India’s Jamia Millia Islamia gives diversity and inclusion institutional legs

By Brian Grim

“Without freedom there can be no progress,” said former US Ambassador to the UN Andrew Young. My first contact with Andrew Young was just after he was mayor of Atlanta. He hosted the first group of young Kazakh entrepreneurs that I helped send to the US soon after the USSR was dissolved.

I was there as the new Kazakh president Nazarbaev embraced religious freedom at the founding of that new country (see end of my TEDx Talk), but India embraced religious freedom at its founding and in its Constitution, resulting also in the embrace of institutions such as Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI or Jamia University). Both Kazakhstan and India have had challenges to religious freedom in the intervening years, but institutions like JMI in New Delhi provide added institutional resilience.

Indeed, Jamia Milia Islamia (JMI) is not only a national university, but it is a top one, securing a place as one of the top three universities of India in the coveted 2024 National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings. JMI not only has been recognized for its diverse academic offerings and strong emphasis on research, but also the university’s efforts in fostering an inclusive and innovative academic environment.

Just as the rankings were released last month, I had the opportunity along with Dr. Farha Iman to meet Prof. Mohammad Shakeel, JMI Vice Chancellor, to discuss a partnership between our Dare to Overcome initiative and the university (he’s second from right in the picture). A key project of interest is piloting a human rights and business skills training course that could eventually be supported by India’s widespread Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

A first step in the partnership was a webinar lecture I gave on September 5th to the students preparing for careers in Human Resources Management from JMI’s Department of Social Work on corporate religious equity, diversity and inclusion.

Diversity, equity and inclusion will be featured at the global edition of our annual Dare to Overcome business and peace symposium and awards in New Delhi, December 8-9, 2024, with a special roundtable on the CSR human rights initiative.

You can see a brief history of Dare to Overcome below, as well as a video synopsis of last year’s inaugural event in India.

Please join us if you’re able to come to New Delhi!

• — Panel: Faith and Belonging in the Workplace
• — When? 17 September 2024
• — Time? 10am UK/Ireland | 11am Central Europe
• — Join? zoom

Register and join the UK Faith@Work monthly call on Thursday 12 September (1pm BST/8am ET/5am PT) for a fascinating discussion with chaplains serving all the companies in London’s Canary Wharf.

The REDI Index is the premier benchmarking measure of an organization’s commitment to including religion & belief as part of its overall diversity initiatives.

In this session, RFBF president Brian Grim will give an overview of the 2025 REDI Index survey, with examples of best practices, followed by Q&A.

• — Thursday 10th October 2024
• — 1-1:45pm BST
• — Registration required (free)

The 2025 survey will have the same 11 questions as in the 2024 survey, each worth 10 points, for a total of 110 points. Scoring for each point will be based on (a) answering in the affirmative with some evidence (5 points), and (b) demonstrating that the efforts are substantial (up to 5 additional points). The “b” part of each question offers the same “tick” lists as in 2024, which were based on company open-ended responses from the 2022 REDI Index survey.

As in previous years, there will be a BONUS question. This year, we encourage participating companies to share the ways that their efforts in creating a religiously inclusive culture and workplace have had an impact in the company and stakeholders, including any metrics tracking impact.

A federal court paused CDCR’s no-beard policy for peace officers (POs) and ordered the department to do more for POs who wear facial hair for religious reasons. (See on DOJ website.)

The REDI Index is the premier benchmarking measure of an organization’s commitment to including religion & belief as part of its overall diversity initiatives.

In this session, RFBF president Brian Grim will give an overview of the 2025 REDI Index survey, with examples of best practices, followed by Q&A.

• — Tuesday, October 29
• — 12-12:45pm ET / 9-9:45am PT
• — Registration required (free)

The 2025 survey will have the same 11 questions as in the 2024 survey, each worth 10 points, for a total of 110 points. Scoring for each point will be based on (a) answering in the affirmative with some evidence (5 points), and (b) demonstrating that the efforts are substantial (up to 5 additional points). The “b” part of each question offers the same “tick” lists as in 2024, which were based on company open-ended responses from the 2022 REDI Index survey.

