Religion in the workplace: Asset or debit?
Debate over the role of faith in the workplace is roiling and transforming American society as much as any other “public square” religion issue today. Experts say the phenomenon could have a greater long-term impact on the public role of religion than high-profile controversies such as school prayer or displays of the Ten Commandments.
A wide spectrum of Americans sees a positive role for religion in the workplace at a time when morals and ethics are viewed as declining. The Workplace Religious Freedom Act, which offers increased protections for religious employees, was just reintroduced in both houses of Congress with strong bipartisan support. Yet tricky tensions arise over questions of “how far”: How far must companies go to accommodate religious employees’ practices in an increasingly diverse country? How far can workers go in expressing their faith without unlawfully imposing their beliefs on others? And how far must employees go to prove discrimination based on religion - their own or lack thereof, or others’?
Some companies try to limit religious expression on company time and property. But a growing number are fostering expressions of faith by providing time and space for employees to gather or by explicitly making faith an integral part of their business philosophy. At the same time, a growing number of Christian ministries are urging members to live out their faith at work.
The resulting tensions are seen in the growing number of workplace bias reports on religion filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The 2004 figures, posted in March 2005, show that complaints have increased 27 percent across five years and 40 percent in the past decade.
Why it Matters
Whatever the story hook - conflict or consensus - the intersection of religion and work is a critical element in the growing national conversation about faith, for several reasons:
• Americans are working more and are increasingly assertive about their right to express their faith in public. Experts say the office has become the main “laboratory” for testing the boundaries of what is an acceptable role for religion in social discourse.
• The water cooler has become the new public square, and thus one of the main arenas for learning about other faiths in the United States’ increasingly pluralistic society.
• The recent spate of corporate scandals has prompted soul-searching by Americans and by American businesses about ways to make the marketplace more ethical. At the same time, the marketplace is more global, encompassing a growing number of faiths.
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National sources
• David W. Miller is executive director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture and an assistant professor of business ethics at Yale Divinity School. He also leads the center’s Ethics and Spirituality in the Workplace program. He is an ordained Presbyterian minister with a degree from Princeton Divinity School and is a prominent author and commentator of the growing nexus between work and faith. Contact 203-432-8669, david.w.miller@yale.edu.
• Douglas A. Hicks is associate professor of leadership studies and religion and director of the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement at the University of Richmond. Hicks is an ordained Presbyterian minister and author of Religion and the Workplace: Pluralism, Spirituality, Leadership (Cambridge University, 2003). He is a leading commentator on issues of faith and work and can speak to the impact of the growing presence of women in the marketplace. Contact 804-484-1601, dhicks@richmond.edu.
• Judi Neal heads the Association for Spirit at Work, a professional association for people trying to live out their faith in the workplace. Contact 203-467-9084, judi@spiritatwork.org.
• Nancy Smith of eastern Massachusetts runs WorkplaceSpirituality.info, a web site devoted to ways to integrate the spirituality of people of all faiths into the workplace. Her web site is a one-person ministry, an appointment by her United Methodist bishop; read an explanation. She is also the author of Workplace Spirituality: A Complete Guide for Business Leaders (Axial Age Publishing, 2006).Contact 978-977-7785, smithnrs@comcast.net.
• Richard Barrett is a North Carolina-based consultant who speaks to groups about how bringing spirituality into the workplace can improve business achievement. Contact 828-452-5050, richard@corptools.com.
• Bruce N. Cameron is an attorney with the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and specializes in religious liberty cases involving employees who have religious objections to joining unions or to financially supporting specific social policies of the unions. Contact 800-336-3600 or 703-321-8510, bnc@nrtw.org.
• The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is a public-interest law firm that protects the free expression of all religious traditions. The Becket Fund is based in Washington, D.C. Contact Kelly J. Torrance at 202-349-7202, ktorrance@becketfund.org.
