As the conflict on the border of Russia and Ukraine dominates world headlines, scholars from both countries made their way to the Russia’s National Research Nuclear University MEPhI in Moscow for an unprecedented event – an international seminar on religious demography, religious freedom and business.

Behind the gates of the high security institution lie innovations in religion and public life that made news before the April 30 seminar. Within the nuclear science university, its head, Rector Mikhail Strikhanov (pictured above), established a department of theology. By his account, the department helps provide ethical and spiritual input for the future top scientists of the nation so that nuclear science develops for the good of humanity. Some, however, argued that religion had no place in the halls of science.

MEPhI has just launched a Theology Department, opened a chapel for students, and encouraged application of theology and ethics to professional and scientific life.

The department is chaired by Metropolitan Hilarion, the head of external relations for the Russian Orthodox Church and, by some accounts, the number two figure in the Church. Staff in the department include physicists who, after graduating from the university, became priests and monks in the church.

Within this unique context, Dr. Brian Grim, a quantitative social scientist and president of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, led a seminar hosted personally by the Nuclear University’s rector. This full-day seminar was the culmination of a series of lectures on religious freedom’s relationship to social and economic outcomes at Moscow’s two leading institutions – Higher School of Economics.

These lectures and seminars are part of the Society, Religion, and Science Lecture Series, co-sponsored by the Postgraduate School of the Russian Orthodox Church  and the University of St. Thomas. They are organized by Rev. Vladimir Shmaliy, Dr. Iryna Khromets, and Dr. Dmitry Uzlaner. The lecture series brings prominent international scholars to Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Kiev.

Grim is not a newcomer to the region. He previously directed economic development projects in Soviet Central Asia during the final years of the USSR, and more recently lectured in the first international demographic conference hosted by the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. He is also a contributor to the forthcoming Russian Encyclopedia of World Religion.

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Dalits are members of the so-called untouchable Hindu caste, and are often marginalized in communities where they live. A number of Dalits in India, Pakistan and Nepal have converted to other faiths, including Christianity. They continue to be among the poorest of the poor in many locations where they live, sometimes negatively stereotyped and consigned to collect garbage.

Turning this negative stereotype into an opportunity, potential partners held preliminary meetings to explore grass roots waste collection and recycling enterprises in Dalit areas. The criteria include that the projects must be locally sustainable, part of a broader community development plan, and involve international partners who receive not only a return on their investment, but learn new business innovations from the project itself.

Such projects help struggling minority communities acquire not only economic resources but also social capital that better integrates them within the societies in which they live.

The meetings were multi-disciplinary, including leaders from research, innovation, technology, government and business sectors. For instance, Grim met with Managing Director Hannu Jokinen (pictured above) of the waste management company MOLOK in Nokia, Finland. MOLOK developed an innovative and efficient waste management system that reduces disease, smell and costs, with work throughout the world including in developing countries such as Namibia.

MOLOK is a potential partner for the Foundation’s “waste-to-wealth” project that will eventually include recycling and construction firms, academic research groups and development agencies partnering with local entrepreneurs among Dalit communities.

Grim went on from Finland to Oslo, Norway, where he briefed leading members of Parliament and the foreign secretary on these initiatives. He also met with Per Leif Saxegaard, Chairman of the Business for Peace Foundation. Grim also delivered a keynote talk at the annual meeting of Stefanus Alliance International, a Christian-based human rights organization working for freedom of religion or belief for people of any faith or belief.

Religious Freedom & Business Foundation President Brian Grim is visiting Finland, as part of its sustainability initiative to participate in discussions on how business and scientific endeavors can foster religious freedom while creating an economic return.

The Finish Evangelical Lutheran Mission will be hosting discussions on the potential public and private partnerships in the recycling business benefitting marginalized groups in developing countries while fostering human rights and freedom of religion. They will meet with the Molok recycling company, which has businesses in places such as Namibia and India.

Among other events in Finland on April 22, 2014, Grim and Martins will meet with Mika Venamaki, Senior Economic Adviser at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. They will also meet with Sara Lindeman, Project Manager at Aalto University for Design, Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Science (renewable energy technologies).

