We need freedom of religious expression in business

By Kent Johnson, J.D., Senior Corporate Advisor

A family member asked me: “Doesn’t the war in Israel and Gaza show that religious zealotry fuels terrorism? Why, then, do you continue to argue for freedom of religious expression in business?”

It’s an apt question. It deserves a solid answer.

Of course, every terrorist event carries its own backstory; and it’s counterproductive to conclude broadly that terrorism is motivated by “religious belief,” or political expedience, or some other cause. That said, I see strong reason to favor freedom of religious expression in business and society at large.

My reason is twofold, drawn from extensive experience we’ve garnered with the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation:

First, demonstrably, the alternative is far worse. Attempts to stifle open religious expression yield heightened suspicion, distrust and alienation among people of varied faiths.

Attempts at stifling religious expression drive religious expression “underground.” The only permitted religious expressions are those shared with people of one’s own religion. There’s no cross-fertilization of ideas. Distrust and fear is multiplied across religious and cultural lines.

The vast majority of religious people promote peace and acknowledge the profound value of every human being. Stifling their voices would cripple a powerful ideological force for peace and harmony.

It’s far better to know what the “others” are saying and believing, than to be forced to guess.

Second, our considerable experience and research demonstrates the positive, peaceful, reconciling effect of religious freedom. Again and again in business settings, the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation has witnessed how freedom of religious expression enables and nurtures strong cross-cultural alliances. We have yet to hear of instances of significant conflict arising out of freedom of religion in business; and we’ve seen many, many instances of deep, sincere connection across religions.

Our experience demonstrates that freedom of religion promotes civility. We need this. PERHAPS NOW MORE THAN EVER.

Read more from Kent Johnson at Authenticity & Connection.

A conversation about companies as systems of care.

We invite you to be part of this dynamic conversation with Brian Grim and James Rhee about how companies can support employees and relationships based on trust, respect, and authenticity, while reaching their financial goals.

The first part of the dialogue with Brian and James will last 45-60 minutes. We will then invite everyone to join breakout groups for 20~ minutes to connect and deepen the insights, together!

Tuesday, October 31

10am MX | 12pm NYC | 1pm BR | 5pm LIS

Subtitles in English, Spanish, and Portuguese will be available

ABOUT OUR FEATURED GUESTS:

James Rhee is an acclaimed impact investor, CEO, educator and founder of red helicopter. He marries the principles of finance and behavioral science with the creative process, unleashing brand narratives and organizational systems that have agile and structural integrity. He has implemented processes related to multi-stakeholder capitalism and multi-dimensional change, mobilized powerful and diverse ecosystems, and reimagined the future of work. He has been featured by TED Conferences, Brene Brown and Simon Sinek, and currently teaches his philosophies at Howard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Brian Grim is the founder of Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, and global chairman of Dare to Overcome, a corporate diversity initiative that promotes mutual respect and engagement among differing groups in the workplace. He is an expert at generating clear, rigorous, and comprehensive data about the international religious landscape and its socio-economic impact. Among other things, he has worked closely with the “Business for Peace” platform of the United Nations Global Compact, has been chair and speaker for the World Economic Forum on matters of faith, and director at Pew Research Center.

REGISTER for this enriching conversation and community-building experience!

Explore the Spiritual Changemakers Initiative website.

Standing beside the vulnerable

Tensions are not just deadly in Israel and Gaza. On Monday, a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy in Illinois was killed by being stabbed 26 times simply for being Muslim, according to police. Antisemitic acts are reportedly spiking at the same time.

Muslim and Jewish populations across the world are facing threats of violence and revenge for actions they have no part in as the Israel-Hamas war generates more hate and innocent deaths on both sides.

I call on each of us to do what we can in our own spheres of influence to combat hate. This may be as simple as letting your Muslim and Jewish friends know that you recognize the vulnerability they are not just feeling, but are experiencing wherever they might be.

For additional ideas on what you can do, see the recently released Allied Against Hate: A Toolkit for Faith Communities, which the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation contributed to.

Brian Grim, Ph.D.
Dare to Overcome Global Chairman
Religious Freedom & Business Foundation President

By Brian Grim

Our Salt Lake City-based partner, the Radiant Foundation Faith & Media Initiative — together with Gallup — just released Faith and Wellness: The Worldwide Connection Between Spirituality & Wellbeing.

This groundbreaking global report, launched in London, uncovers ways in which spirituality can help address the global mental health crisis. This has direct applications for workplace health, as Paul Lambert and Stephen Courtright argue in their excellent piece in the Diplomatic Courier: Business Should Care About Faith.

I participated in the study, making several observations, including: “Accommodating faith and belief in the workplace impacts recruitment, retention, and revenue. Retention happens when you feel valued, and not just tolerated. That changes a job into a vocation. That significantly boosts recruitment because people place a premium on working at a place where they are valued. It definitely boosts revenue because when you have better retention, that’s revenue. When you have better relationships, that’s revenue. When you can recruit top talent, that’s revenue.”

In addition to engaging in groundbreaking research, the mission of the Faith & Media initiative also includes fostering more balanced news coverage of faith. An example of this is the media coverage coming out of our Unity in Diversity India initiative. For example, see the piece in India’s premier business publication BusinessWorld.

See more here.