• Mathew D. Staver is president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel, a civil liberties education and legal defense organization specializing in freedom of speech and religious freedom and based in Orlando, Fla. Contact 407-875-2100, liberty@lc.org.
WORKPLACE MINISTRIES
• The International Coalition of Workplace Ministries is a leading association for Christians who want to bring their faith into the workplace. Contact Os Hillman at 678-455-6262, os@icwm.net.
• The Dallas-based Marketplace Ministries has provided businesses across the country with Christian chaplaincy services since 1984. It employs more than a thousand chaplains around the country. Contact Art Stricklin at 972-385-7657, art.stricklin@marketplaceministries.com.
CHRISTIAN SOURCES
• The American Center for Law and Justice in Washington, D.C., is a leading religious legal advocacy group that frequently litigates on behalf of Christians who believe that they have been discriminated against at work. Jay Sekulow heads the ACLJ. Contact through Gene Kapp, 757-226-2489, kappcom@mindspring.com.
• Gregory S. Baylor directs the Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law and Religious Freedom and serves as chief litigation counsel for Religious Liberty Advocates. Contact 703-642-1070, gbaylor@clsnet.org.
• Alan E. Sears is president of and legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal organization that defends religious freedom. ADF is based in Scottsdale, Ariz. Contact 1-800-835-5233, asears@alliancedefensefund.org or info@telladf.org.
• James Standish is director of legislative affairs for the Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He is an expert in church-state issues, including workplace bias concerns, and he is based in Silver Spring, Md. Contact 301-680-6683, standishj@gc.adventist.org.
JEWISH SOURCES
• The Anti-Defamation League, based in New York, tracks discrimination based on religion. It has a list of regional offices.
• Mark Stern co-directs the Commission on Law and Social Action of the American Jewish Congress in Washington, D.C., and headed the committee that drafted Guidelines on Religious Exercise and Religious Expression in the Federal Workplace. Contact 212-879-4500 ext. 445, mstern@ajcongress.org.
MUSLIM SOURCES
• The Council on American-Islamic Relations is a leading anti-discrimination group. It is based in Washington, D.C., and releases an annual survey on bias incidents. The latest survey shows that workplace incidents remain the second most frequent types of complaints CAIR receives. Contact Rabiah Ahmed at 202-488-8787 ext. 3243, rahmed@cair-net.org. Also see a list of state and regional chapters.
• The Muslim Public Affairs Council is a leading Islamic advocacy group with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Contact communications director Edina Lekovic at 202-547-7701, communications@mpac.org.
• The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee works to stop discrimination against Muslims. Contact communications director Laila Al-Qatami at 202-244-2990, lalqatami@adc.org.
SIKH SOURCES
• The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (formerly Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force, or SMART) is a leading Sikh civil rights and advocacy group. Contact national director Preetmohan Singh, 202-393-2700, info@saldef.org.
• The Sikh Coalition is a New York-based advocacy group that organized in the wake of 9/11 and the bias incidents against Sikhs that followed the attacks. Contact legal director Amardeep Singh, 917-628-0091, amardeep.singh@sikhcoalition.org.
PAGAN, ATHEIST SOURCES
• Ellen Johnson is president of American Atheists, based in New Jersey. Contact 973-334-5110, info@atheists.org, or call national spokesman Ron Barrier, 718-967-6453. For other sources in the secularist community, see a Nov. 18, 2002, edition of ReligionLink, “Getting out from ‘Under God’: Atheists’ impact on religion.”
• The Pagan Pride Project in Indianapolis posts information about pagans in the workplace. Contact Cecylyna Dewr at 317-916-9115, dagonet@paganpride.org. Also, Anne Newkirk Niven is editor of several neo-pagan magazines and is based in Point Arena, Calif. She can discuss issues of workplace bias. Contact 707-882-2052, info@sagewoman.com. An Oct. 11, 2004, ReligionLink edition, “Wicca moves into the mainstream,” also has resources.
Background
THE LAW AND CURRENT LEGISLATION
• Check the status of the Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 2005 and read its wording. Search by bill number for the House version, HR 1445, and the Senate version, S 677.
• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires businesses to “reasonably accommodate” the religious practices of their employees. There are certain exemptions, such as if the requirements would impose an “undue hardship” on the company. This is often a judgment call that frequently results in complaints to the EEOC or in civil litigation.
• The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is charged with enforcing laws related to workplace discrimination, including those related to religion. Contact 202-663-4900.
| • See an EEOC chart of religion-based charges from 1992-2004.
• The EEOC has a list of field offices. • Read the EEOC’s question-and-answer sheet about worker rights for Muslims, Arabs, South Asians and Sikhs. |
• Read an Anti-Defamation League article about religious accommodation in the workplace.
• Read an Employer’s Guide to Religious Accommodation in the Workplace published by the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
• Read ReligiousTolerance.org’s timeline of workplace religious discrimination legislative and court activity since 1977.
SOCIOLOGICAL FACTORS
Experts tend to focus on three major developments:
• Immigration reform of the 1960s opened the doors to millions of people of religious backgrounds that are much different from what most Americans were accustomed to. Today, Sikhs, Muslims, Buddhists and a host of other religionists populate the workplace and are bringing their respective religious garbs, diets and other practices with them. An adjunct to this trend is the fallout from the Sept. 11 attacks and the Bush administration’s military campaign against violent Islamists. Muslims in America say they often feel targeted by prejudice as a result of these developments, and the workplace is a significant arena where these tensions play out.
• The growing popularity of new forms of religious observance, and the confusion about how and whether to accommodate them in the workplace. Wiccans, religious reconstructionists, neo-pagans and all manner of new “boutique” religions are unknown to the vast majority of Americans, as well as their supervisors at work. It also appears that limits are emerging on recognizing some religions. In one of the more curious cases, the recently-minted Church of Body Modification claims that its members should have religious protection to wear tattoos and piercings on the job. So far, the courts have not agreed, though new cases are always cropping up.
• The emergence of evangelical Christians into mainstream American culture. While the focus is often on the role of Christian conservatives in politics, evangelicals are also increasingly engaged in the culture as a whole, and the evangelical priority on witnessing to one’s faith can be a flashpoint in the office. Experts note that it is not just evangelicals who speak openly about their faith, however. Americans as a whole have grown much more accustomed than they ever used to be about speaking openly with others on matters of faith and spirituality - whatever their tradition may be.
ARTICLES
• Read a March 18, 2005, New York Sun article about the reintroduction in Congress of the Workplace Religious Freedom Act.
• Read a March 12, 2005, Washington Post story about 30 Dell employees who walked off their jobs after being told they couldn’t pray according to Muslim practice.
• Read a Feb. 1, 2005, Boston Globe story about conflicts over religion in the workplace.
• Read a Jan. 28, 2005, Religion & Ethics Newsweekly cover story, “Faith in the Workplace.” At the bottom of the report are a number of useful links for further research.
• Read a Jan. 31, 2005, U.S. News & World Report story on the growth of workplace chaplains.
• Read a Jan. 9, 2005, Charlotte Observer story about religion in the workplace. It’s posted by the Roundtable on Religion & Social Welfare Policy.
• Read a Feb. 18, 2005, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette feature on the role of faith at Tyson Foods Inc., the largest meat company in the world.
• An Oct. 31, 2004, New York Times magazine article (payment required to view) by Russell Shorto, “Faith at Work,” examines the growth of Christian-oriented businesses.
• Read an October 2004 article in the New Hampshire Business Review, “Tattoos & Body Piercing: Avoiding Employment Discrimination Claims,” that summarizes the latest state of case law on claims such as those of the Church of Body Modification.
• Read a Dec. 7, 2004, CharismaNOW wire service story about Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy, who tries to incorporate Christian teachings into the work ethic of his huge and popular business, including closing his fast-food outlets on Sundays.
