Yes, for at least three reasons:

(1) Religious freedom, when protected and practiced, sets people free to act and innovate motivated by their highest ideals.

Perhaps one of the best examples is the way religious freedom sets groups and individuals free to tackle poverty.

Poverty, some argue, can only be effectively tackled by governments enforcing top-down, big-P Poverty reduction policies and programs. But a host of religious groups haven’t gotten the memo. Innovative faith-based initiatives worldwide are tackling poverty using bottom-up, small-p poverty alleviation approaches that empower individuals to be resourceful, resilient and self-reliant.

Indeed, a central aspect of religious freedom is that it gives faith groups license to innovate and contribute to the wellbeing of individuals, communities and nations. But where religious freedom is curtailed, so are such innovations. For instance, reform-minded Saudi princess Basmah bint Saud argues, religion “should not be a shield behind which we hide from the world but a driving force that inspires us to innovate and contribute to our surroundings.”

This first installment of an ongoing series on the connection between religious freedom and sustainable development describes these small-p initiatives and concludes with a case study of how one faith group is directly targeting and reducing poverty in its congregations worldwide. Such faith-based activities are facilitated by religious freedom and directly contribute to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1 – Ending poverty in all its forms everywhere. (Read more)

(2) In a world where religious tensions are high, research shows that business is a powerful force for interfaith understanding and peace.

The UN Global Compact Business for Peace platform and the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation produced a resource to highlight how businesses are a powerful force supporting interfaith understanding and peace.

The resource – available here – was introduced with then UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during the 2014 Global Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC ) held in Bali, Indonesia, August 29-30. The ways businesses do this fall into four broad categories:

• · – Using Marketing Expertise to Bridge Borders: Companies can make positive contributions to peace in society by mobilizing advertising campaigns that bring people of various faiths and backgrounds together, as seen in Coke Serves Up Understanding Across Borders.
• · – Incentivizing Innovation: Because cross-cultural dialogue and cooperation is an essential part of daily work for multinational companies, one company, the BMW Group, incentivizes other organizations to create innovative approaches to interfaith understanding through an award organized in collaboration with the UN Alliance of Civilizations. Organizations that have won this award include a tour company in the Middle East, which offers new paths to build bridges and bring cultures together, as seen in Promoting Understanding Through Tourism in the Holy Lands. Another recognized intercultural innovator uses job placements agencies to help contribute to the religious diversity of workforces, as seen in Helping Muslim Youth in the Philippines.
• – Incubating and Catalyzing Social Entrepreneurship: Business can also provide common ground where religious differences give way to shared concern and enterprise. Opportunity and Entrepreneurship in Nigeria describes an approach modeled by a peace-building organization showing how supporting companies and new entrepreneurs in conflict-affected areas can reduce extremism. Petrobras Supporting Business Incubation for Afro-Brazilians similarly shows how company support for new small enterprises can have a significant impact in developing marginalized communities.
• – Supporting Workforce Diversity: When businesses are sensitive to the religious and cultural issues around them, they can not only increase employee morale and productivity, but also address unmet difficult social needs, as shown in Indonesia Businesses Open Their Doors to Faith and Action.

(3) Never underestimate the power of business leaders as entrepreneurs for good.

Seven business men and women from around the world were honored recently for their work in interfaith relations, including three Americans. All of the leaders were recognized for using their businesses to bridge cultural and religious divides.

Winners of the first-ever Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards were awarded with Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in a ceremony on Tuesday, Sept. 6, a day before the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games here.

The awards were presented by the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, a U.S.-based nonprofit, in collaboration with the United Nations Global Compact’s Business for Peace Initiative and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. The foundation helps educate the global business community about how religious freedom is good for business and how they can promote respect for freedom of religion or belief.

“These business leaders show the value of religious freedom – it sets people of faith free to do good motivated by their deepest and most innovative ideals,” said Brian Grim, president of the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation.

Winners come from a variety of religious backgrounds and manage companies and enterprises in the U.S., Indonesia, Mozambique, Uganda, Brazil, Lebanon and Iraq.

“The religious, geographic and business-type diversity of these business leaders shows that the values of interfaith understanding, religious freedom and peace have universal appeal,” Grim went on to say.

H.E. Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, High Representative United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and one of the judges of the event, noted that “this award recognizes those who have taken an initiative to use their business as a platform for promoting positive change and tolerance in our society. I would like to take a moment to thank Brian Grim, the President of Religious Freedom & Business Foundation (RFBF), who pioneered this award initiative. By implementing SDG 17, Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development, RFBF is collaborating with Global Compact and the UNAOC in acknowledging these distinct business leaders at the international level (Read the High Representative’s full comments).

The sole Gold Medal went to Indonesian businessman Y.W. Junardy, President Commissioner, PT Rajawali Corpora, for his facilitation of thousands of marriages for poor Indonesians of all faiths, providing their families with the legal status necessary to advance in Indonesian society.

A Silver Medal was awarded to Don Larson, founder and CEO of Sunshine Nut Company in Mozambique, who works across faith and cultural lines to revive the country’s cashew business.

Brittany Underwood, founder and president of AKOLA in Texas, U.S., and Uganda, tied for a Silver Medal. Underwood promotes gender equality and religious freedom by employing Ugandan women to create fashion jewelry. Underwood also created a Dallas-based organization that employs women who have survived human trafficking.

Four Bronze Medals were awarded. One went to Jonathan Berezovsky, CEO of Migraflix in Brazil, who helps immigrants and refugees integrate into Brazil through facilitating cultural exchanges between them and the local community.