Grim and Martins will also meet with the BYU Management Society on April 23, 2014. Other meetings will be with H.E. Norton de Andrade Mello Rapesta, Ambassador of Brazil to Finland, and lectures at the Annual Assembly of the Suomen Liikemiesten Lahetysliito to about forty Finish business people/executives.

After these meetings, Grim will speak at high level events in Oslo, Norway, and lecture in Moscow, Russia, on the connection between religious freedom and positive socio-economic outcomes.

In the interview, he notes that restrictions on religion, such as the prohibition against defamation of religion, while implemented with the intent to protect and promote respect, can often lead to a rise in social hostilities. For instance in Pakistan, there was a case of business rivals accusing each other of blasphemy for economic gain, both looking for the other to be punished for defamation.

This leads Grim to have concern for the accumulation of religious restrictions in nations such as Oman. The nation has a law with a ten year sentence for defamation of religion, as in the case of Pakistan, could lead to a rise in social hostilities that impact business.

In his opening segment he talked about how the research he did on global religious restrictions and hostilities led him to leave the Pew Research Center and found the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation. Grim cited more than three decades worth of experience and evidence showing that nations with lower governmental and societal restrictions on religion are stronger and healthier than more restrictive nations. 

Interestingly though, Grim notes that while government officials, NGO representatives, religious groups and civil society members are paying attention, business leaders are absent from the discussion, even though businesses have a lot to gain because religious freedom is tied to economic growth. 

The Foundation aims to work with existing businesses and start-ups. Where a minority religion may be socially marginalized, Grim encourages the approach of looking to where there is an economic need in society and working with the minority to facilitate a sustainable solution, bringing both social and economic benefits to them and the larger society.

Press inquiries welcome.

Over lunch in downtown Washington DC, a Turkish trade representative puzzled, “We almost never put religion and business in the same sentence, so, what’s the connection between religious freedom and business?” Fair question, given that I was introducing him to the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation.

His ah-ha moment came about halfway through our meal, but for a different reason than mine had come.

We began by talking about different ways religious barriers inhibit financial cooperation between Muslim countries. For instance, one country’s sharia (Islamic law) board might consider a financial investment instrument acceptable while another country’s does not.

We also discussed attempts in Europe to restrict Islamic halal meats because of the purported ill treatment of animals in the slaughtering process. Of course, such restrictions similarly impact kosher businesses supplying meat for Jewish communities.

But, neither of these were his ah-ha moment.

We then talked about Pakistan where businesses have accused rivals of blasphemy – a capital offense – to undercut the competition or extract revenge. The blasphemy law has also been used to ban websites like Facebook, YouTube, and Wikipedia. And even questioning the blasphemy law is perilous, as two high-ranking government officials were recently assassinated for merely suggesting that they be overturned.

But his ah-ha moment came when we moved on to Egypt, where ongoing religion-related violence is not only sapping the important tourist industry, but driving young entrepreneurs from the labor market.

The loss of Egypt’s young entrepreneurs was his Ah-ha!

He recalled how until recently, it was illegal for Turkish women to wear headscarves in public jobs or even to attend public universities. While the bans on headscarves in Turkey have been lifted, ongoing employment discrimination persists against more religiously conservative women who don the headscarf. And the loss to the labor market is significant.

And this brings me to my ah-ha moment – conversations like this – not only with Muslim business people, but with people of multiple faiths as well as with people in high levels of government and civil leaders.

But, these conversations are driven by the research I did for well over the past decade.

For instance, in my book with Roger Finke, The Price of Freedom Denied (Cambridge 2011), we documented that religious freedom not only leads to less violence, but that it is also associated with a host of other socio-economic outcomes.

– See more at: Innovation in the Global Fight for Religious Freedom(Venn Institute)

I have been asked to address three questions at this afternoon’s session (10 March 2014) at the UN Human Rights Council organized by the International Development Law Organization (IDLO) and hosted by the Italian Foreign Ministry:

• What impact can religious intolerance have on societies (e.g. socio-economic development)?
  
• How important is it to have good numbers – data – when trying to understand issues around freedom of religion or belief?
  
