Our current state of continual uncertainty surrounding the pandemic reminds me how many individuals belonging to religious groups around the world experience daily uncertainty for being people of faith. Amidst 20-plus years of rising government restrictions on religion and social hostilities involving religion, the global movement to advance religious freedom needs a new approach. Increasing government restrictions and social hostilities show how the world today is religiously less free than years past. This increase has occurred despite the remarkable work of religious freedom advocates and builders. Because of these challenging trends, the IRF secretariat studied new directions for expanding and coordinating religious freedom, or freedom of religion or belief (FORB) initiatives. This session will discuss new opportunities, both globally and regionally, that advocates and builders can work on cooperatively to see these trends reversed.

Open discussion of these ideas will continue after the Business panel.

Three top business leaders will address the virtual IRF Summit on July 16th, in a plenary presentation. They will discuss how and why religious freedom is a benefit to business and economies. They will also look at how business itself is a place where religious freedom is built as people from different faiths and beliefs work together for common goals. Our planet will have 2.3 billion more religiously affiliated people by 2050 compared with just 0.1 billion more religiously unaffiliated people. That’s like religion “winning” 23-to-1. Research shows that this religious growth can be good for the workplace and the bottom lines of businesses – as long as restrictions on freedom of religion or belief are kept low. In such countries, innovative strength is more than twice as high as in countries where governments and societies don’t respect freedom of religion or belief. So, freedom to believe – or not believe – is good for business.

Open discussion begins immediately following this panel.

Join us for an interactive discussion of next steps for the IRF movement, including the implications of the just-released Global IRF Survey.

Expanding freedom of religion or belief (FORB) globally will need to rely on new directions, according to a new study conducted by the IRF Secretariat in collaboration with the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation. The study includes data from ten focus groups and a global survey of more than 200 respondents representing points of view for 50 countries making up nearly three-quarters of the world’s population.