• Anna Hyvärinen
• Human Rights Expert
• The Ecumenical Council of Finland / Ekumeniska Rådet i Finland

translated from Finnish by Google Translate

Brian Grim, Director of the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation (RFBF), an NGO promoting freedom of religion or belief in business, visited Finland on 7-8 September, 2017, under the auspices of the Finnish Ecumenical Council. During the visit, Grim met with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Syria Specialist Mission, FIBS representatives, a representative of the Peace Network for Traditional and Religious Operators of the Church, and officials of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy.

Brian Grim has previously created the World Religious Freedom Report of the Pew Research Center with its research methods. Read the latest report here. Subsequently, inspired by the Fellowship Society, he began to look for practical methods to promote religious freedom. This was the creation of the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation.

Business promises, business leaders who promote peace between religions and empowerment

Religious Freedom and Business Foundation The RFBF has had several projects, most notably the Corporate Pledge, Global Awards, Empowerment +, Research and High-Level Forums . The promise of an undertaking commits the companies to make a promise that promises their actions to take and promote the freedom of religion or belief. Global prizes are awarded to business leaders who have successfully promoted understanding and peace between religions in conjunction with both summer and winter Olympics. In 2018, the awards will be held in South Korea during the Paralympic Games.

In theEmpowerment + Project in England, Manchester, religious leaders mentored socially excluded young people and immigrant youth, together with other coaches, in working life. This course teaches work life skills, entrepreneurship, social service and respect for the different religions. For example, when the Muslim leader is driven by a Jewish successful businessman, the desire to learn lies ahead of the prejudiced ideas. This is how the young person grows up to respect other religions.

At the end of the course, young people set up small businesses, such as eating wagons. As a social service, the courtiers had cleaned in the area of ​​the hated mosque courtyard, with pesky picks. A key part of the course is to learn to use one’s religion as a spiritual resource, not as an instrument of hatred and violence.

The program also includes a Launching Leaders course, where future leaders, ie students, are bred to leadership and the encounter of religions. Empowerment + course materials are also available for use in other countries. The project was widely featured in discussions with the KUA’s Traditional and Religious Operators Peace Network Representative.

Religions appear in everyday business

Brian Grim arrived in Finland directly from Brussels, where he was speaking at the European Parliament’s two-day seminar. The corporate responsibility was discussed at the seminar. Contrary to what many people often think, many companies have a lot of experience not to encounter religions, to arrange working conditions in multi-faceted workplaces, and to different social responsibility issues. Often, business life requires only a different approach to what human rights experts are accustomed to. However, the international big companies involved in the seminar had realized that taking into account the everyday circumstances of religious freedom (religious dress, religious activity, religious holidays), the whole business function went better and the employees committed themselves to motivated work.

In the Corporate Responsibility Network FIBS Grim discussed, among others, how businesses can operate in religious or religious beliefs and in countries with strong human rights, while retaining their conscience about responsible behavior. Where is the point to be stretched, where are the boundaries drawn? Together, it was concluded that it would be good to organize the subject of training and joint reflection events. It is also interesting how businesses can, through their business activities, promote freedom of religion or belief in society and those who suffer from religious freedom, this important element of the RFBF agenda.

Meetings at ministries

In the Foreign Ministry, human rights and business are a rising theme. Many Finnish diplomatic missions around the world are oriented towards promoting Finnish trade and other business activities. It was therefore refreshing to talk about how freedom of religion and business foster each other, and what kind of innovative projects there is in this area.

Integration experts were met at the Ministry of Employment and the Economy. Together, we considered why religions still play a role in our society and how they are reflected in the ministry’s work. At the same time, the need for religious literacy and freedom of religion or belief were discussed. Grim presented RFBF projects, which could also benefit the ministry’s work.

Youth employment

There was talk of a variety of issues with the Syria Specialist. The leading theme was the employment of immigrant youth, which was again linked to the Empowerment + project. Ideas and experiences changed swiftly at the dinner table.

