Articles

• America's Employees Cry Out for Spirituality After 9/11
  Explore the current employee’s desire for a more spiritual workplace in America after 9/11. How will traditional managers respond to this cultural shift? Daryl and Estraletta Green, of Performance Management & Logistics Associates (PMLA) offer four suggestions for employees desiring a more, purpose-driven life in the workplace.

• Resolving the Faith Work Tension in Christian Professional Practice
  by Mike McLoughlin
  Christian Professionals have real problems resolving the faith work tension in their professional practice. They ask, Is faith welcome at work? Is work valuable to God? What do I do when faith conflicts with work? Where is the balance between faith and work? Can faith make a difference at work? How?

• Is This You - an Overworked and Disillusioned Worker?
  From the Introduction to Workplace Spirituality: A Complete Guide for Business Leaders by Nancy Smith . . . . Are you an overworked and disillusioned worker? Or are you an employer who must deal with dissatisfied and demanding workers like these?  

• Meaning and Values Slipping into First Seat
  -from the Herman Trend Alert, January 26, 2006
  The movement is now not toward higher monetary compensation, fringe benefits, or negotiated cost-sharing. Employees are seeking what we might call compensation of a different nature. They want something more for themselves; they want control of their time. They want balance. Not work-life balance, but life-work balance. Life comes first today for more and more people.

• Research on 'Spiritual Capital'
  The Spiritual Capital Research Program is interested in supporting high-level, impartial scholarship on the contribution of religion--both for good and for ill--to economic and social developments. The aim of the program is to catalyze the development of this inter-disciplinary research field, which may become a vital new field in the social sciences.

• Are Profitability and Spirituality Polar Opposites?
  'Soul at Work' Book Says Spirituality Increases Profits
  How can a company engender spirituality while also worrying about the bottom line? Can a company use its collective spirituality to boost profits? Margaret Benefiel, PhD, author of Soul at Work (Seabury Books) knows the answers to these questions. A professor at Andover Newton Theological School, Dr. Benefiel urges others to follow a new business model and reap enormous rewards that are more than financial.

• THE WORK OF THE HEART By Steve Goodier Steve shares a touching piece by a teacher, appropriate as we approach the beginning of a new school year.

• Why Can't You Be More Like Me? By Sandra Schrift A humorous look at different leadership styles.

• Where Have All Our Leaders Gone? By Roger Herman and Joyce Gioia Employees in many organizations are looking for strong leadership, and not finding it....Corporate leadership has been damaged, maligned, and challenged in recent times by a number of incidents that have received substantial publicity. Leaders, who were once respected, have been caught in compromising unethical and financial dealings that threaten their careers and the security of their companies.

• Dare To Believe By Steve Goodier. It occurs to me that some people will swallow anything! Maybe not literally, but it seems that some people are ready to believe in any new "get-rich" scheme; to follow any new fad; to swallow any fantastic story!

• Announcing the "Management, Spirituality, and Religion Promising Dissertation Award" Requirements for this award that is available to doctoral candidates approaching completion of comprehensive exams and beginning the formulation of dissertation proposals.

• Worker Happiness Herman Trend Alert. Worker confidence in the economy and their personal situations will stimulate employees to become bolder. They will demand more from their employers in compensation, benefits, flexible working arrangements, opportunities for growth, and better management. If their expectations are not met, they will leave their current employers in search of other opportunities.

• Success on Your Own Terms We keep hearing that time is money. Time is far more than money. "It's more valuable than platinum and more perishable than a sunset," is the flowery way a former professor of mine used to put it. But the money we spend is—in a very real sense—time. And that money, as Emerson noted, is often far too expensive.

• The Human who is not a Resource by Bard & Michal Papegaaijby. Managed as resources people do what resources do: they become depleted or absent – they burn out or move to another company (unlike other resources, humans do have a will of their own). Managed as assets they flourish, growing in value for themselves and from there – engaged in heart and soul – add value to the companies (and all other communities) they are part of.