Fouad Makhzoumi, the CEO of Future Pipe Industries Group Ltd., in the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon, promotes religious freedom through microcredit and vocational training to help over 10,000 Lebanese of all faiths set up sustainable businesses.

H. Bruce McEver, co-founder and chairman of Berkshire Capital Securities LLC in New York London, has a foundation which works to cultivate inter-religious understanding through the promotion of religious literacy.

Emma Nicholson, Baroness of Winterbourne, executive chairman of the Iraq Britain Business council and founder and chairman of AMAR Foundation in the U.K. and Iraq, works to build business, technology, trade and investment in Iraq, with a special focus on women of religious minorities, such as Yazidis.

Grim said the finalists, who include Christians, Jews, Muslims and the religiously unaffiliated, exemplify the mission of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation – to show that religious freedom is vital to a fertile business climate.

Other finalists for the awards recognized during the ceremony were Jonathan Shen Jian, CEO, Shinework Media, China, whose films promote global cultural diversity and interfaith understanding in China’s media market of one billion people through his film work. Tayyibah Taylor, CEO and founder, Azizah Magazine and WOW Publishing, Inc., Georgia, U.S., who died in 2014, used her magazine to help Muslim women and people of other faiths better understand Islam. Her daughter Mariam accepted the award in her honor. And Joaquim Augusto Sanches Pereira, Regional Business Leader at Dresser-Rand, a Siemens Business, works with the Vaga Lume initiative, promoting peace and cultural diversity through literary programs for children, teenagers and adults in the multicultural and diverse Amazon region.

The jury for the award was comprised of a small group of high-level experts, including from the United Nations: H.E. Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations; from the religious freedom community: Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, President of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice, and a former head of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom; and from the business and peace community: Per L. Saxegaard, Business CEO, and Founder and Executive Chairman of the Business for Peace Foundation, Oslo, Norway.

For more information on each winner and their global mission, please visit https://religiousfreedomandbusiness.org/global-awards.html.

The 47th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, will take place on 17-20 January under the theme “Responsive and Responsible Leadership.” But do the business and political leaders gathering there comprehend the significant impact of religion on the global economy?

In advance of Davos, my newest blog suggests that religion is one of today’s most overlooked economic drivers.

Below is also a link to the resources produced by the 2014-2016 Global Agenda Council on the Role of Faith to inform global leaders of religion’s role in world and economic affairs.

Brian
RFBF President

… the Year of Religious Freedom & Business

• Brian Grim

As Mark Twain, Yogi Berra and numerous others have reportedly said, “It’s difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.”

With his quip firmly in mind, three innovations in religious freedom seem likely to take off in 2017. This is thanks to religious freedom’s contribution to a good climate for business, making 2017 what I believe will be the year of religious freedom & business.

1. Muslims Making Progress

News headlines miss significant Muslim initiatives supporting interfaith understanding, religious freedom and peace (a) at the grass roots level, (b) by Muslim business leaders, and (c) by highly respected Islamic clergy.

Grass Roots: Manchester, UK

In Manchester, England, we have been piloting (for global scale-up) our Empowerment-Plus interfaith social cohesion & enterprise initiative. Empowerment-Plus helps young adults from all faith backgrounds to channel their energies and capabilities toward building lives, families, careers, businesses and friendship networks with a lively faith in the Lord.

The curriculum links basic principles of success, such as wise stewardship of resources, with scriptural principles from the Bible, Quran, and other scriptures, helping young adults make the connection between faith and daily decisions. The focus is not on interfaith dialogue, but on interfaith action. For instance, rather than debating faith, the participants share how their faith does (or doesn’t) guide decisions. And rather than debating theology, the participants look at the best ways to set up and run a socially responsible and profitable business.

Among our most enthusiastic participants and partners are Muslims. Several came from a Nigerian mosque in Manchester, that has born the brunt of several attacks, including having a pig’s head thrown into their property.

Pictured above with me are Imam Muhammad al Akkas (right) and his colleague Abdullah from the Al-Furqan Islamic Centre, where we’re planning to hold the next Empowerment-Plus course on “Finding a Better Job” as well as seminars on how to be a good listener-facilitator. As you see in the photo, we’re holding a shirt Muhammad had made saying, “Being a Muslim, I ♥ Jesus the Messiah.”

Although Christians have a different notion of what being the Messiah means, the Quran refers to Jesus as such at least nine times (Quran Suras 3:45; 4:157, 171, 172; 5:17, 72, 75; 9:30, 31). For instance, Sura 3:45 says “… the angels said, “O Mary, indeed Allah gives you good tidings of a word from Him, whose name will be the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary – distinguished in this world and the Hereafter and among those brought near [to Allah ].”

While Muhammad and I (as a Catholic) might not agree on the theology, we certainly agree that it’s important to honor the Lord by helping young people practice solid principles grounded in faith and virtue that leads to employment and empowerment.

Muhammed is not alone in his willingness to work at the grass roots level in interfaith action – he’s one of a legion of Muslims from around the world who have studied in the United States and worked in the West. While experience in the West doesn’t always lead to such collaboration, it certainly may begin to take off in 2017 and the years ahead.

Business Leader: Beirut, Lebanon

Empowerment-Plus draws its inspiration from business leaders around the world engaged in similar enterprises and initiatives. For instance, the Makhzoumi Foundation founded by Lebanese industrialist Dr. Fouad Makhzoumi, CEO of Future Pipe Industries Group Ltd., engages in similar projects and serves as a successful model informing the development Empowerment-Plus.