From theory to practice

The best way to understand RFBF was to become acquainted with its creative inventiveness, with the organization developing entirely new ways to promote human rights. Experts tend to think things through difficult theoretical or international terms of contract. RFBF is in violation of these boundaries with their concrete, work-oriented and popular projects.

The 2018 Global Business & Interfaith Awards recognize business leaders – current or past CEOs – who have demonstrated leadership in championing interfaith understanding and peace. The Awards are an initiative of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation in collaboration with the United Nations Global Compact Business for Peace (B4P) platform, the Global Compact Network Korea and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations.

The 2018 Awards will be given in Seoul, Korea, on March 8, 2018, the day before the opening of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Paralympics. The Awards support UN Sustainable Development Goal 16: “Promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.”

From a field of nominees representing 25 countries on all six inhabitable continents — business CEOs (and former CEOs) will be presented medals for their work in advancing interfaith understanding and peace through one of four avenues: (1) Advocacy and public policy engagement, (2) Core business, (3) Partnerships and collective action, and (4) Social investment and philanthropy. Gold, Silver, Bronze ad High Honors medals will be awarded in each category.

FINALISTS BY CATEGORY (ALPHABETICAL ORDER)

Advocacy and public policy engagement

Mr. Joon Myung CHOI, Founding Chairman of YOJIN Construction & Engineering, ensures his employees are free from religious discrimination and free to believe in their own faith. He also is an active supporter of interfaith understanding and peace initiatives for decades, including now as Board Chairman of Won Buddhism United Region Foundation, with interfaith activity at its core.

Escaping with his life from ethno-religious riots in Indonesia, Mr. Sumartono ‘Martono’ Hadinoto, owner of CANDI aluminium building materials company, takes a leading role in organizing humanitarian and socioeconomic initiatives as well as intercultural programs, such as the annual Solo Imlek Festival, that bring people together so that such religious and ethnic violence might never happen again.

Mr. Steve Killelea, Executive Chairman and Founder of Integrated Research and of the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), has shifted the paradigm in how the world thinks about peace. Using data-driven research, Steve shows that peace is a positive, tangible and achievable goal. The World Bank, the United Nations and many others use IEP’s research which has helped, among other things, dispel misconceptions about religion’s role in conflict. Steve also funds a growing number of projects advancing interfaith understanding and peace.

H.E. Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, President of Zayed University and former CEO of Tejari, is a powerful force behind the UAE Pledge of Religious Tolerance adopted by government, civil society and business leaders. She not only works hand-in-hand with local Muslim, Christian, Hindu and Sikhs groups, but also with global political leaders and religious figures such as Pope Francis, helping the UAE become a world leader in interfaith action.

Core business

Mr. Haidar Bagir, President Director of the Mizan Group, contributes to interfaith understanding and peace in Indonesia in multiple ways: publishing books championing pluralism; supporting Charter for Compassion International; funding Yasmin Foundation, a Salvation Army-like charity; advising on peace education; and leading the Compassionate Islam Movement, which galvanizes and mobilizes moderate Muslims in the face of increasing extremism and inter-religious tensions in the country.

Mr. Nerdah Bo Mya, President and Founder Karen Enterprises, a company in eastern Myanmar, is leading an international effort to attract responsible investment and to drive sustainable and inclusive business initiatives to stabilize peace in the Karen region of Myanmar through entrepreneurship and business. Now that conflict has ceased, Nerdah is working to bring in the economic pillars that can consolidate the peace.

Under the UK Chairman Steve Varley’s leadership, EY (UK) has created a first-of-its-kind online program, Religious Literacy for Organizations. The program uses the tagline “turning tolerance into respect” and can help businesses worldwide advance interfaith understanding and peace. And EY puts it to practice, earning the #1 slot on DiversityInc’s 2017 diversity and inclusiveness list.