• Selling Hope in Hard Cover by William Greider. To understand the degraded conditions of work in America, one must recognize that the employment system is fundamentally organized on a “master-servant relationship,” the power relationship inherited from feudalism when the lord of the manor ruled the lives of any serfs on his property. Now the lord is called a CEO, but the domination of people is not that different in workplaces.

• Spirituality, Creativity and Business “How can we bring business into an expanded sense of our spirituality?” Business is a learning ground for deepening our spiritual awareness.

• Responsible Leadership: Base Your Leadership on Spiritual Roots Any company that successfully integrates performance and responsibility will thrive. When leadership is firmly grounded in spiritual principles, business skills are applied with excellence, and people strive to apply high values to its products, its communications, and internal management practices – then the brands of that company take on an allure to anyone interested in high integrity.

• Forget 'Diversity' ~ Instead, Consider The Concept Of Cross-Cultural Intelligence Think instead, in terms of cross-cultural intelligence where “culture” assumes its true definition and acknowledges that every single individual has his/her own unique variation of one.

• Naming the Elephant When we understand the importance of interdependence-the need to work together across colors and cultures to create change-only then can we begin to own race relations as a collective issue.  And only then can we begin to take the first baby-like steps toward interdependence and a better future for our children.

• Multiculturalism: Learning to Understand Other Cultures Multiculturism demands that we use our empathy and intuition (emotional intelligence competencies) to understand the other point of view, that we seek the common ground, and also that we understand there are many cultures within any given culture.

• "Divine Hospitality":  Acting From a Higher Perspective What does it mean to be an agent of divine hospitality at work?  What does it look like when folks put their spirituality into gear at work?

• Pagans In The Workplace The most commonly practiced types of Paganism are Wicca, Asatru, Druidry, or simply Paganism or Neo-Paganism, just as a Christian can be Catholic, Presbyterian, or simply Christian. All of these are somewhat different from each other. 

• Take Care of Your Future In 1987 the the World Future Society met in Cambridge, Massachusetts and made some predictions about the 21st century, including the re-spiritualization of society (reversing the secularization trend of recent centuries), tying knowledge to vision and direction.

• Workers Ready To Jump Millions of workers are unhappy with their present employment....They are ready to move to a new opportunity as soon as someone makes them an offer.

• Creating a Context of Spirituality in the Workplace By Dr. William Guillory. 10 steps for an individual worker from The Living Organization -- Spirituality in the Workplace

• Questions People Ask about Spirituality and the Workplace: Part 1 and Part 2 Excerpts from The Living Organization -- Spirituality in the Workplace by Dr. William Guillory.

• How Spirituality in the Workplace can create Gray-Haired Revolutionaries  By Joan Marques. Sounds pretty paradoxical, doesn’t it? “Spirituality” and “revolutionary,” mentioned in one sentence, and on top of all in a cooperative way toward each other! Yet, it can make perfect sense!

• Feel-good interfaith events may paper over deep differences By Charles C. Haynes. In the long shadow of Sept. 11, Americans are rediscovering what most of the world has never forgotten: Religious differences matter.... Now comes the inevitable backlash from people angry about “feel-good” attempts at religious unity.... Ignoring differences doesn’t work. But neither does stirring up anger between religions with hot rhetoric. Only by agreeing to live by the principles of rights and responsibilities that flow from the First Amendment can we continue to live with our deepest differences – without going for the jugular.

• "Junk Food" Spirituality By Nancy R. Smith. Today's Spirituality in the Workplace movement emphasizes the common spirituality in all humans (which is good), but often appears to water down all examples of spirituality to the least common denominator (which is not so good).

• What Is Workplace Spirituality? By Nancy R. Smith. Spirituality is the inborn desire and ability of every person to seek, know, and respond to the Mystery that I call God. What does this have to do with work and the workplace? More and more, workers are insisting that their spirituality be welcomed in the workplace just as their intelligence is. Like intelligence, our spirituality is part of what we bring with us to work.

• Does Spirituality Belong in the Workplace? By Nancy R. Smith. Did you know that spirituality and spirituality in the workplace have become popular buzzwords these days? As a movement, spirituality in the workplace does not focus on God or theology.