Dr. Makhzoumi is key advocate for interfaith understanding, religious freedom and peace in Lebanon and a Sunni Muslim.

Dr. Makhzoumi is a recipient of the Global Business & Interfaith Peace Prize award by the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation in collaboration with the United Nations Global Compact with support from the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. He received the award for his work in founding (in 1997) the Makhzoumi Foundation, motivated by his strong desire to help empower fellow citizens to achieve self-sufficient independence via improved career prospects, regardless of religion or creed.

Starting the Makhzoumi Foundation was a significant step forward given that Lebanon was emerging from a 15-year civil war that fell along sectarian lines and left the country in a state of disrepair with a desperate need to rebuild and jumpstart its flailing economy and educational system.

Indeed, Dr. Makhzoumi – a Sunni Muslim – powerfully lays out the case for interfaith understanding and religious freedom in his acceptance speech for the Global Business & Interfaith Peace Prize in a video already viewed by more than 75,000 (see newly added video with Arabic subtitles here).

Dr. Makhzoumi’s wife, Mrs. May Makhzoumi leads the work of the Makhzoumi Foundation in carrying out computer, language and vocational training for minimal fees. They also provide health care as well as microlending services for new business start-ups, and Dr. Makhzoumi just this past week launched a new centre for entrepreneurship at the Lebanese American University in Beirut.

Islamic Scholar: Marrakesh, Morocco

As I write this, I’m in Abu Dhabi, UAE, for the third follow-up meeting I’ve participated in to help promote a remarkable achievement – The January 2016 Marrakesh Declaration: Protections for the Rights of Religious Minorities in Muslim Lands.

At the Forum for Peace annual meeting occurring now, His Eminence Shaykh Abdullah bin Bayyah (pictured at left), the President of the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies, noted that Muslim societies are sick, and it’s a problem of the heart. And to bring peace, Muslim solutions must address the heart.

One step toward putting the heart in the right disposition is viewing non-Muslims as having equal rights and status as citizens. This view has historic roots dating to the time of Prophet Mohammed and the Medina Charter. The Marrakesh Declaration was issued at a time of heightened social hostility fueled by violent extremism, widespread Islamophobia and the denial of rights, sometimes justified by misrepresentations of Islamic teachings.

A summary of the Marrakesh Declaration includes:

— “The objectives of the Charter of Medina provide a suitable framework for national constitutions in countries with Muslim majorities, and are in harmony with the United Nations Charter and related documents, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

— “Affirm[s] that it is impermissible to employ religion for the purpose of detracting from the rights of religious minorities in Muslim countries.”

— “Call[s] upon representatives of the various religions, sects and denominations to confront all forms of religious bigotry, vilification and denigration of what people hold sacred, as well as all words that promote hatred and racism.”

This past summer, Shaykh bin Bayyah agreed to prepare a special video discussion on the Marrakesh Declaration for me to show to a standing room only meeting in Rimini, Italy, at a conference that attracts over 800,000 each year.

Interviewing me in the session was the president of Italian State TV Monica Maggioni. After she watched the video, she exclaimed, “Why doesn’t this make news?!”

I replied, “You’re the journalist, you tell me.”

2. Workplace “Fairness for All”

Ted Childs, former chief diversity officer for IMB, asserts that religion is the next big thing that major corporations will need to navigate. Corporations worldwide have recently focused on LGBT issues, and, using the same argument of “fairness for all,” companies will grapple with how to reasonably accommodate and not discriminate against religion in the workplace.

Why?

Freedom of Religion or Belief is an internationally recognized human right. Article 18 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

However, 36% of American workers report experiencing or witnessing workplace religious discrimination, according to a recent Tanenbaum survey, “What American Workers Really Think about Religion.”

But 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.

The Religious Freedom & Business Foundation has developed a Corporate Pledge that supports religious diversity and freedom in the workplace and sends two clear messages to current and prospective employees:

1. (1) You can work here without changing who you are; and
2. (2) the company respects all employees and will not favor certain employees over others … and that’s good for the business of all.

In the coming year I believe that the principles in the Pledge will increasingly become one component of a company’s overall strategy to value its employees and increase their loyalty for the benefit of customers and shareholders. The FoRB Pledge is a company’s public commitment to take reasonable steps to ensure that working at the company does not put employees at odds with their deeply held religious convictions.

3. Asia Will Take a Lead

Silence – the new Martin Scorsese film set in Japan – is scheduled for release in the United States on December 23, 2016. Based on the historical novel by Shūsaku Endō, Silence tells the story of two Jesuit missionaries sent to Japan to discover whether a colleague denied God in the face of brutal persecution. By Pew Research estimates, however, today Japan scores among countries with the highest government respect for religious freedom – outranking the United States. And Japan is not the only Asian country besting the US.

Specifically, among the 26 most populous countries, governments of three Asian countries have higher levels of government support for (i.e., lower levels of restrictions on) religious freedom than the United States, where government restrictions on religious freedom are higher and have been rising according to Pew Research.

As shown in the chart, the United States scores 3.0 out of a maximum of 10.0 on the Government Restrictions on Religion index, according to data recently published by the Pew Research Center.

The Philippines, by contrast, scores 1.0 out of a maximum of 10.0 on the index, Japan scores 1.1 and South Korea 2.0, all with fewer government restrictions on religious freedom than the U.S.

Among the 26 most populous nations, however, three East Asian countries have governments that are very highly restrictive of religious freedom: China (scoring 9.1 out of 10.0), Indonesia (8.5), and Burma/Myanmar, according to the Pew index. One East Asian country is highly restrictive: Vietnam (6.1), and one is moderately restrictive: Thailand (4.4).