Mr. Mark Woerde, Founder Havas Lemz and LetsHeal.org, believes he can make the world a better place through advertising. This year his team advanced interfaith understanding and peace in a global campaign featuring the world’s most prominent religious leaders – from Pope Francis to Ayatollahs, Chief Rabbis and Hindu Swamis – making a joint appeal to “Make Friends Across Religions.”

Partnership and collective action

Mr. Bambang Ismawan founded Bina Swadaya, which through its 15 companies and training arms has helped about one million Indonesian Community Based Organizations, each with membership of 25 people or more, become self-reliant. Working across faith lines, Bambang Ismawan has built the largest network of people and organizations working to eliminate poverty, build interfaith understanding and peace in Indonesia, the country with the world’s largest Muslim population.

Mr. Al Jubitz, Founder & former President of DAT Services, co-founded and currently funds the Rotarian Action Group For Peace with members in 71 countries. The Action Group works with Rotary International to develop and support peace projects around the world to enhance and enrich lives of people from all walks of life, races, cultures and religions. Rotary International has raised over $142 million for peacebuilding missions.

Mr. Jeyul MUN, CEO of Unam International Inc., is a signatory of the Corporate Pledge on Freedom of Religion or Belief. Mr. Mun is working to have 30 Korean CEOs sign and implement the Pledge. He is a board member and active supporter of Love in Lights, an interfaith NGO bringing solar lighting to impoverished regions in Cambodia, the Philippines, Columbia, Kenya, Mongolia and Indonesia.

Former Dell Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Ms. Ingrid Vanderveldt, has the audacious goal of by 2020 empowering a billion women from all faiths to work together to achieve more, give more and accomplish more. She believes that the relationship between women in business and this mission is sustainable and helps women leaders worldwide to pursue unity, love and peace.

Social investment and philanthropy

Inspired by her own faith and working among the blind in Tibet, Ms. CAI Shiyin founded of Dialogue in the Dark in China. Through activities such as supporting the first blind runner to complete the Boston Marathon, she is changing society’s prejudices against blind/deaf and all other marginalized groups, and providing job opportunities with dignity to the marginalized.

Mr. Steve Hitz, former CEO of U.S. Reports, promotes interfaith action and peace through Launching Leaders Worldwide Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides a personal development and leadership experience for a new generation. Piloted in New Zealand and scaling up globally, it moves beyond dialogue to interfaith action, helping participants of different faiths create plans for their lives, and reach out through interfaith service projects.

Mr. Carlos Wizard Martins, President of Sforza Holding, encourages his employees to bring their whole self to work – faith and all. Globally, Carlos is a vocal proponent of religious freedom as a member of the 2014-16 World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Faith, and at home, helping to fund Brazil’s 2015 Religious Freedom Festival in Latin America’s oldest mosque.

Mr. Leardo Ravaioli, CEO of lighting company Ghisamestieri, worked with Italian Rotary Clubs and faith leaders to bring sustainable sources of water, food, education, and light (through solar power) to people of all faiths in Sierra Leone after its civil war. His interfaith commitment continues as his company sponsored Italy’s first annual interfaith festival in 2017.

For more information and media inquiries, contact:

• Korea: 유 경 의 / 사무총장 Dr. Kyung Eui (David) Yoo / Secretary General, 2018 Global Business & Peace Symposium and Awards, Mobile: +82-10-9492-2453 Tel: +82-2-3275-3747 / Fax: +82-2-3275-3749. Email: davidyoo@dreamasia.org,
• Global: Brian Grim, President, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, contact@religiousfreedomandbusiness.org. Tel: 1-410-268-7809

Also visit: https://religiousfreedomandbusiness.org/awards2018

IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Seoul, Korea: On March 7-8, 2018, the days before the opening ceremony of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Paralympics, international business, government and civil society leaders will gather in Seoul Korea for the second biannual Global Business & Interfaith Peace Symposium and Awards. The symposium will show to a global audience – in the spirit of the Paralympics – that peace is achievable.

These leaders from around the world will exchange experiences with their Korean counterparts on lessons learned from advancing peace and intercultural understanding through business. Together they will offer ideas on the current crisis with North Korea as well as on other regional and global threats to peace and human flourishing.

