

By Brian Grim

Join us in Washington DC for the 6th Annual Fortune 500 Faith@Work ERG conference, May 20-22, 2025 (register here). We’re thrilled to be back at the Catholic University’s Busch School of Business for the 6th year!

We have an exciting and growing list of sponsors including DELL Technologies, Equinix, Merck, American Airlines, Coca-Cola Consolidated, ServiceNow, among others.

In the weeks leading up to the conference, I’ll be introducing the exciting elements of the program. This week, meet two of our keynotes!

Super Habits

Each year, our most popular keynote has been by the Busch School’s Dean Andrew Abela. This year promises to be the best yet, as he unpacks the ancient yet modern secrets to a successful life (and business).

Everyone registered gets a free copy of his new book, Super Habits: The Universal System for a Successful Life.

Harvard’s Arthur C. Brooks says, “A rich blend of social science and ancient wisdom, Andrew Abela’s Superhabits shows how strengthening our virtues leads to well-being. This beautiful book is a must-read for anyone in pursuit of the better life.”

Brighter Days

Get ready for a fun, authentic and inspiring keynote from my friend and colleague, Patrick Regan, OBE.

Patrick’s new book, Brighter Days: 12 Steps to Strengthening Your Well-being, couldn’t be more relevant with all the disruption and divisiveness swirling about. It empowers readers to embrace their struggles while equipping them with the tools needed for a healthier, more fulfilling future. Discover that you are not alone in your journey, and get ready to look forward to brighter days ahead!

Patrick is a sought after mental health provider and founder of three successful NGOs. Boris Johnson gave him the London Peace Award for his work in the prevention of knife crime and the late Queen Elizabeth II awarded him an OBE for his services to young people.

This conference is part of our global Dare to Overcome initiative that builds religious freedom for all by expanding the space where people’s faiths and beliefs have a place at the table. In a growing number of companies, this is through faith-oriented Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) or chaplaincy programs.