• What does freedom of religion or belief actually look like in society? How can we recognize it?

To answer this question, it is important to begin by recognizing that religious intolerance has a number of dimensions. Sources of religious intolerance, for instance, can be the actions or policies of governments and/or the actions or beliefs of individuals or groups in society. Targets of religious intolerance can include members of specific religions or religion in general, people who choose to change their religion or to have no religion at all, and even people randomly victimized by religion-related terror or armed conflict.

Research shows that the degree to which governments protect and respect such freedoms as communicating religious ideas in various media and converting from one religion to another, or to no faith at all, is also the degree to which societies are free from harassment of religious minorities, religiously biased hate crimes or terror, and sectarian violence.

The empirical research that establishes this connection has been called one of the most important discoveries in the study of freedom of religion or belief. Indeed, research has established that freedom of religion or belief, rather than being the source of religious hostilities, is instead the solution. When governments protect and respect freedom of religion or belief for all faiths, this reduces grievances that can lead to religious intolerance and violence.

Research also shows that not only are there fewer acts of religious intolerance when governments and societies protect and respect freedom of religion or belief, but there are also other positive social and economic dividends. These include greater respect for other important freedoms essential to a well-functioning liberal democracy such as freedom of the press, speech and assembly.

Perhaps of even more importance to some is that new research about to be published indicates that the main drivers of economic sustainability, that is indicators of global competitiveness, are stronger in countries where the government and civil society respect and protect freedom of religion or belief. For instance, more than twice the share of countries with high religious freedom are strong in innovation compared with countries with low religious freedom.

II. How important is it to have good numbers – data – when trying to understand issues around freedom of religion or belief?

I can answer this briefly because all of my comments so far have been based on a careful collection and analysis of numerical data on freedom of religion or belief. Without data to test the assertions I have made, I would be doing nothing more than sharing personal opinion. However, when opinions are informed by data, they enter the realm of facts that can be verified or disproven – and this is very important for any topic that can easily become buried beneath divergent worldviews or agendas.

I will add one new point about data. With data, it is possible to see whether religious intolerance is rising or falling – it’s rising, as shown in the excellent IDLO report. It can also help answer the essential question of how this rising tide of intolerance can be rolled back.

III. What does freedom of religion or belief actually look like in society? How can we recognize it?

I’ll answer this question in two ways. First, it looks a whole lot like Brazil, the country with the lowest government restrictions on religious freedom of the 25 most populous. The largest and most rapid religious shift has occurred over the past several decades in Brazil with no religious intolerance or violence. Not long ago, everyone in Brazil was Catholic, but today a rich pluralism has emerged with more than a third of the country converting to other faiths – predominantly evangelical and Pentecostal, but also to many other faiths including some having no faith. This ongoing, monumental and peaceful shift was supported by two things. First, the government remains largely neutral on matters of religion but fiercely guards and celebrates freedom of religion or belief. And second, the dominant faith, Roman Catholicism, also fiercely guards and celebrates freedom of religion or belief. And the latter is critical – rather than protecting their turf at any cost, the Catholic Church has embraced religious freedom and asks a very important question. What is it that we have not done that made so many people seek elsewhere for spiritual support? And what must we do to now meet those needs?

In conclusion, after studying freedom of religion or belief for decades and having lived and worked in Asia, the Middle East and Europe, I have seen that religious freedom is good for not only societies but also for economies. I also have seen that two very important constituencies are often missing from meetings like these. First, countries with success stories, like Brazil. And second, businesses, whose very self-interest would suggest they should be here.

As an initiative to bring such missing parties in, I’m happy to announce that my Foundation will be working with Brazilian businesses, the government civil society and religious groups to host in 2016 the first biennial Religious Freedom & Business Global Awards in Rio de Janeiro, the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics. The awards will recognize businesses worldwide with the best initiatives to promote religious freedom and diversity in their companies, societies and the world at large, competing by “weight class” – multinationals, nationals, women-led companies and young entrepreneurial companies. These Global Awards will then move in 2018 to PyeongChang, South Korea, and in 2020 to Tokyo, both host cities for upcoming Olympics. The philosophy is simple – the approach incentivizes and rewards success.