Although Taiwan is not counted among the 26 most populous nations, Pew scores Taiwan as low on restrictions and therefore high on freedom.

Given the recent political posturing between U.S. president-elect Donald Trump and China, which included Trump being the first U.S. president or president-elect to talk to the president of Taiwan since 1979 when the United States recognized Beijing as the legitimate government of China rather than Taipei.

The prospects for new innovations coming from East Asian nations committed to religious freedom are likely in 2017. For instance, this year Taiwan organized an international symposium attended by representatives from 27 countries resulting in a Declaration of Religious Freedom, prominently citing the connection between religious freedom and business.

And the prospects of a possible run for the South Korean presidency by outgoing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has been a clear supporter of the role of business in advancing interfaith understanding, religious freedom and peace, add another reason to expect religious freedom & business innovations coming from Asia.

Of course, much depends on China itself, the biggest player in the region. Of course, the devil’s in the details, but given a rash of recent government actions to impose its supremacy over culture, in particular, religion, China’s economic success is under threat.

This conclusion is based on a new study which I authored, The Modern Chinese Secret Sustainable Economic Growth: Religious Freedom & Diversity.

The study’s findings – published in this past summer’s edition of The Review of Faith & International Affairs – will be surprising to the half of China’s population for whom religion is not a significant part of life. To the other half, they will make some sense, but still may be surprising. The reason is twofold.

First, those who do not practice religion often tend to have their closest personal and social connections with people like themselves. Accordingly, people who do not encounter religion on a day-to-day basis may consider it to be an insignificant factor.

Second, even those practicing a faith may not be aware of the connections between faith, freedom, and business because there has been very little research looking at the connections.

Also, if external threats are perceived to be growing by the government, then rallying the population may also mean some additional concessions to religion in order to keep them on China’s side. Whether they will reduce restrictions on religious freedom in 2017 is yet to be seen.

For more on the Yin and Yang of religion and religious freedom in China, see my Weekly Number China blog. But one thing’s for certain, with nearly half of the Chinese population being religious active, and with research showing the positive contribution to the economy of religious and religious freedom, China has incentive to ease restrictions.

Welcome 2017

2017 marks the third anniversary of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation’s first-of-its-kind effort to engage the global business community in advancing interfaith understanding, religious freedom and peace. It’s fair to say that the progress we’ve seen gives some reason to believe that this coming year will be the Year of Religious Freedom & Business. The advances so far include:

• • Recognizing business champions at the inaugural Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards
• • Launching the Corporate Pledge on Religious Freedom
• • Piloting (for global scale-up) our Empowerment+ interfaith social cohesion & enterprise initiative
• • Seeing our research covered by global press (from Forbes to Fox and Al Jazeera to EWTN)

Writing now from Abu Dhabi, and having travelled around the world several times over just this year, there is hope that the three religious freedom innovations discussed above are set to soar in 2017. Certainly, I’ll be doing my best to give them some fuel. Let me know if you’d like to help too.

With abiding faith, hope and love, I for one am looking forward to the New Year.

by Byron Johnson

Since the 1970s, the United States prison population has grown by over 700 percent. In fact, one-in-100 adults currently reside behind bars in the U.S. This dramatic growth in the prison population represents an increasing challenge for policy makers and correctional authorities, and translates into a costly liability for U.S. taxpayers. Stated differently, that the unintended consequences of incarceration have created a growing burden on the nation.

For example, research confirms that children of prisoners experience much higher rates of criminal behavior and subsequent incarceration. When a parent is incarcerated, the lives of children can be disrupted in tragic ways. Thus, the impact of one man’s incarceration may be felt by families and communities for decades.

In an age of shrinking budgets, many correctional treatment and vocational programs, even if found to be effective, are being curtailed and may be in danger of being eliminated.

Unfortunately, rather than providing offenders with the opportunities and resources necessary to achieve rehabilitation, increasingly incarceration serves as only a temporary reprieve from a troubled existence. Within a short period of time after release, many ex-offenders return to the same disadvantaged communities and find themselves back in trouble and back in prison. National three-year recidivism rates fluctuate around 60 percent, exposing the ugly reality that crime reduction is not easily achieved.

What are we to do?

The Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP) is a program that represents a departure from traditional approaches. PEP is privately funded is an innovative, holistic approach to achieving lower recidivism rates. PEP declares itself to be comprised of “servant leaders on a mission to transform inmates and executives by unlocking human potential through entrepreneurial passion, education and mentoring.” Although the program does not describe itself as faith-based, PEP leadership and volunteers are faith-motivated individuals and have infused this privately funded organization with Christian principles. PEP begins by working with participants while they are still incarcerated, and continues by providing services to participants after their release. 

At the very core of the Prison Entrepreneurship Program is the recognition that many inmates come to prison with a thirst for entrepreneurship, as well as a practical knowledge of concepts such as competition, relationship-building, risk management, and sales channels.

The centerpiece of PEP’s in-prison business educational experience is the Business Plan Competition (BPC). The core curriculum is taught by PEP staff, with business executives and others lecturing periodically on topics within their areas of expertise. The experience is highly interactive and “hands on,” with each student required to conceive of a business that he would start upon release and research and write a complete business plan for doing so. Each student receives extensive feedback from volunteer executives and MBA students over the duration of the course.