• Read a May 6, 2003, Religion News Service story about the Workplace Religious Freedom Act. It’s posted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
SURVEYS AND RESEARCH
• Read a 2001 study by the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding and the Society for Human Resource Management on growing religious diversity in the workplace. This study is the most comprehensive examination of the topic available.
• Read an Aug. 27, 2002, Gallup survey, “Religion for Corporate America” (subscriber only), which shows that almost two-thirds of people in the work force think expressions of religion would be either tolerated or encouraged at their place of work. The remaining third (34 percent) say such expressions would be discouraged. Eight in 10 say they personally believe that open expressions of religion should be tolerated or encouraged. One in five (21 percent) say such expressions should be discouraged.
• Read a list of “factoids” posted by the International Coalition of Workplace Ministries detailing trends, statistics and emerging issues on faith in the workplace.
• The American Religious Identification Survey, conducted under the auspices of The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, tracks shifts in proportions of the U.S. religious makeup. Key findings include that the proportion of the population that can be classified as Christian has declined from 86 percent in 1990 to 77 percent in 2001.
Regional sources
STATE BY STATE
• Field offices of the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission can supply statistics and descriptions of cases.
• Frederick T. Golder is a Boston-area trial attorney who teaches about employment rights at the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover. His books include Uncivil Rights: Protecting and Preserving Your Job Rights (Lyra, 1999). Contact 781-592-4000, ftgolder@aol.com.
• Laura L. Nash is a business ethicist and senior research fellow at Harvard Business School. She wrote Church on Sunday, Work on Monday: The Challenge of Fusing Christian Values With Business Life (Jossey-Bass, 2001). Contact 617-495-6055, lnash@hbs.edu.
• Steven D. Jamar teaches law at Howard University and has written about religion in the workplace. Contact 202-806-8017, sjamar@law.howard.edu.
• E. Christi Cunningham teaches law at Howard University and has written about employment discrimination. Contact 202-806-8034, ccunningham@law.howard.edu.
• David L. Gregory is a law professor at St. John’s University in Jamaica, N.Y., who specializes in labor and employment issues. He co-wrote Labor Management Relations and the Law (Foundation, 1999) and edited Labor and the Constitution: Labor and Property, Privacy, Discrimination and International Relations (Garland Press, 1999). Contact gregoryd@stjohns.edu.
• Christopher J. Metzler oversees the equal employment opportunity and diversity studies programs at Cornell University in Ithaca and speaks frequently on workplace harassment issues. Contact 212-340-2852, cm277@cornell.edu.
• Jerry Biberman is a professor of management at the University of Scranton who writes, teaches, consults and speaks about work and spirituality. He co-edited Work and Spirit: A Reader of New Spiritual Paradigms for Organizations (University of Scranton, 2000). He is co-editor of the Journal of Management, Spirituality & Religion. Contact 570-941-7707, bibermang1@scranton.edu.
• Charles A. Marvin teaches law at Georgia State University in Atlanta and specializes in law and religion. Contact 404-651-2436, cmarvin@gsu.edu.
• William P. Marshall is Kenan Professor of Law and a constitutional lawyer at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Contact 919-843-7747, wpmarsha@email.unc.edu.
• Laura Underkuffler is a law professor at Duke University in Durham and has written about religious discrimination. Contact 919-613-7085, Underkuffler@law.duke.edu.
• Michael J. Perry is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law at Emory University in Georgia and specializes in religious liberty issues. Contact 404-712-2086, mperry@law.emory.edu.
• Paul E. Salamanca teaches law at the University of Kentucky in Lexington and specializes in law and religion. Contact 859-257-1151, psalaman@uky.edu.
• Wendy Brown Scott teaches law at Tulane University in New Orleans and specializes in law and religion. Contact 504-865-5933, wbscott@law.tulane.edu.
• Mark C. Modak-Truran teaches law at Mississippi College in Jackson and specializes in law and religion. Contact 601-925-7159, mmodak@mc.edu.
• David Krueger holds the chair in managerial and corporate ethics at the division of business administration at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. He is the author of Productive Justice and the Modern Business Corporation in a Global Economy (Abingdon Press, 1997) and Keeping Faith at Work: The Christian in the Workplace (Abingdon Press, 1994). Contact 216-826-5923, dkrueger@bw.edu.
• Richard W. Garnett teaches law at Notre Dame University and specializes in law and religion. Contact 574-631-6981, Rick.Garnett.4@nd.edu.
• Timothy L. Fort is an associate professor of business law and business ethics at the University of Michigan business school. He has published articles on religion, ethics and the workplace. Contact 734-764-1349, timfort@umich.edu.
• Thomas C. Berg is a law professor and constitutional scholar at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. He has written about religious speech in the workplace. Contact 651-962-4918, TCBERG@stthomas.edu.
• Marie Failinger teaches law at Hamline University in St. Paul and edits The Journal of Law and Religion. Contact 651-523-2124, mfailinger@gw.hamline.edu.
• Michael J. Naughton teaches courses on faith and work in the theology department and the graduate school of business at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. He directs the John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought, which examines Catholic social thought in relationship to business, Catholic education and urban issues. His books include, as co-author, Managing as if Faith Mattered: Christian Social Principles in the Modern Organization (University of Notre Dame, 2001). Contact 651-962-5712, mjnaughton@stthomas.edu.
• Joanne C. Brant is a law professor at Ohio Northern University in Ada who specializes in employment discrimination. Contact 419-772-2228, j-brant@onu.edu.
• Roberto Corrada, a professor at the University of Denver College of Law, is an expert in the legal history of religion in the workplace issues. Contact 303-871-6273, rcorrada@law.du.edu.
• Martin Rutte is a consultant on spirituality in the workplace. He is president of Livelihood, a management consulting firm in Santa Fe, and co-wrote Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work (Health Communications, 2001). Contact 505-466-1510, martin@martinrutte.com.
• Emily Fowler Hartigan is a professor of law at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio who specializes in law and religion. Contact 210-431-2273, ehartigan@stmarytx.edu.
• Douglas Laycock teaches law at the University of Texas at Austin and is a leading scholar on the law of religious liberty. Contact 512-232-1341, dlaycock@mail.law.utexas.edu.
• Frederick M. Gedicks teaches law at Brigham Young University and specializes in religious freedom. Contact 801-422-4533, gedicksf@lawgate.byu.edu.
• Eugene Volokh teaches law at the University of California in Los Angeles and specializes in religious freedom. Contact 310-206-3926, volokh@law.ucla.edu.
• David B. Cruz teaches law at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and specializes in law and religion. Contact 213-740-6473, dcruz@law.usc.edu.
• Mark S. Scarberry teaches law at Pepperdine University in Malibu and specializes in freedom of religion. Contact 310-506-4667, mark.scarberry@pepperdine.edu.
• Donald McCormick is an associate professor of business at the University of Redlands and has taught and written about spirituality and religion in the workplace. He is researching Buddhist spiritual practices in the workplace. Contact 310-365-2567, don_mccormick@redlands.edu.
• Ian I. Mitroff is president of Comprehensive Crisis Management in Manhattan Beach, Calif., and the Harold Quinton Distinguished Professor of Business Policy in the graduate school of business at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He also is a professor of journalism in the Annenberg School of Communication at USC. His books include, as co-author, A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America: A Hard Look at Spirituality, Religion and Values in the Workplace (Jossey-Bass, 1999). Contact 310-374-0063, ian@compcrisis.com.
• Garrett Epps is a law professor at the University of Oregon in Eugene who specializes in religious freedom. He is a former staff writer for the Washington Post and has written for many other periodicals. Contact 541-346-1578, gepps@law.uoregon.edu.
• Barbara Taylor is a management consultant with the Institute for Management Excellence in Lacey, Wash., and speaks on spirituality in the workplace. Contact 360-412-0404.
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