At the Symposium beginning on March 7th, business leaders from across the globe will have a real opportunity to speak out in support of peace at a time of heightened tensions in Asia. Indeed, Korea is actively promoting this as the “Peace Olympics.”

“Many people worry about the current crisis on the Korean peninsula,” said Dr. Sunggon Kim, the 2018 Awards Executive Director and one of the jurors. “Thus, the Global Business & Peace Awards right before 2018 PyeongChang Winter Paralympics in Korea is a very timely and meaningful event for peace in this area. It will show the world how business people are important in building peace,” said Dr. Kim.

The inaugural Symposium and Awards were held at the start of the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. “It is especially appropriate to hold the Symposium in the context of the Paralympics given that these Games highlight human triumphs over adversity, including athletes overcoming disabilities stemming from war and conflict,” said Brian Grim, President of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation.

In addition to honoring Korean business leaders who’ve had initiatives to advance peace with North Korea, business CEO nominees (incl. former CEOs) — from a field of nominees representing 25 countries on all six inhabitable continents — will be presented medals for their work in advancing interfaith understanding and peace through one of four avenues: (1) Advocacy and public policy engagement, (2) Core business, (3) Partnerships and collective action, and (4) Social investment and philanthropy. Gold, Silver and Bronze medals will be awarded in each category.

Peace Medalists and other dignitaries will then travel to PyeongChang, South Korea, on March 9^th for the opening ceremonies of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Paralympic Games, which follow the Winter Olympic Games.

Meet the Finalists who will receive, Gold, Silver, Bronze and High Honors Peace Medals on March 8, in Seoul.

The symposium will specifically look at lessons learned by Korean companies affiliated with the Global Compact Network Korea’s Business for Peace initiative, many of whom had experience in the Kaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea that was closed earlier this year.

The Symposium and Awards are an initiative of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation in collaboration with the Global Compact Network Korea, the Business for peace platform of the United Nations Global Compact, and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. The initiative was started in tandem with the Business for Peace initiative of former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who now serves as honorary chairman of the Global Compact Network Korea.

For more information and media inquiries, contact:

• Korea: 유 경 의 / 사무총장 Dr. Kyung Eui (David) Yoo / Secretary General, 2018 Global Business & Peace Symposium and Awards, Mobile: +82-10-9492-2453 Tel: +82-2-3275-3747 / Fax: +82-2-3275-3749 Email: davidyoo@dreamasia.org,
• Global: Brian Grim, President, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, contact@religiousfreedomandbusiness.org. Tel: 1-410-268-7809

Also visit: https://religiousfreedomandbusiness.org/awards2018

The Emirati capital of Abu Dhabi is due to host the fourth round of the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies December 11-13 . The Forum is held under the patronage of Emirati Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Brian Grim, president of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, will speak on the theme of “Islam & the Wider World: Ways to Rapprochement and Solidarity.”

Organized during the period from December 11 until December 13 under the theme of Global Peace and the Fear of Islam: Countering the Spread of Extremism, the fourth round of the forum will be chaired by Sheikh Abdallah Bin Bayyah, President of the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies and chief architect of the Marrakesh Declaration.

It will be attended by senior officials, ministers of Islamic countries, and high-level scholars, decision-makers, intellectuals and media figures who will discuss the role of violence in the dialectic between religion and identity, the root instigations that have caused fear in the global populous of Islam, and the development of strategies that need to take place for Islam to reintegrate harmoniously with the wider society in the modern climate.

Brian Grim, president of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, was honored by the Pontifical University in the Dominican Republic for his contributions to the promotion of religious freedom worldwide. The award was presented during the Caribbean’s first international Religious Freedom & Economy Symposium, which attracted significant national and regional media attention.

Margarita Cedeño, Vice President of the Dominican Republic, opened the symposium with delegates attending from 14 nations including Cuba. 