Our study of the Prison Entrepreneurship Program compared 94 PEP graduates to a control group of over 50 inmates who had been selected for PEP, but who did not participate in PEP’s programs (i.e. they paroled before class began). The recidivism rate of the control group was virtually identical to the state average in Texas (24%), and was more than 3 times higher than that of PEP’s graduates (6.9%).

We also conducted a return on investment (ROI) analysis, and found that PEP’s one-year ROI is 74% – that is, for every $1 invested in PEP, the economy sees a $0.74 return in year one. After three years, the initial $1 invested multiplies into an ROI of $2.07. After five years, the economic impact of the initial investment yields approximately $3.40 in economic impact – a 340% ROI.

Having conducted research in prisons over the last 30 years, I can say without hesitation, that PEP is the most innovative and successful program working with prisoners and ex-prisoners, and provides an outstanding model for rethinking how we work with prisoners, as well as how to assist ex-prisoners as they transition back to society.

* Byron Johnson is Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor University. He is the founding director of the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR) as well as director of the Program on Prosocial Behavior.

• Brian J. Grim, Ph.D.
• President, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation (RFBF)

Last week in Beirut I explored taking RFBF’s interfaith Empowerment-Plus social cohesion and enterprise initiative to Lebanon. With its rich multifaith/multiconfessional population and strategic location, Lebanon could be an excellent location for piloting an Arab language version of Empowerment-Plus.

SECTIONS:

• (1) Empowerment-Plus
• (2) In Beirut
• (3) Business Inspirations for Empowerment-Plus

Empowerment-Plus

Empowerment-Plus helps young adults from all faith backgrounds to channel their energies and capabilities toward building lives, families, careers, businesses and friendship networks with a lively faith in the Lord. Young adults collaborate on practical day-to-day issues including: leadership and life direction; finding better and more meaningful work; creating and building entrepreneurial businesses, better managing personal finances, and ultimately attaining economic self-reliance so that they can be a benefit and blessing to others.

RFBF aims to scale-up of Empowerment-Plus globally by working with coalitions of like-mined business, civil society and funding partners throughout the world. The initiative will increase the positive space for freedom of religion and belief through interfaith action and enterprises that promote social cohesion, sustainable growth and self-reliance.

Empowerment-Plus includes partnering with local faith communities to set up franchise-able enterprises ranging from business incubators in under-used religious buildings to “Pizza for Peace mobile cafés” inspired, flavoured, staffed and managed by refugees, immigrants and/or religious minorities in partnership with local citizens who are also in need of better employment and business skills.

Empowerment-Plus is currently being piloted successfully in England at Manchester University’s Catholic Chaplaincy, and in collaboration with numerous partners including: the Jesuit community in Manchester, Caritas (Diocese of Salford), Manchester’s Nigerian Muslim Community (NASFAT), Chabad at Manchester Universities, Manchester Central Mosque, Manchester’s Young Single Adult Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, St. Mary’s University, and Citizens-UK in Manchester.

Our initiative in Manchester is ably led by Ms. Hinna Parvez from Pakistan, an RFBF research fellow.

In Beirut

Last week I had a series of meetings and discussions with local Lebanese foundations, academics and business leaders. A key advocate for interfaith understanding, religious freedom and peace in Lebanon is Dr. Fouad Makhzoumi, a leading industrialist in the country, region and world.

Dr. Makhzoumi (pictured with Brian Grim and fellow awardee Baroness Nicholson) is also a recipient of the Global Business & Interfaith Peace Prize award by RFBF in collaboration with the United Nations Global Compact with support from the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. He received the award for his work in founding (in 1997) the Makhzoumi Foundation, motivated by his strong desire to help empower fellow citizens to achieve self-sufficient independence via improved career prospects, regardless of religion or creed. This was a significant step forward given that Lebanon was emerging from a 15-year civil war that fell along sectarian lines and left the country in a state of disrepair with a desperate need to rebuild and jumpstart its flailing economy and educational system.

Indeed, Dr. Makhzoumi – a Sunni Muslim – powerfully lays out the case for interfaith understanding and religious freedom in his acceptance speech for the Global Business & Interfaith Peace Prize in a video already viewed by more than 75,000 (see newly added video with Arabic subtitles here).

Fouad’s wife, Mrs. May Makhzoumi (pictured with me and Samer El Safah, Foundation General Manager), leads the work of the Makhzoumi Foundation in carrying out computer, language and vocational training at a modest fee to anyone wishing to take advantage of the opportunity. They also provide health care as well as microlending services for new business start-ups, and Dr. Makhzoumi just this past week launched a new centre for entrepreneurship at the Lebanese American University in Beirut.

In my visit to the Foundation’s Beirut headquarters, I was particularly impressed with the generous care and attention the staff in each department given to the participants in the classes and recipients of the multifaceted services.

After touring the medical and dental clinics, followed by the beautician skills school and computer and jobs training classes, I found myself in a spiritual formation class for grandmothers. After I was introduced, the class broke into smiles and chatter (some in English), all wishing me to stay or at least come back soon. They all wanted to take a picture, shown below. But as custom dictates, photos are more serious business and, as the lone American in the pic, I was the only one smiling.

Smiles broke out again after the camera clicked. I found the grandmas not only engaging and encouraging but also a lot of fun. I plan to go back soon.

The Lebanese American University

The main purpose of the trip was to speak at the International Conference on Religious Freedom and the Reconstruction of Citizenship held at the Lebanese American University and organized by the Institute of Citizenship and Diversity Management at Lebanon’s Adyan Foundation with support from Missio and the Church of Sweden.