Building Relationships Across Faiths

NEW White House Toolkit to combat religious bias and discrimination: A strong community is a significant defense against hate. It takes all of us working together to build united communities where everyone feels safe and valued. Anyone can start by getting to know their neighbors—including their neighbors of different faiths.

For a wealth of ways to get started, see the recently released Allied Against Hate: A Toolkit for Faith Communities, which the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation contributed to.

Simply knowing people of other backgrounds and beliefs can increase understanding and mutual respect. For example, the Pew Research Center found that people who personally know a Muslim are more likely to have positive feelings towards Muslims. Additionally, the American Jewish Committee’s State of Antisemitism in America report found that 73% of people who know someone who is Jewish say antisemitism is a problem in the U.S. today, compared with 59% who do not know anyone who is Jewish.

Included in the suggestions of the White House toolkit is the following proactive step anyone in business can take to build relationships across faiths.

• – Make connections at work. Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are groups of employees who come together in their workplaces around shared interests. Faith-related ERGs may present opportunities to get to know people of other religious backgrounds and beliefs. Considering joining or establishing an ERG at your workplace.

Resource: The Religious Freedom & Business Foundation offers best practices for developing and operating faith- and belief-oriented ERGs

Secular companies have invited employees to bring their “whole selves” to work. That increasingly includes their religion.

A new article by Jennifer Miller shows that as DEI gains ground, identifying as “religious” does too.

She writes, “Employees from underrepresented groups were encouraged to bring their “authentic” or “whole” selves to work, and companies increased support for identity-based employee groups organized around gender, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. Increasingly, faith is a part of this list.

“Human resources professionals, diversity consultants and scholars all say it’s become more common for employees to share their religious identities at work and to request the same corporate recognition and support given to other identity groups. Most major tech companies now have official faith-based affinity groups.

“Fueling the effort are … nonpartisan, multifaith nonprofits like … the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation.”

Read the full article here.

UN General Assembly Tandem Meeting

By Brian Grim

On Tuesday, as world leaders including US President Biden and Ukraine President Zelensky address the UN General Assembly, I participated in the World Economic Forum’s Faith in Action working group preparing a report to be issued at Davos 2023.

Among several takeaways is that the most effective ways emerging to accelerate cross-sector collaboration between business, government and faith involves top-down and bottom-up engagement, the very sort we see when companies include religion as part of their diversity initiatives.

For example, DELL Technologies Interfaith employee resource group (ERG) is leading a pan-diversity initiative to combat human trafficking worldwide by engaging tens of thousands of employees, senior leadership, and faith-based NGOs in practical, collaborative initiatives. Such initiatives are in contrast to merely inviting a religious leader to participate, which has limited impact.

This same strategy is proving a powerful strategy to combat the rising tide of antisemitism and other forms of religious bias and discrimination, as set forward in a US National Strategy launched by the White House, which we are supporting.

By Brian Grim

As Jewish communities prepare for Rosh Hashanah (New Year), we would like to share a new resource on combating the current rise in antisemitism.

In this new video, Marsie Sweetland from Equinix’s Faith Connect begins by describing why she, as someone not of the Jewish faith, is so concerned about rising antisemitism.

I then share how this rise in antisemitism is akin to the alarm set off for all faiths by the proverbial canary in the coal mine, and that this event is an outgrowth of the US National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism.

Naomi Kraus* from Google’s Inter Belief Network (IBN) then discusses the current situation and what we can do about it.

Also, just having returned from India, I found it interesting to see how the Hindu American Foundation and the American Jewish Committee celebrate both Janmashtami (Krishna’s birth) and Rosh Hashanah (world’s birth).

*Naomi Kraus is a founding member and current Global Chair of Google’s Inter Belief Network ERG and the Global Lead of the Jewglers subchapter. She is the granddaughter of four Holocaust survivors and spoke on how employee resource groups build religious freedom for all by combatting antisemitism and all forms of religious bias and discrimination. Naomi has been with Google for 11 years and, as a Staff User Experience Content Designer, currently works on numerous projects related to Google Search and Maps.

Pictured above are World Bank President Ajay Banga, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and U.S. President Joe Biden at the G20 Summit, in New Delhi (Photo Credit: AP).

By Brian Grim

The African Union (AU) is now a permanent member of G20. The announcement by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came today during the inaugural session of the G20 Leaders Summit, which India is hosting this year.

“With support from all of you, I invite the African Union to join G20,” Modi said amid thunderous applause from world leaders at the summit.

India, which has the largest number of religious adherents of any country, invited the African Union, which as some of the fastest-growing and most religious populations on the planet, to join the G20.

As shown in the chart at the bottom, countries in the top right are both fast growing and religious populations.

Indeed, this scenario coincides with the projections in our 2015 report for the World Economic Forum’s agenda council Changing religion, changing economies: Future global religious and economic growth.

As religious diversity and religious populations grow, so does their potential impact, creating new challenges and opportunities for societies, governments and economies. Business success in the 21st  century requires an understanding of how faith and belief shapes workplaces and marketplaces.

Of course, as our research shows and acknowledged in the G20 New Delhi leaders’ declaration, underlying the socio-economic success of nations is respect for freedom of religion or belief:

This comes on the heels of the G20 Interfaith Forum, which recently concluded.

For more information, check out our Research and Training resources.