Links to Other Articles

• Spiritual Fodder at Work
  By Mike Copeland
  Sdoes have a place in the boardroom and at work, say local business leaders who practice their faith to the point of tithing from company profits and holding Bible studies for employees. Most said they love to share their faith, but they don’t all choose to do so in a workplace setting.

• The Higher Calling: Why and Where Religion Fits in the Workplace
  By  Jennifer Litz
  ...many bosses are moving to fill the void of employee confidence with religion. ....Speculations aside, religious accommodations in the workplace may not only be beneficial, they’re the law. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Texas Labor Code both require that employers “reasonably accommodate employees' sincerely held religious practices unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employer.”

• Finding purpose in employment leads to workplace spirituality
  By Tim McGuire
  In a previous column, I have said "spirituality in the workplace should mean that we work to become 'co-creators' with God to make better products, more loving workplaces and to be better stewards of our resources." . . . . Making things work well, fulfilling our moral duty to our neighbor and genuinely engaging in meaningful relationships with co-workers are crucial to spirituality.

• One needs to go beyond job fits The Hindu Business Line. August 1, 2005 Book Review of Corporate Soul by Moid Siddiqui the author wanders through ancient wisdom to identify `the monk within the manager'....The emerging era of business management will be one of ethics and spirituality, foresees the author....The author exhorts to learn from the six tenets of Taoism, viz. "don't force things on people; be unmovable — let events flow over you; maintain the universal balance — Yin and Yang; all things are one, interrelated; ideally, one should desire nothing — desires upset equilibrium; and the art of Wu Wei — action through inaction." ... Most important, "there is no right way to do a wrong thing"....

• SPIRITUALITY UP, RELIGION DOWN IN AMERICA It may come as a shock to many Americans to learn that the number of Christians in our country is steadily declining -- and that evangelical Christians in particular represent only 7% of the populace, with no increase in their numbers over the last decade. Meanwhile, a full third of American adults now say they are 'spiritual but not religious.' What does that mean exactly? And why aren't these numbers making news?

• Businesses benefit from a low-key spirituality
  At a Babson College symposium, businesspeople discussed the importance of integrating spirituality with business. By Frederica Saylor. May 12, 2005. Science and Theology News.   In a time when international business leaders recognize a need to better infuse business with values, Richard Goosen, a professor of entrepreneurial strategy and finance at Trinity Western University’s business school, said he believes spiritually should be part of entrepreneurship curricula....He said that although money is the oxygen of a business, it’s not the purpose.

• Recognising a new energy in organisations By John Bradfield. May 9, 2005 The trend towards cultural capital is highly dependent on values or business principles and some corporations are even beginning to recognise the "energy" or "spirit" that people bring to their work. Speaking about energy or spirit in the workplace is often viewed as taboo in hard-nosed commercial, manufacturing, engineering and technology organisations where human values have not always been placed at the top of the corporate agenda. Instead, business people allude to these vital components of life through palatable and inventive semantics such as "business ethics", "integrity and the workplace", and "the spirit of cooperation".

• The Journey of Meaning at Work by John Epps. From Group Facilitation, Spring 2003. By "meaning at work" we mean the worthwhileness of an undertaking, a sense of importance in a larger framework. "Meaning at work" is the contribution of a particular undertaking to a larger context that the meaning-seeker values. Work that contributes to nothing beyond itself is often considered meaningless. "Meaning at work," then, is the relationship between a particular undertaking and a larger framework in which it exists and to which it contributes. This article provides a "road map" of the journey of meaning as it is experienced at work....The search for meaning in work can take one of three possible pathways: the way of Significance, the way of Professionalism, and/or the way of Purpose.

• God and Mammon at Harvard By Linda Tischler. May, 2005 While the business school on the other side of the river gets all the attention for turning out world-class leaders, Harvard Divinity School has quietly graduated a roster of exceptional businesspeople....To scholars rooted in the flinty soil of New England, the vogue for spirituality in the corporation too often seems academically flabby, lowbrow, even vaguely unsavory....but Harvard President Lawrence Summers challenged: "If some of the most vexing questions in our public life have religious dimensions, we should foster active and vital collaborations between ethicists from the divinity school and faculty from the business school on newly pressing questions of professional ethics."