The Adyan Foundation, founded a decade ago by its current director Prof. Fadi Daou, builds solid networks of collaboration and solidarity across faith lines upon the belief that coexistence can be built or rebuilt in pluralistic and post-conflict societies when diversity is viewed as an added value for all. The Adyan Foundation brings together people from different communities, either during a spiritual event or around social solidarity and development projects, and helps them to discover their common values and build authentic and fruitful relations. The Adyan Foundation not only shares the lessons learned from the Lebanese context at home, but also through international initiatives.

The International Conference on Religious Freedom and the Reconstruction of Citizenship is one such endeavor. Participants came from 14 countries across the Arab world, Europe, Africa and Pakistan. I had the honor of representing the United States. Others participating included the ambassadors of Great Britain and France, as well as leading scholars from Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia and Bahrain.

Certainly, the Conference provided a practical opportunity for me to not only get positive feedback on the Empowerment-Plus approach from leading thinkers and policy makers, but also directly explore implementation.

For instance, young adults, a.k.a. Millennials, are a key focus of the Adyan Foundation. Their networks around Lebanon of youth committed to working together could become participants and volunteers in Empowerment-Plus training and entrepreneurship activities.

I’ll have a chance to follow up with Prof. Fadi Daou later this month at the 3rd Forum for Peace in Muslim Societies in Abu Dhabi, UAE from December 18-19, 2016. Fadi and I have both been supporting the Marrakesh Declaration on the Rights of Minorities in Muslim-Majority Lands promulgated by H.E Shaykh Abdallah Bin Bayyah, President of the Forum for Peace in Muslim Societies. The following is a video presentation by Shaykh Bin Bayyah on the Declaration that he prepared for me to show at this past year’s Rimini Meeting in Italy.

Business Inspirations of Empowerment-Plus

Empowerment-Plus draws its inspiration from business leaders around the world engaged in similar enterprises and initiatives. For instance, as described above, the Makhzoumi Foundation founded by Lebanese industrialist Fouad Makhzoumi, CEO of Future Pipe Industries Group Ltd., engages in similar projects and serves as a successful model informing the development Empowerment-Plus.

Fellow Lebanese businessman Abdo Ibrahim El Tassi only found his business success as an immigrant to Canada, where he now runs a successful manufacturing company providing jobs for many in Manitoba. Seeing the struggle that many immigrants face when relocating to Canada, El Tassi works to provide training and development opportunities for newcomers. He has provided $1.7 million to immigrants in interest-free loans for business startups, mortgages, and university tuition. Empowerment-Plus similarly engages successful business people and companies to set microloans to help people on the path toward self-reliance.

The unique contributions of Empowerment-Plus, however, include intentionally including interfaith components in all its initiatives that help participants ground their decisions and actions in spiritual values and virtues common across all faith traditions. Moreover, the Empowerment-Plus business incubator and “Pizza for Peace mobile cafés” add revenue-generation allowing Empowerment-Plus centres to be largely self-sustaining. And perhaps most importantly, Empowerment-Plus is primarily carried out through volunteer facilitators and mentors who become part of interfaith communities committed to building and expanding the human networks essential for impact and success.

A diverse range of business men and women from around the world serve also as our model and mentors. These leaders were recently recognized for using their businesses to bridge cultural and religious divides at the inaugural Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards in a ceremony on Tuesday, 6 September 2016, a day before the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. These leaders include Christians, Jews, Muslims and the religiously unaffiliated from all continents, showing that the values of interfaith understanding, religious freedom and peace have universal appeal and are vital to a fertile business climate regardless of location.

Still, in many countries, social and political tensions have spurred violence and unrest along religious and cultural lines. Each group within this struggle has a different narrative and understanding of what has led to current culture and conflict. Aziz Abu Sarah and Scott Cooper, co-CEOs and Founders of MEJDI Tours, have offered an invaluable perspective for Empowerment-Plus. They  recognize that allowing people tell their story is a first step in fostering peace and cultural understanding. In Israel, for example, their “Dual Narrative” approach allows Israeli and Palestinian tour guides to offer varying perspectives on culture, religion, and politics at each location. The example of MEDJI Tours points to one of the fundamental principles of Empowerment-Plus: always include multiple faith groups in each enterprise or activity. Empowerment-Plus is not just another jobs programme. It is an intentional initiative brining people from vastly different backgrounds together for a common purpose.

Other leaders inspiring the Empowerment-Plus include Indonesian businessman Y.W. Junardy, who uses his business acumen to solve social problems, specifically facilitating thousands of marriages for poor Indonesians of all faiths, providing their families with the legal status necessary to advance in Indonesian society. Like Junardy, Empowerment-Plus takes an action rather than just dialogue approach to addressing the underlying causes of social tensions.

Don Larson, founder and CEO of Sunshine Nut Company in Mozambique, works across faith and cultural lines to revive the country’s cashew business. The secret of his success in what he calls a “reverse tithe” – giving 90% of the profits back to investment in Mozambique and developing a fair-trade supply chain rather than expatriating the profits. Like Don, Empowerment-Plus exists for the benefit of the people it serves, not the benefit of Empowerment-Plus itself.

Brittany Underwood, founder and president of AKOLA in Texas, U.S., and Uganda, promotes gender equality and religious freedom by employing Ugandan women to create fashion jewelry. Underwood also created a Dallas-based organization that employs women who have survived human trafficking. Like Brittany, Empowerment-Plus believes that enterprise is more sustainable than charity.