As in previous years, there will be a BONUS question. This year, we encourage participating companies to share the ways that their efforts in creating a religiously inclusive culture and workplace have had an impact in the company and stakeholders, including any metrics tracking impact.

Join the Faith and Work initiative on Friday, September 13th, for Managing Leadership Anxiety: Yours and Theirs with Steve Cuss! The following will be discussed.

• – Walking into any room and noticing anxiety in 4 spaces.
• – The Nature of Chronic Anxiety vs Acute Anxiety and how to notice chronic anxiety.
• – How our ‘false needs’ keep us bound.
• – The big 5 core false needs of every human.
• – How we can relax into God’s presence and develop a life giving list.

Steve Cuss is the author of Managing Leadership Anxiety: Yours and Theirs and The Expectation Gap and also a columnist and host of Christianity Today’s Being Human podcast. Steve founded Capable Life to help people lower anxiety, break stuck patterns and increase wellbeing in the work place, home place and in your faith.

Steve was first exposed to Family Systems Theory when he was a chaplain and he later studied it in graduate school. Steve holds sixteen hundred hours of supervised ministry in Clinical Pastoral Education and is a Spiritual Care Professional in the ACPE. He holds a Master of Divinity from Emmanuel Christian Seminary with a thesis focusing on the dignity laws of Leviticus and Exodus and how a suburban church can move beyond charity to address systemic poverty.

Steve has served in a variety of pastoral roles for 26 years, the majority of those years as a lead pastor. He married Lisa and they have two sons and a daughter, in whom they take great delight. When Steve is not working, you can find him laughing with his family, knee-deep in a trout stream, or trying a guitar he cannot afford at a local music store.

What role does faith play in corporate success? Embracing religion in DEI initiatives fosters belonging and progress.

Brian Grim is the founder of the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation, an organization that works to help companies see the value in including religion in their diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. He took some time to sit with Public Square Magazine and talk about the foundation.

Public Square Magazine: I would really love to hear a bit about your backstory and how you came to form this organization as well as its mission and purpose.

Brian Grim: I was working at the PEW research center and developed measures for religious freedom for countries around the world. PEW has carried that on for the last few years since I started it in 2006 or something like that. Once I measured religious freedom or restrictions on religious freedom coming from either governments or social constructs, then I could see how it relates to other things like sustainable development, global competitiveness, and GDP growth. What I found was that where you have more religious freedom, you have more of the good things. You have more of other kinds of freedoms, fewer conflicts, more peace, more economic progress, sustainable development, and so forth. As a person of faith, I looked at that and thought, “This is a good argument for religious freedom.” Not just for people of faith, but people without a religion or faith. Religious freedom covers everyone’s right to believe, change their belief, or have no belief at all. I thought that someone should be working on this and I felt like it was a call from God for me to leave PEW and start the foundation to start making that case. We look for ways for businesses to be an ally in a culture where everyone is respected, everyone belongs, and their beliefs and faiths are included just like other identities.

PSM: It seems like you are noticing that there is a lot of talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion, specifically within business. What I’m hearing you say is, “Yes, diversity, equity, and inclusion,” and religion is included in that, and if so, how can we create an environment for all of these things to coexist, which promotes better business? Do I have that right?

… read full interview here.

You are invited to take part in a research study on religious ERGs. This study is being conducted by Helen Chung and Annie Kato at Seattle Pacific University. The purpose of the study is to better understand the impact of religious ERGs on organizations and employees’ perceptions and experiences. The potential contribution of the study is a clearer understanding of how and why companies might leverage religious ERGs for the benefit of all employees.

The study has two parts: 1) an online survey that takes 10-15 minutes and 2) an optional interview over Zoom that takes about 30 minutes. Please refer to the flyer, which has more information and the survey link. Feel free to share the flyer with other people in your networks as well. The study will close on September 30, 2025.

Thank you very much for your help and participation.

On the topic of “mission-inspired scholarship, newly installed BYU President Shane Reese refers to the work of RFBF President Dr. Brian Grim and RFBF Senior Business Fellow Dr. Paul Lambert in a recent Q&A with reported Aaron Sorenson. Read the story.