Cedeño stressed the importance for legal systems to recognize and guarantee religious freedom. She also emphasized the need for societies to develop cultures of mutual respect and to foster collaboration between the public and private sectors so that this freedom helps to confront social inequality — the great challenge facing humanity today.

Vice President Cedeño cited Pope Francis’s warning, issued during his historic trip to the United States, that we live in a world where diverse forms of modern tyranny want to suppress religious freedom. Therefore, it is necessary that the faithful of different beliefs join their voices to cry for peace, tolerance and respect for the dignity and rights of others.

“The fight against inequalities, which is the common struggle of all religious denominations, is based on the preservation of the moral integrity of individuals,” said Cedeño. She went on to observe that “it is demonstrated that religious freedom promotes development with equity, solidarity and love of neighbor.”

The Award

During the symposium, the international religious freedom award was presented to Grim by Alfredo de la Cruz Baldera (pictured), Rector and Professor at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM).

Earlier in the day, Grim gave a keynote address on his groundbreaking research on the economic value of religion to the U.S. economy. He also addressed the connection between religious freedom and sustainable development, and the positive role business leaders can and are playing in advancing interfaith understanding and peace.

Grim also discussed practical ways businesses can get involved, including honoring their CEOs by nominating them for the Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards held in tandem with each Paralympic Games, as well as committing to respecting freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) in the workplace by taking and implementing the FoRB Pledge.

The meeting focused on analyzing the theme ‘Religious freedom and economic development.’ Dr. Alfredo de la Cruz Baldera said that the symposium shows that “the person of faith, regardless of their tendency or way of understanding God, collaborates with the development of peoples and social peace.”

Delegates included diplomats from numerous countries, including the First Lady of Guyana, Sandra Granger, and Aruba’s Secretary of International Affairs Mireille Sint Jago.

Cuba

The Cuban delegate, Dr. Enrique Alemán Gutiérrez, said that “for Cuba as a country and for Cuba’s platform for interreligious dialogue Quisicuaba, participation in this first encounter of religious freedom is of extraordinary importance. The symposium is new but the roots of interreligious exchange in Cuba, the Caribbean and the world are part of our history.”

Gutiérrez also said that “our presence legitimizes that space of mutuality and exchange that Cuba has opened to the world through the Platform for Interreligious Dialogue.” Lastly, he pointed out that he will participate in a panel on governance and religious freedom in which he will talk about Cuban experiences regarding the multiple historical relationships of freedom of law, religious expression and ecumenical relations between the state and the church in Cuba.

In addition to the Dominican Republic’s Catholic bishop for interreligious dialogue, other religious leaders participating included Rev. Gary Harriott, General Secretary of the Jamaican Council of Churches, Elder Quentin L. Cook, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Suleiman Bulbulia, Secretary of the Barbados Muslim Association.

Researchers and academics from the United States, South America and the Caribbean, as well as government representatives, academic authorities, business leaders and the religious sector shared their knowledge, experiences and useful practices to promote religious freedom in the region.

The symposium was sponsored by the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM); the Chamber of Deputies of the Dominican Republic; Brigham Young University; the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation; Quisqueya University of Haiti; the Latin American Consortium of Religious Freedom of Argentina; and the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies of Chile. The event took place at PUCMM from November 16 to 17, 2017.

The Caribbean Religious Freedom Symposium will include the participation of international experts, academics, government representatives, media, business, and religious leaders from 15 Caribbean countries, the United States, Chile and Argentina.

The symposium will focus on Religious Freedom and Economic Development, with the participation of Dr. Brian Grim, president of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation and considered the world’s leading expert on the socio-economic impact of religion. His studies have shown that there is a connection between the guarantee of religious freedom and sustainable socioeconomic development.

This first ever Caribbean Religious Freedom Symposium will take place November 16^th and 17^th at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra – PUCMM, Santo Domingo. The Symposium will evaluate the importance of religious freedom as a fundamental right related to freedom of conscience.

The opening session will be on Thursday the 16th at 9:00 AM. Experts, researchers, academics and enthusiasts from the United States, Argentina, Chile and 15 Caribbean countries will share knowledge, experiences and useful practices to promote religious freedom in the region. Government representatives, academic authorities, business leaders and the religious sector will participate.

The event has the sponsorship of the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra; Chamber of Deputies of the Dominican Republic; Brigham Young University; the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation of the United States; Quisqueya University of Haiti; the Latin American Consortium of Religious Freedom of Argentina; and the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies of Chile.

The symposium will have ten thematic sessions focusing on the perspectives of different sectors of society regarding religious freedom.

The session for the religious sector will be on Friday 17 at 9:00 AM with the panel entitled: “Fundamental contribution of religion and the essential role of religious freedom in society”, in which representatives of the Catholic Church, the evangelical community, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will participate.

Those interested in participating can call 809-580-1962, ext. 4493 or email to registro-CIER@pucmm.edu.do

Media contact: Néstor Saldívar, Tel.: + 809-487-0120, ext. 2262

Updated: Nov. 30, 2017. Religious Freedom & Business Foundation President Brian Grim gave an address at the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea on November 29, 2017. Below is a transcript of his remarks describing how interfaith understanding and peace is facilitated through business and partnerships, supporting UN Sustainable Development Goal 16 (SDG 16). Grim spoke as part of a panel of local and international experts and policy makers at the start of the international STS&P conference to highlight and share appropriate technology tools and solutions to achieve the SDGs as part of Korea’s Overseas Development Aid (ODA).

Peace and Sustainable Development in the 4^th Industrial Revolution

• National Assembly, Republic of Korea
• Brian Grim’s Comments, November 29, 2017

Honorable Speaker of the Korean National Assembly, Mr. Chung Sye-Kyun, Honorable Assembly Members, Your Excellencies, Ladies & Gentlemen:

We live in an age when the global community is partnering to support sustainable development as embodied the 17 universally approved United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Sustainable development means that there are multiple bottom lines when evaluating developmental success: financial, social and environmental. Sustainable development is characterized by giving everyone the opportunity to flourish, as companies, governments and civil society leaders put human needs and social well-being at the center of economic decision-making.

Businesses and corporations are stepping up to meet the challenge supported by the efforts of organizations such as the United Nations Global Compact and World Economic Forum. In partnership around the globe, they are working to reduce poverty, hunger, gender inequality, end pollution on land and sea. They are working to promote health, well-being, quality education, affordable and clean energy, decent work, and economic growth through industry, innovation and strengthened infrastructure.

However, the current context for these collaborative initiatives is radically different than it was even just a few decades ago due to the explosion in artificial intelligence (ai) capabilities, what the World Economic Forum calls the 4th Industrial Revolution. While ai can displace traditional jobs and disrupt economies, it also can bring tremendous benefits such as being able to identify and rescue people who are being victimized by human trafficking, which we discussed in a recent World Economic Forum meeting. Therefore, it is extremely important that we support and expand the efforts such as the STS&P conference being held here in Korea to highlight and share appropriate technology tools and solutions to achieve the SDGs without negative side effects.

To give an example, technology can be used to spread falsehoods that divide people. But even more powerfully, technology can bring people together. Terrorists use the internet each day to recruit, but at the same time Pope Francis, with his 14.6 million Twitter followers, promotes peace day after day.

SDG 16 – promoting peace and better governance – is critical because without peace sustainable development is only a dream. And peace is in short supply on many countries. Data from the prestigious Pew Research Center show that the world is engulfed in a rising global tide of religious hostilities and restrictions. These range from actions of the so-called Islamic State in the Middle East to the oppression of Rohingyas in Myanmar to total State repression of freedom in North Korea.

And these restrictions and hostilities not only hurt the people involved, but threaten world peace, which is critical for sustainable development.

What can be done to roll back this dangerous tide? We would be wise to recognize and engage the power of the global and national business community, among others, as an ally.