Jonathan Berezovsky, CEO of Migraflix in Brazil, helps immigrants and refugees integrate into Brazil through facilitating cultural exchanges between them and the local community. Migraflix also empowers immigrants and refugees by setting them up as instructors of classes to share skills and knowledge they have that is of interest to their new homelands. Like Migraflix, Empowerment-Plus sees newcomers as assets with new and needed skills that can contribute significantly to the local economies.

Bruce McEver, co-founder and president of Berkshire Capital Securities LLC in New York and London, set up a foundation which works to cultivate inter-religious understanding through the promotion of religious literacy especially among business leaders. Like Bruce, Empowerment-Plus reaches out to top business leaders and companies to help them understand how they can advance interfaith understanding and peace in their own workplaces and through engagement with Empowerment-Plus.

Emma Nicholson, Baroness of Winterbourne, executive chairman of the Iraq Britain Business council and founder and chairman of AMAR Foundation in the U.K. and Iraq, works to build business, technology, trade and investment in Iraq, with a special focus on women of religious minorities, such as Yazidis. Like Baroness Nicholson, Empowerment-Plus sees the importance of having an intentional focus on women who often are the most badly affected in conflict and repressive environments.

Similar inspiration comes from Kathy Ireland, founder of Kathy Ireland Worldwide. Kathy supports initiatives to empower leaders in advancing freedom in the face of religious oppression and has raised the call to defend Yazidi women in Iraq. Like Kathy, Empowerment-Plus pays particular attention to people who are oppressed because of their faith or belief.

Tayyibah Taylor (1952-2014) is a particularly good example of looking beyond stereotypes. Ms. Taylor was a tireless international voice for Muslim women everywhere. Through her Asisah magazine and advocacy efforts, she helped people of all faiths to broaden their perceptions of the lives and potential of Muslim women as she worked to reveal their true accomplishments and talent. Similarly, Empowerment-Plus aims to help people see beyond stereotypes of “the other” and focus on how diversity can bring greater economic success to communities.

Frank Fredericks, Founder and CEO of Mean Communications, has created whole campaigns to combat stigmatization of “otherness.” He led his organization in a coalition with the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, UNESCO, and other partners to produce a coordinated social media effort to spread awareness for the worldwide campaign “Do One Thing for Diversity and Inclusion.” In a more one-on-one level, Empowerment-Plus appeals to successful people in communities to volunteer as mentors – sharing what they’ve learned and been good at with others who are hoping to follow a similar path to success.

Brian Grim discusses the secular blindspot on religion in a new article published at the World Economic Forum.

A new initiative launched in Rome, Stand Together, aims to develop and disseminate stories of hope, forgiveness, and reconciliation. This includes highlighting how to advance interfaith understanding, religious freedom and peace through business. 

Two initiatives highlighted include:

An initiative to assist Iraqi refugee women: Baroness Emma Nicholson of the Amar Foundation has led the cause of helping displaced Iraqi women, regardless of faith or ethnicity, to cope with the horrendous atrocities of war, providing mental and physical health treatment and offering resources for recreation, education, and vocational training. A video illustratesBaroness Nicholson’s story and how her foundation helps Iraqi women of all faiths.

How to build an economy that goes beyond religious differences? Fouad Makhzoumi is the founder of the Makhzoumi Foundation, an initiative started in Lebanon aiming to foster sustainable economic development, contributing in this way to the development of Lebanese youth, regardless of creed. A video illustrates Fouad’s story and how his foundation helps Lebanese youth of all faiths.

The videos were produced by the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation, based in Washington D.C. Both Baroness Nicholson and Dr. Fouad Makhzoumi (picture below with RFBF President Brian Grim) are recipients of the 2016 Global Business & Interfaith Peace Award, which recognize business leaders – current or past CEOs – who have demonstrated leadership in championing interfaith understanding and peace. The Awards are a partnership initiative of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation (RFBF), its Brazilian affiliate, the Associação pela Liberdade Religiosa e Negócios (ALRN), and the United Nations Global Compact Business for Peace (B4P) platform.

A new ad by Amazon filmed in the UK sees two old friends meet for a cup of tea and discover they share a problem.

USA Today reports that the “most surprising thing about Amazon’s latest ad for its Prime service is that it appears to be the first time a Muslim cleric has been featured in a television ad shown in the United States.”

Amazon claims that is wasn’t making “any kind of political statement and the subject had nothing to do with the recently concluded U.S. presidential election,” according to USA Today. They also report that the advertisement was already in the works in June according to Amazon’s European Union director of advertising, Simon Morris.

Brian Grim, President of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, notes that “Business is at the crossroads of culture, commerce and creativity. This means businesses have the resources to make the world more peaceful as well as the incentive to do so.”

Grim goes on to say “such ads indeed show that business is good for interfaith understanding, religious freedom and peace.”

Companies can make positive contributions to peace in society by mobilizing advertising campaigns that bring people of various faiths and backgrounds together, not only seen in the new Amazon commercial filmed in the UK, but also in a recent Coca-Cola commercial filmed in Pakistan and India.

The attention major corporations give to religion, while surprising, is understandable given that religion and believers contribute substantially to economies, as shown in a recent global study produced for a World Economic Forum GAC. And just this weekend, Fox Business News reported on the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation’s recent study documenting the $1.2 trillion faith economy of the United States.

by Lisa Burns (originally published in Jesuits in Britain)

Launching Leaders, an interfaith project that links religion and business, has become the latest exciting new initiative to make its home at Manchester Universities’ Catholic Chaplaincy.

