After establishing and leading the widely acclaimed research on global religious restrictions at the Pew Research Center, Brian Grim will leave the Center on Feb. 1 to become the founding president of theReligious Freedom & Business Foundation.*

Grim will launch the new global foundation at a series of public events and planning meetings in Brazil.

The Foundation educates the global business community about how religious freedom is good for business, and engages the business community in joining forces with government and non-government organizations in promoting respect for freedom of religion or belief. It envisions a future of innovative and sustainable economies where religious freedom and diversity are respected.

The Foundation’s work focuses on game-changing global initiatives in an increasingly religious world:

• Business, Faith & Freedom Global Forums at World Expos (Milan 2015 & Astana 2017) that showcase faith’s role in inspiring successful business innovations that improve the world
• Religious Freedom & Business Global Awards presented in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, the host city of the Olympic Games, for best business initiatives to improve respect for religious freedom
• Sustainable and empowering businesses for religious minorities sponsored by investors who obtain positive financial and social returns on their investment
• Executive training, workshops and symposiums on ways to implement policies that promote innovative and sustainable businesses where religious freedom and diversity are respected

The Foundation is the first organization dedicated to educating businesses about why religious freedom will enable them to be more productive and successful, and how they can effectively incorporate religious freedom in their strategic business plans for the benefit of their stake holders, their employees and society.

As Brian begins this new global endeavor, the work he started at Pew Research will continue.

Follow Brian on Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, and at his Weekly Number Blog

* The Foundation is a non-partisan charitable organization working with business people, academics, government officials and community leaders from multiple faiths (or of none) to accomplish its mission. The Foundation is a registered corporation and is applying for IRS recognition as a non-profit 501(c)3 organization in the USA.

Global Religious Restrictions Project Transition

Since 2006, the Pew Research Center has analyzed the extent to which governments and societies around the world impinge on religious beliefs and practices. This work has gained a large, international audience and will continue as part of the Center’s Religion & Public Life Project.

The methods used by Pew Research to measure restrictions on religion evolved from a study that Brian J. Grim, Ph.D., and Roger Finke, Ph.D., previously conducted at Penn State University’s Association of Religion Data Archives. From 2006 through January 2014, Dr. Grim was a senior researcher in religion and world affairs and director of cross-national data at the Pew Research Center. In that capacity, he and other members of the Pew Research staff refined the methodology and published five major research reports on global religious restrictions and hostilities.

On February 1, 2014, Dr. Grim is leaving the Pew Research Center to become the founding president of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, where he encourages businesses to consider religious freedom issues as they choose and make investments. While Dr. Grim may cite the Center’s research, any commentaries or analyses produced by him in his new capacity are his own. The Pew Research Center does not take positions on policy issues.

Starting in March 2014, Peter S. Henne, Ph.D., will return to the Pew Research Center to lead the study of global religious restrictions and hostilities. From 2009 to 2012, Dr. Henne was a research analyst at the Pew Research Center, working closely with Dr. Grim on the religious restrictions study. For the past year, he has run a data coding and analysis project at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) at the University of Maryland. Dr. Henne is a graduate of Vassar College and received his doctorate in government from Georgetown University.