Research from the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, which I serve as president, shows that freedom of religion or belief is a powerful instrument of peace. Data show that freedom of religion or belief is strongly associated with economic growth, global competitiveness, including education, innovation, health and better lives for women and children.

So, how can and are businesses lowering hostilities and increasing peace? To answer this question, on March 8, 2018, in Seoul, South Korea, the day before the opening of the 2018 PyeongChang Paralympic Games, we will hold the second Global Business & Interfaith Peace Symposium and Awards (video below) sponsored by my foundation in collaboration with the United Nations Global Compact Business for Peace platform and the Global Compact Network Korea. The first symposium and awards were held at the start of the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Symposium participants and award recipients will have the opportunity to present their commitment to interfaith understanding and peace, while contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: “Promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.”

I respectfully encourage the Korean government and Korean business community to more energetically engage in promotion of SDGs in general and, in particular, expand movements and projects aimed at building peace, justice and institutions that promote freedom and tolerance. There are many businesses in Korea already contributing through the Global Compact Network Korea, but more are needed to participate. Given the challenges Korea faces, your wonderful country has the opportunity to be the world leader in peace.

•    “Davos for geeks” – Bloomberg
•    “The best tech conference on the planet” – Forbes
•    “The giants of the web assemble” – Wall Street Journal
•    “It defines the ecosystem” – The Guardian

On November 8 Brian Grim, President of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, will address freedom of religion in the tech business as an invited speaker at the world’s largest web technology conference in Lisbon, Portugal.*

Religious freedom in the workplace

The most successful businesses encourage an environment in which employees can bring their “full self” to work. Employees need to feel comfortable being who they are in the workplace, including being true to their core identity and beliefs. That includes recognizing and respecting an employee’s religion and its practice.

In today’s increasingly more competitive business environment, companies will need to draw upon the talent and experience of every employee. They can’t afford to leave anyone out. If they exclude or alienate someone for reasons having nothing to do with a person’s ability to do the job, they might also be excluding the next great business solution or the next great product idea. The very thing a company might need for its success. At the very least, they’ll be missing out on lots of really great talent.

And as companies become increasingly more global, they’ll need employees who reflect the increasing diversity of their customers. They’ll need employees who can relate to the daily experience of customers and who can see the customer point of view. For potentially billions of customers, religious belief and practice are a part of daily life. Having employees who understand that will not only help companies avoid costly missteps, it will also help companies develop products and services better tailed to customer needs. That’s an essential part of being competitive.

Religiously Diverse Tech Business

And the tech industry is extremely religiously diverse. For example, the Guardian recently profiled Silicon Valley as home to some of Christian Evangelicalism’s most innovative new, Hipster congregations.

But beyond Christianity, Silicon Valley is perhaps one of the most religiously diverse places in the U.S. The Silicon Valley Interfaith Association notes that the region “is home to some 50 Buddhist centers, the largest Sikh Gurdwara in North America, a Jain temple, a Silicon Valley “store front” (converted technology assembly plant) mosque whose Friday prayer service draws over 3000 participants, several Hindu centers that host cultural programs and religious ceremonies, one of the Zoroastrian fire temples in North America, numerous Baha’i spiritual assemblies, and synagogues—reflecting the fact that the Valley is home to one of the most religiously diverse landscapes in North America. The percentage of individuals who identify with faith traditions other than Christianity—10%– is double that of the United States; but we also have a higher percentage of residents—17%–who identify themselves as non-affiliated compared to other parts of the country.”

Faith and the Internet

Christopher Helland points out, religious actors themselves are also quite tech savvy.

Faith & the Internet

Christopher Helland, Associate Professor, Dalhousie University, Canada

 The Pope & Climate Change

Christopher Helland, Associate Professor, Dalhousie University, Canada

* Web Summit started as a simple idea in 2010: Let’s connect the technology community with all industries, both old and new. It seemed to resonate. Web Summit has grown to become the “largest technology conference in the world”.

No conference has ever grown so large so fast. But we also pride ourselves in organising the “best technology conference on the planet”. In six short years, Web Summit has grown from 400 attendees to over 60,000 attendees from more than 150 countries. No technology conference has ever grown so large so fast.

Web Summit has become “Europe’s largest and most important technology marketplace”. An unrivalled global meeting place for the world’s most disruptive technology companies and those interested in how that disruption can transform their businesses and their lives.

Over 2,000 media from more than 100 markets came to Web Summit in 2016. It’s not just editors from many of the world’s most influential publications, but market-shaping industry reporters from leading technology and trade publications and blogs.

5-6 November 2017, Sheffield, United Kingdom

Top executives coming from or working in China will gather at the Horasis Meeting in Sheffield. There Brian Grim, President of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, will discuss how tapping into traditional Chinese values – including religious faith – is good for sustainable business.

Horasis will convene the 2017 Horasis China Meeting on 5-6 November in Sheffield, United Kingdom, co-hosted by the Sheffield City Region and the China Federation of Industrial Economics. More than 300 participants from business and government will join an intense two-day programme designed for senior decision makers from China and the world to identify business opportunities and innovative approaches to economic development.

Participants will discuss a wide range of issues related to China and its new economic leadership role. With the UK’s historic decision to leave the European Union, the summit will reflect on the implications for Chinese firms. The UK wants to build on its relationship with China, which has strengthened significantly in recent years, and establish a sound post-Brexit dialogue. The UK could be central to China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative, with the UK developing into a hub for construction and design competencies as well as other professional services linked to China’s outbound plan. Chinese partners are a major and growing part of Sheffield City Region’s unfolding success story, with the biggest Chinese investment outside London coming to the city centre earlier this year.

The Horasis China Meeting is the foremost annual gathering of Chinese business leaders and their global counterparts. The location of the meeting rotates annually, and has been held in Geneva/Switzerland (2005, 2006), Frankfurt/Germany (2007), Barcelona/Spain (2008), Lisbon/Portugal (2009), City of Luxembourg/Luxembourg (2010), Valencia/Spain (2011), Riga/Latvia (2012), The Hague/The Netherlands (2013), Lake Como/Italy (2014), Cascais/Portugal (2015) and Interlaken/Switzerland (2016).

Horasis: The Global Visions Community is an independent international organization committed to enacting visions for a sustainable future. In addition to the Horasis China Meeting, Horasis hosts the Horasis Global Meeting as well regional events focusing on India, Russia, South East Asia and the Arab world.

The co-chairs are: Anson Chan, Chairman, Bonds Group of Companies, Hong Kong SAR Guan Jianzhong, Chairman, Dagong Global Credit Rating, China Roger King, Member of the Supervisory Board, Orient Overseas (International), Hong Kong SAR Lu Yuebing, Chairman, TsingRay Investment Management, China Pierce Riemer, Director General, World Petroleum Council, United Kingdom Sun Ho, Chairman, Chang Cheng Insurance Brokers, China David Wright, Senior Advisor, Barclays International, United Kingdom Deborah Wince-Smith, President, United States Council on Competitiveness, USA Wu Yijian, Chairman, Ginwa Investments Holding Group, China William Y. Zhang, Chairman, EU-China Municipal Development Commission, China Zhao Jiasheng, Vice Chairman, China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, China

Horasis is a global visions community committed to enact visions for a sustainable future. (http://www.horasis.org) For more information, please contact: Communications and Public Affairs Horasis. The Global Visions Community phone: +41 79 305 3110 fax: +41 44 214 6502 e-mail: visions@horasis.org

The Fletcher Initiative on Religion, Law & Diplomacy  is a student-run organization at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

The Initiative’s 2017 conference titled, Approaching Religious Literacy in International Affairs, brings together high-level practitioners and academics in the fields of Security, Conflict Resolution, and International Business to discuss the importance of religious literacy in their respective areas of expertise.

Registration opens October 1, 2017. We look forward to seeing you in November!