The Launching Leaders Group – a 12-week programme which pairs participants up with mentors – had its official launch at the Chaplaincy at the beginning of this month. With the help of online modules, talks, workshops and strategic planning, the participants on the course (many of them university students) are encouraged to develop themselves personally and professionally, whilst putting God at the centre of their decision-making process.

The course sees participants from a range of religious and academic backgrounds meeting very Tuesday for workshops facilitated by Chaplaincy Communications Officer Lisa Burns and Catholic languages student Michael Tomlin. During each session, mentors and participants discuss long and short term life plans and goals in workshop settings. Participants are paired up with mentors from different faith traditions – Muslim, Jewish, Catholic, and from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons).

While the Launching Leaders programme has been tried and tested internationally, it is now being piloted in its interfaith form at Manchester, at the invitation of Lead Chaplain Fr Tim Byron SJ.

A buzz of excitement

Launching Leaders is part of the Empowerment Plus programme, a fruit of years of research undertaken by Professor Brian J. Grim. Professor Grim, the founder and president of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, has looked extensively at the link between religious freedom and economic growth. His findings have shown that there is a positive correlation between the two, and that countries and regions where religious freedom is stifled have experienced economic decline.  View his fascinating TEDx talk

The much-anticipated global pilot of the interfaith Launching Leaders sessions at the Chaplaincy instigated a buzz of excitement, as the significance of its potential became tangible.

After the first session had ended, Professor Grim shared his thoughts: “The launch of Empowerment Plus at Manchester Universities’ Catholic Chaplaincy reflected one of the true great contributions of Ignatian spirituality – we saw God working through people He created, as diverse as Catholics, Mormons and Muslims, all sharing the goal of seeing Him more clearly in the day-to-day.”

He went on: “I couldn’t have been more pleased with the launch – it was amazing to see young adults from multiple faiths come together to share so naturally about life, jobs, faith. Their enthusiasm indeed reflects hope from the Lord.”

Hinna Parvez, a member of the Chaplaincy staff team, and coordinator of the Launching Leaders programme in Manchester also runs the Chaplaincy’s weekly night shelters.  Inspired by the Empowerment Plus vision, she has devised a timely business proposal to convert disused presbyteries and church buildings into Empowerment Plus Communities.

As the Launching Leaders weekly sessions continue, it becomes ever more evident that it is worth keeping an eye on what God has in store for the Empowerment Plus team in Manchester!

Last week in historic Westminster Hall, UK Parliament, we presented medals to two Business & Interfaith Peace award-winners who couldn’t make it to the Rio ceremony: Baroness Emma Nicholson (pictured on right) and Dr. Fouad Makhzoumi (pictured on left) with RFBF President Brian Grim.

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

The inaugural Awards were held in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, Sept. 6, a day before the Opening Ceremony of the 2016 Paralympic Games. The next awards will be given in Seoul, Korea, ahead of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Paralympics. The 2016 winners come from a variety of religious backgrounds and manage companies and enterprises in the U.S., Indonesia, Mozambique, Uganda, Brazil, Britain, Lebanon and Iraq. Today we are here to honor two of the seven 2016 medalists who were unable to join us in Rio: Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, and Dr. Fouad Mahzoumi.

The jury for this prestigious Award was comprised of a small group of high-level experts, including from the United Nations (H.E. Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations); the religious freedom community (Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, President of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice, and a former head of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom); and the business & peace community (Per L. Saxegaard, Business CEO, and Founder and Executive Chairman of the Business for Peace Foundation, Oslo, Norway).

H.E. Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, High Representative United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and one of the judges of the event, noted at the Awards that “Today, we are launching the First Edition of the Global Business and Interfaith Peace Awards, with the conviction that the business sector, the religious community and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations are important actors in ‘promoting peaceful and inclusive societies’. The businessmen and women who will accept this award today are those who have demonstrated strong leadership and have integrated the Sustainable Development Goals and interfaith understanding and peace into their business. … This award recognizes those who have taken an initiative to use their business as a platform for promoting positive change and tolerance in our society.”

Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne

Driven by religious intolerance and radical fundamentalism, ISIS (Daesh) has decimated the economies of both the Syrian and Iraqi nations, displaced millions from their homes, and acted as the hateful catalyst behind the genocide of Yazidis and other religious minorities. Violence from ISIS has left many survivors in need of medical care, shelter, and other common necessities. Baroness Nicholson, head of the Iraq Britain Business Council and the AMAR Foundation, oversees trade, investment, training and the transfer of technology to Iraq. With the support of local governments, Baroness Nicholson has led the cause of helping displaced Iraqi women, regardless of faith or ethnicity, to cope with the horrendous atrocities of war, providing mental and physical health treatment and offering resources for recreation, education, and vocational training. For this work, which spans decades, the United Nations and the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation are honored to award you this medal of the Inaugural Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards.

Dr. Fouad Makhzoumi

During a 15-year civil war, many youth in Lebanon forewent their education as they became increasingly involved with religious fundamentalism, leading to unemployment and economic stagnation. Fouad Makhzoumi, CEO of Future Pipes Industries Group Limited, witnessed how his late son’s youthful energy and cross-cultural savvy triggered exponential growth as his son provided a positive vision for productive and socially responsible business. Makhzoumi and his foundation have helped empower thousands by harnessing this same youthful enthusiasm for entrepreneurship and religious freedom. His microcredit training for Lebanese people of all faiths has helped over 10,000 individuals set up sustainable businesses, and hundreds of thousands more are receiving vocational training. For this work, which also spans decades, the United Nations and the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation are honored to award you this medal of the Inaugural Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards.