Religious Freedom & Business Foundation Urges State Department to Embrace Business-Centric Approach

Letter to Secretary of State Highlights Declining Religious Freedom, Proposes New Strategy

Annapolis, MD – Brian J. Grim, Ph.D., Founding President of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, has sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging the State Department to adopt a new strategy to combat the global decline of religious freedom. The letter emphasizes the critical role businesses can play in promoting religious freedom and proposes five key recommendations.

Grim highlights the alarming statistic that religious groups face harassment in 97% of countries worldwide, a significant increase from previous years. He argues that current strategies are insufficient and calls for a shift towards leveraging the influence and resources of the business community.

“The state of religious freedom worldwide is at its lowest point in 16 years,” Grim writes. “The solution is to adopt a new strategy that harnesses a powerful and untapped force with a vested interest in building religious freedom worldwide. That’s business.”

The letter details how many leading global companies are already implementing faith-friendly workplace practices, benefiting both employees and the bottom line. Grim’s recommendations to the State Department include:

1. Encourage Faith-Friendly Practices: The State Department should urge companies worldwide to adopt and benchmark faith-and-belief-friendly practices to promote religious freedom for billions of workers. Grim cites the Corporate Faith-Friendly Index, which tracks companies implementing such practices, including spiritual care provisions.
2. Create a Business Leaders Coalition: A global coalition of business leaders should be formed to inspire their peers to advance peace through religious freedom and interfaith understanding. Grim points to the Foundation’s Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards as an example of recognizing such leadership.
3. Fund Sustainable Initiatives: Prioritize funding for international religious freedom initiatives that can be sustained through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects. Grim mentions the Foundation’s Dare to Overcome initiative in India as a potential model.
4. Develop a Business Toolkit: Create a toolkit incorporating best practices and lessons learned from successful “religious freedom building” initiatives, similar to a toolkit developed in the UK.
5. Appoint a Business-Savvy Ambassador: Grim recommends that the President nominate an Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom with global business experience who can effectively promote the socio-economic benefits of religious freedom. He argues that understanding business and technology, especially in light of developments like generative AI, is crucial for this role.

Grim extends an invitation to Secretary Rubio to keynote the 6th annual Fortune 500 Faith@Work Global Summit at The Catholic University of America’s Busch School of Business in Washington, D.C., on May 21, 2025. The summit will focus on the role of businesses in advancing religious freedom globally.