Category Archives: Religious Diversity Kit

Religious diversity in the workplace and interfaith projects in the community.

Authors A-H, Religious Diversity Kit

Diversity and Speech #25: Growing Up Bi-Religious – by Carlos E. Cortés

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 Many diversity trainers tell me that they steer clear of religion.  Not me.  Faith discussions are always welcome in my workshops. I love talking about religion. Maybe that’s because of how I grew up.

ChurchSome people are reared in a strong religious tradition. Others with none. I grew up in a home with two faith traditions. To this day that experience affects the way I view the world around me.

shofar
Rams’ Horn – Shofar

Consider the opening lines of my memoir, Rose Hill: An Intermarriage before Its Time.  “Dad was a Mexican Catholic.  Mom was a Kansas City-born Jew with Eastern European immigrant parents. They fell in love in Berkeley, California, and married in Kansas City, Missouri.  That alone would not have been a big deal. But it happened in 1933, when such marriages were rare. And my parents spent most of their lives in Kansas City, a place both racially segregated and religiously divided.  Mom and Dad chose to be way ahead of their time; I didn’t.  But because of them, I had to be. My mixed background meant that, however unwillingly, I had to learn to live as an outsider.”

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Religious Diversity Kit, UTC Interns

Religious Diversity In Corporate America – by Meg Eslinger, Vivian Schlabritz

Editor’s Note: Article from DEI in Communications class at the University of TN / Chattanooga where I spoke on religious diversity.

Corporate America makes up nearly 45 percent of American employees. Each of those employees represent diversity in some form or fashion, representing an array of languages, cultures, classes, and religions. With these diverse aspects comes considering dealing with differences between employers, co-workers, CEO’s, etc. Religious Diversity seems to have the most significance when it comes to conflict or dealing with strategic communication. Religious Diversity plays an essential role in Corporate America, especially today in the age of Social Media and the public seeing what corporations are “all about.”

How a big corporation such as Delta, Nike, Target, Verizon, etc promotes being accepting of religion, no matter what religion, is essential from a Public Relations standpoint. Yes, they might look good on the outside to the public for consumer satisfaction and revenue, but it’s not always equally reflected within these corporations. Religion is defined by Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) by saying; “Religion is not limited to traditional, organized religions, but also includes religious beliefs that are practiced by a small group of people and are not part of a formal church or sect.” (SHRM 2008) Religious diversity really shows itself with respect in how employers handle accommodating time off for religious holidays. According to most corporate Human Resource Managers, they report they work with ”most” religious holidays meaning Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas etc- and not including holidays such as Diwali, Yom Kippur, Ramadan, etc.

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Religious Diversity Kit, UTC Interns

The New Business of Church – by Justin Glover

Editor’s Note: Article from DEI in Communications class at the University of TN / Chattanooga where I spoke on religious diversity.

When discussing the idea of someone’s religious ideals and upbringings, it is important to treat these topics with the utmost respect. However, the church you may attend is much more than a business than you might expect. Religion is a $1.2 trillion dollar industry, and yes that is trillion. This can ultimately bring into question the character of those who operate these businesses. Does this mean that these establishments are ultimately trying to trick or confuse those who attend? Not necessarily, but it is shallow to operate behind closed curtains much like many church business markets.

It is also important to break down the similarities with a business and a church. The church offers a public speaking attendance for its viewers and does things such as play music. These things are often services that require payment to attend. Concerts and motivational speakers do not often offer the contents within their acts to the public for free. According to the Theology of Business Institute, annual collections for churches averaging 162 attendees is just south of $215,000. It is important to note as well that a church is a legal entity. They employ a group of people at each general location across the country and strive to ignite the community. If a church is operating for a long period of time, it is safe to assume that they are generating a profit.

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Religious Diversity Kit, UTC Interns

Are Advertising Companies Making Changes – by Jessalee West, Taralyn Wiley, Caroline Coppock

Editor’s Note: Article from DEI in Communications class at the University of TN / Chattanooga where I spoke on religious diversity.

Many aspects of communication have changed over the years to become for the most part more inclusive. However, one part that seems to be falling a bit behind all the others is the inclusion of religious diversity. This topic is not one that is discussed a great deal when thinking about advertising, branding, or marketing. There is a lot of discussion about racial inclusion as well as gender inclusion, but the religious aspect does not get as much attention. This idea seems to be changing a bit at a time, especially with companies such as Apple, Facebook, and Google.

Advertising is a big part of media and communications, however there is not a lot of religious talk in regard to what is included in advertisements. It is not one of their main focuses within many companies when researching and determining what will generate the most success for their advertisements. When dealing with religious holidays it is taken into consideration that some things should be included, such as when dealing with Easter and Christmas, however there is rarely any research done into how best to reach those religious minorities. It is considered a general rule in advertising to not use generic religious symbols that could somehow offend a person of that religious affiliation. And while this is a good step there is work to be done in regards to making advertising a religiously inclusive part of marketing and communications. There are some companies who are making good progress in the right direction, such as Facebook.

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Religious Diversity Kit, UTC Interns

Christianity in 2021 – by Cole Fischer, Sydney Hermann, and Liv Ellis

Editor’s Note: Article from DEI in Communications class at the University of TN / Chattanooga where I spoke on religious diversity.

As we get older and merge into the world, we are often faced with meeting increasingly more diverse people. It is important to listen to each other with open minds to understand others and how they have lived their lives. Learning and understanding new points of view is the best way to be an active member of a diverse community. Generalizing religious people groups can be dangerous as everyone has different experiences even within the same religion. As Christians, we have different walks of faith and yet, we have had our own experiences in life. The following three testimonies are from college students who identify themselves as members of the Christian faith.

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Race & Ethnicity, Religious Diversity Kit

A Personal History of Blacks and Jews Part 2 – by Marceline Donaldson

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Today, United Fruit is a huge corporation, but that Black/Jewish beginning is almost lost in history. In today’s world it would be seen very differently from what it actually was. It was beginning to lose that history when I was growing up because Jews were beginning to call themselves “white” and the general U. S. society could not see such an alliance and friendship as one amongst equals as existed between the man who founded United Fruit and the man who was responsible for a serious part of its early growth. But when I was a small child, the stories and the talk were about how United Fruit would not have existed or grown as it did without the friendship and working together of those two men – the Jew and the Black. Back then Jews were not hired to work regular jobs. In fact, it is within my lifetime that banks went from hiring no Jews to now hiring Jews for jobs up and down the bank ladder. Jews back then had to either start their own company or find some other independent way to make a living. That is what Mr. Zemurray was doing. Looking back into that history from today, it is easy to re-write it so that its real beginnings are “cleaned-up”.

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Diversity Town Hall 2021, Levine articles, Religious Diversity Kit, Women in STEM

Diversity Town Hall 2021: Deborah Levine – ADR Editor

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Diversity Town Hall DEI OVERVIEW  BizUTC

Editor’s Note: This was the introductory presentation at the 2021 Diversity Town Hall in partnership with the Gary  W. Rollins College of Business /U. of TN at  Chattanooga (Moderator Dr. Gail Dawson) and the American Diversity Report. 

CLICK to hear presentation

TRANSCRIPT:

I appreciate both the eagerness and anxiety about the future of the diverse workplace and I’m often asked to predict what that future will look like. Predicting the future requires looking at the past – at the history of the diversity field and how it developed. I’ll get personal here and go back to New York City 40 years ago. I had just graduated college with a degree in anthropology based on cultural structuralism along with the science of storytelling. I was excited about getting a job, but was considered esoteric and irrelevant. And female. No one would hire me. Still hopeful, I went to an employment agency in Manhattan. As soon as I walked in the door, the office manager insisted that I sit at the all-women’s table and take a typing test. I said no and moved to sit at the all-men’s table where they were interviewed for executive positions. The manager said no. I insisted, he physically blocked me. I insisted again, he threatened to call the police.

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Levine articles, Religious Diversity Kit

Quick Reference Religious Diversity Cards – by Deborah Levine

Path to Religious Literacy

Religious DiversityWhile leadership training will often include issues related to Diversity & Inclusion, few programs include instruction in religious diversity. Yet, cultural awareness, cultural competence, global leadership, and cross-cultural communication are embraced as the tools of the market place of the future. What accounts for this black hole of information on diverse religions?  One has only to turn on the TV, open a newspaper, or check the internet headlines to see that religion is a major factor in interactions across the planet.  It is both puzzling and disturbing that a virtual vacuum of expertise exists in the relationship-oriented sectors of our society: business, education, government, and human services. Trying to avoid culture clash of belief systems can result in a paralyzing sense of being overwhelmed and under-prepared. Too many leaders are left scrambling for strategies and resources designed to turn the religious diversity novice into an expert.

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Academic Articles, Levine articles, Religious Diversity Kit

Developing a Cognitive Technology for Religious Tolerance: Case Studies Documentation – by Deborah Levine

Abstract

This paper explains creative approaches to religious diversity and tolerance based on the cultural anthropology theories of Claude Lévi-Strauss. My research was conducted through case studies beginning with a 1990 pilot project in a globalization context, Chicago’s suburban technical corridor. This first case study, the DuPage Interfaith Resource Network (DIRN), pioneered strategies for managing religious conflicts due to changing demographics.

DIRN developed religious literacy strategies and administrative policies within the public schools, a major conflict arena, and were adopted by community service organizations including law enforcement, healthcare, and nonprofit NGOs. The strategies were coupled with programs based on storytelling for greater impact.

The second case study took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, following the domestic terrorism of the Oklahoma City bombing. In this phase, Oklahoma’s Say No to Hate Coalition adapted the ground work of DIRN to an environment that included active hate groups.

The third case study was generated by the Women’s Council on Diversity in Chattanooga, Tennessee. A combined story-based communication, emotional intelligence, and problem solving system evolved and was field tested in leadership workshops. The resulting Matrix Model Management System emerged through my cross-cultural communication textbook and workbook.

Chattanooga’s final research phase was prompted by a domestic terrorism incident. The System became a cognitive technology built on the platform of combined coalition strategies and religious literacy. The emphasis underscored problem solving and the unconscious bias involved in decision making. The cognitive technology is codified in my Un-Bias Guide Series which has a broad applicability for corporations, NGOs, education institutions, and government agencies.

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Commerce, Levine articles, Religious Diversity Kit

The Powerful Connection of Spirituality and Entrepreneurship– by Deborah Levine

When COVID-19 changed the economy, more people became entrepreneurs. The act of creating your own business has an underlying connection between spirituality and entrepreneurship.  How does that work? The first element is the business side of the endeavor and its bottom line, otherwise known as ‘show me the money.’  The second motivation is self-fulfillment.  Some refer to this element of entrepreneurship as ‘personal satisfaction.’  But the core of the vague term ‘personal satisfaction’ is what is best described as a spiritual sense of purpose.  This spirituality is sometimes linked to one’s particular faith tradition, but is not necessarily so.  Rather, there is a commonality in this spiritual sense of something greater than ourselves that translates across the boundaries of specific religions.  Most importantly, there is tremendous power where this spirituality and business overlap.

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