• Accommodating Prayer in the Workplace A nationwide study conducted by the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding has found that 66% of US workers feel there is religious bias and discrimination in the workplace. ... Allowing people to be “authentic” at work – regardless of which faith, if any, they affiliate themselves with – makes for happier and more productive employees and, ultimately, for a more profitable company, says Martin Rutte, a management consultant and the driving force behind the establishment of the new Center for Spirituality and the Workplace at the St Mary’s University in Nova Scotia.

• Alone Again, Religiously Spirituality on the job can pull an office together--or apart....By Joseph Telushkin, The Everday Ethicist.  I view religion as very private and personal. Am I being a prude? I just want to do my work at work, and leave my time to worship and pray in privacy?

• What Is Workplace Faith? Three myths continue to persist among Christians who go to work in places other than churches every weekday morning. The first myth, and probably the most damaging one, is that workplace Christian faith is about ethics, or doing the right thing....Faith at work is also not about evangelism. That’s myth number two…Myth number three is among the most discouraging, that we go to work to earn money to give to the church so it can do God’s work.

• Developing Practical Spirituality in the Workplace By Robin Alfred, with Robin Shohet, Findhorn Foundation Consultancy Service. Paper for the 'Living Spirit' Conference, University of Surrey, Guildford, England, July 22-24 2002. A crisis of meaning has been developing in the western world. All types of people , from disaffected teenagers to MDs and CEOs, are asking, 'Now what?' or even, 'So what?' as stress levels and competition increase, and failure, and fear of failure, haunts even the most successful. Some of the answers are coming from the East e.g. meditation and spiritual practice; some from the land e.g. organic farming; and some from within each one of us whenever we bring our creativity, our intuition and our passion to work. Such questions, and the responses they elicit, start to form a living expression of spirituality at work.

• Command Presence: What a Marine drill instructor taught me about leadership. By Eric Liu. In the summers after my sophomore and junior years in college, I went to Marine Officer Candidates School in Quantico, Va. I went out of patriotism. I went to discover what it meant to command, and to glimpse more of my true character. The 12 weeks were brutal and glorious. I chose ultimately not to take the second lieutenant's commission. But my time with the Marine Corps raised a question I've often returned to: How much of being a good leader is teachable? Can command presence be instilled?

• Is Your Job Just Work? Or is it just work? A new book from Harvard’s Russell Muirhead examines the new striving for careers that promise more than a paycheck. By Mallory Stark. Nov 15, 2004. HBS Working Knowledge.... "A new book from Harvard’s Russell Muirhead examines the new striving for careers that promise more than a paycheck.  'The double meaning gets at the two faces of work. One is the side of necessity. Work is something compulsory, not merely an option or a lifestyle choice. The other side is more hopeful. It invites us to find work that is fulfilling, that is part of a good life.' "

• Establishing rules for the new  workplace by John A. Challenger Nov 2002. USA Today Magazine There is a fusion going on between home and work. We cannot get away from work when we are at home, and we cannot get away from home when we are at work....The only home-oriented things missing from the millennium workplace are churches and synagogues, but I have been hearing more and more about spirituality in the workplace.On the other hand, we cannot get away from work even when we are not there.

• Stress for Success: Professional Women On Overload According to a recent survey by WorldWIT and GLS Consulting of Brookline, MA, 63% said their careers sapped them of emotional strength, and 44% said work-related stress has escalated since the September 11th terrorist attacks. The results reflect tensions broadly felt in most workplaces. Related: Women in the New Economy Companies would be wise to take to heart that the high price women pay regarding their personal/family lives, may be a bell weather for how men experience the impact on their lives.... We believe that the implication for companies is that stress and work/life balance is a hidden sleeper that has the power to destroy productivity in the long run.

• Spiritual Values at Work By Karen Louise Booth. April, 1998 Americans are searching for greater spiritual meaning - even at a time when church attendance is declining. That's because more and more people are finding new ways of spiritual exploration through non-traditional practices such as meditation, environmentalism, and even work. Here is what one person is doing to find a greater meaning in the work he does: advertising. IF KEVIN LYNCH HAD TO PUT GOD ON A BILLBOARD, he has a slogan ready to go.

• The Search for Meaning at Work By Alex Pattakos, Ph.D.  For many people, it is as if authentic meaning only happens outside of the so-called work environment!...As we will see below, the search for meaning at work can also be viewed as a spiritual quest, one that allows human beings to become fully "alive", wherever and whatever their work may happen to be....

• There’s management and then there’s leadership By Mark Goyder Oct 24, 2004. Management is about getting the best out of existing resources, under given constraints, whereas leadership is about moving beyond constraints and redefining what success means, writes Mark Goyder. The demand for a “business case” has long troubled me for at least five reasons.... Produce it in two parts. Part one is for the managers. It takes everything the business is doing today as a given. Part two is visionary. It describes the changing parameters of success in the future, the changing contribution of leaders, the desired, not the current culture, and then it offers the proposal for action justified as part of bringing about that new end state.

• Wanted: spirited leadership By RYAN KNIGHTON. CanWest News Service. Sep 25, 2004The new presence of spirituality in the office shows an attempt to repair the cracks growing in our institutions, and restore our faith in them....Healthy spirituality is not only at large in the public imagination, it's in fashion, even in the corporate world. Spirituality has reached senior management. Consultants and conferences abound, all hell-bent on helping companies get in touch with their souls, and spiritual leadership facilitators are billing the Blue Chip names for some serious meditation time.... What the new presence of spirituality in the office indicates is some serious damage control at work. I suspect that goal, in part, is to repair the cracks growing in our institutions and our confidence in their very nature. Or maybe our faith in them.

• Horses offer people ideas for the office by Tim McGuire. Sep 26, 2004 The concept of "going where the animal is" can teach us all valuable lessons. Most of us spend a lot of futile energy trying to change people and processes at work. We insist on trying to remake people in our own image rather than appreciating them for who and what they are and working with that.

• Einstein's Corner: Reclaiming Our Power By Jeff Einstein. Part I - Sep 1, 2004The first step in reclaiming right thinking in our profession is to find a way to emerge from the overwhelming sense of deprivation that characterizes our work product, work habits, and personal lives. Only then can we step into the light of abundance. Part II - Sep 15, 2004 It begins with my assertion that we don't suffer as much from chronic time starvation as we do from massive time displacement, what happens when time that might otherwise be devoted to improving the quality of our lives (not to mention the quality of our work) is diverted to the impossible pursuit of our obsessions and addictions instead....We simply can't introduce anything new -- spiritual or otherwise -- without displacing something old.  Part III, Sep 22, 2004 Not only do our addictions and obsessions compel us to do things that we know are contrary to our well being, but they consume time and energy that might otherwise be devoted to other, more meaningful pursuits. Among the first things displaced by our addictions and obsessions is emotional honesty.

• Knowing about faiths of others would further peace By DAVID WATERS. Scripps Howard News Service. Sep 1, 2004 Every person of faith has a responsibility to know something about other faiths. Every person of faith should learn about the mindfulness of Buddhism. The justice of Judaism. The brotherhood of Islam. The diversity of Hinduism. The equality of Sikhism. The unity of Baha'i. The compassion of Christianity.

• Debating merits of spirituality without religion I have met many people who describe themselves as spiritual but not religious. They explain that they don't participate in organized religion, but they do feel a connection with a higher power. They have a sense that life is about more than just material stuff; it is about an encounter with the divine. While I am glad these individuals acknowledge God, I am saddened when Judaism is rejected as being unspiritual. I believe that spirituality divorced from organized religion is hollow, mere feelings without practice of the wisdom of tradition. According to Judaism, the best way to acquire a sense of spirituality is to practice and to study.

• King Looks at Religion and Spirituality in the Workplace Employees search for meaning at work. Employers seek more socially responsible approaches and other ways to motivate and inspire workers. According to King's research, encouraging religion and spirituality in the workplace, as long as it doesn't include overt proselytizing, helps employees find meaning and purpose in their work and develops a more purposeful organizational vision. Greater levels of innovation and creativity are also produced. Apr 2004)

• The next American spirituality -- in the workplace Transcript of a live online chat with George Gallup, Jr. (of the Gallup Institute) that was part of the Spirituality @Work Online Conference 2003.

• IS THERE ROOM FOR FAITH IN THE WORKPLACE? by Zara NewmanWith a growing tendency to increase morality and integrity in work, many businesses adopt a code of conduct to aid employees with how to react in certain circumstances. The fact that businesses have mission statements - some sort of altruistic goal - incorporates the notion of spirituality. Those codes that combine business aims with values and belief are the most powerful. However Codes of conduct can never cover every eventuality. Individual perception of morals and ethics differ from person to person....what does make sense is that there should be a recognition that any type of meaningful business ethic cannot develop in a vacuum.

• Institutionalized Denial by Herb ElyConfronting denial is difficult enough when an individual person is involved. Confronting an institution is more perilous....If institutions were persons in recovery, they would acknowledge that they were in denial and that they were created by a higher power. They would rededicate themselves to accomplishing the purpose for which they were created.

• Spiritual Guidance in the Workplace by Herb ElyTen disciplines which, if practiced on a regular basis, will raise consciousness of spiritual values and bear fruit in making the world a better place. These disciplines must be ones that we can practice in the workplace.

• Questions People Ask about Spirituality and the Workplace FAQs by Innovations International

• The Spirit of Work: Integrating business and spiritual ethics by E. A. Vander VeerThe trend toward integrating ethics into business shows no sign of abating. Here's a look at what's driving the movement - and how it may affect your workplace.

• Spirituality and Meaning at Work by Paul T. P. WongThe movement to bring spirit and soul to business is no passing fad; it continues to grow and with no signs of abating. Clearly, something significant and enduring is stirring the corporate world.

• A New Spirit at Work by Jane Lampman. The Christian Science Monitor, Nov 17, 2003 While the goals sound similar to those in the growing social responsibility movement, the aim is for deeper change. Some leaders perceive a profound shift in the fundamental assumptions about reality - one that involves a new view that consciousness is causal and gives much greater import to individuals' inner experience. (Includes corporate examples.)

• Incorporating truth: distinguishing faith from 'spirituality' by Audrey Martin. Words which imply moral standards have not always been welcome in so-called secular circles; but the recognition of various types of abuse by corporations is certainly bringing the language of moral values and truths to the fore once again.

• Ethics as Best Practice: Northwest Public Utility Says Ethical Leadership Helps It Achieve Peak Performance Press release from: Center for Ethical Leadership. 03/26/2003"When groups create 'gracious space‚' they create agreements among themselves about how they will treat one another at vulnerable moments.... Gracious space allows organizations to capture valuable new insights and learning by inviting divergent or dissenting views in a positive dialogue, and fostering the trust and respect that allows people to admit mistakes and 'learn in public.'"

• EXPLORING RELIGIOUS AMERICA, Part Four: Spirituality According to the Gallup organization, between 1984 and 1998 there was a phenomenal jump in the number of people who said they felt a need for greater spiritual growth -- from 56 percent to 82 percent, in just 14 years.

• 240-Minute Man Gabe Sinclair Has Seen the Future, and It Includes a Four-Hour Workday. By Michael Anft. We work too much. As New Age-y as Sinclair's ideas may seem, they are part of a long tradition. ....As Harvard economics professor Juliet B. Schor noted in her 1991 book The Overworked American, leaps in worker productivity did little to help workers gain free time....  she wrote, "every worker in the United States could now be taking every other year off from work--with pay. . . . But between 1948 and the present we did not use any of the productivity dividend to reduce hours."

• Ten Commandments: Too Hot For School House Walls By the Rev. Charles P. Henderson. The Ten Commandments belong in our schools, but not as mere symbols hung on walls. The Ten Commandments are as much a part of Western Culture as Shakespeare or Machiavelli. It would be difficult to imagine anyone teaching ethics, comparative religion, philosophy, or the law without taking into account that awesome source: the Deuteronomic Code. Teachers need to be trained in addressing the issues which such a text raises.

• "Seven Heroes, Seven Faiths"   An example of a "workplace" of many spiritualities was the Columbia.  Read about the faith of the seven astronauts in -- a look at the astronauts' different spiritual paths -- and their communities' different ways of mourning.

• Wiccans in the Workplace By Karyn-Siobhan Robinson. December 3, 2002. Wicca is a belief system and way of life based on the reconstruction of pre-Christian traditions originating in Britain, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Wiccans are generally considered to be Pagans. The most commonly practiced types of Paganism are Wicca, Asatru, Druidry or simply Paganism or Neo-Paganism. The main tenet of Wicca states "Harm none, do as ye will." ....."I'd want HR professionals to know that this is something they don't have to be afraid of. We have holidays and we care about people," said Michelle Gravatte, webmaster for Officers of Avalon, who also works in a chemical treatment facility in Louisville, Ky. "It's not about harming people; we just believe different. It's another form of spirituality. With education, folks could see that."

• When Religion Becomes Evil Book review by Mike Smith. Do not be daunted by the title. When Religion Becomes Evil is a serious work by Charles Kimball, chair of the department of religion at Wake Forest University and a recognized authority on the Middle East.According to Kimball, religions tilt toward evil when they succumb to any of five dynamics: absolute truth claims that lead to exclusivism; blind obedience to charismatic religious leaders; using powers of the state to establish an “ideal” society; acting on the belief that the end justifies the means; and declaring holy war. Destruction of cultures, dehumanizing one’s opponents, violence, ethnic cleansing and the like are the results.

• Sts. Barsanuphius and John: Spirituality in the Workplace In this issue, we will continue our look at the teachings of two Desert Fathers of sixth century Palestine, Sts. Barsanuphius and John. This series will continue over several issues as much of what they have to teach us goes right to the heart of the questions each of us faces in our own individual pilgrimages.  

• Spiritual, But Not Religious Before the 20th century the terms religious and spiritual were used more or less interchangeably.... The word spiritual gradually came to be associated with a private realm of thought and experience while the word religious came to be connected with the public realm of membership in religious institutions, participation in formal rituals, and adherence to official denominational doctrines....Those who see themselves as "spiritual, but not religious" reject traditional organized religion....Forsaking formal religious organizations, these people have instead embraced an individualized spirituality that includes picking and choosing from a wide range of alternative religious philosophies. They typically view spirituality as a journey intimately linked with the pursuit of personal growth or development.

• How Islam-Bashing Got Cool By Deborah Caldwell. Islam-bashing, it appears, is suddenly not just acceptable, but almost fashionable among conservatives. This isn’t a matter of commentators criticizing Muslim extremists. These are remarks that attack Islam, Muslims, the Qur’an, and the Prophet Muhammad as pervasively and inherently bad.

• Religious Discrimination: Keeping the Faith at Work Lawsuits charging religious discrimination on the job are on the rise -- but courts are uneven in praising them. Find out why.

• Fundamentalism and the Modern World A dialogue with Karen Armstrong, Susannah Heschel, Jim Wallis, and Feisal Abdul Rauf. A return to the Dark Ages? Or a modern rebellion against secularism? Either way—as we've so painfully learned—we ignore this phenomenon at our grave peril.

• Spirituality Without Faith Thomas W. Clark. To what extent can secular humanists be spiritual? Can those of us with a more or less naturalistic view of the world, one that doesn't involve spirits, gods, or ghosts, legitimately seek spiritual experience? These remarks are based on a talk given for the Humanist Association of Massachusetts in June of 2001.

• A Study of Spirituality in the Workplace Article by Ian I. Mitroff & Elizabeth A. Denton in the MIT Sloan Management Review, Summer 1999: the results of a two-year empirical study based on face-to-face interviews and questionnaires to address the question: What do managers and executives believe and feel about workplace spirituality or assessments of its purported benefits?

• Four Gateways to Spirit at Work An overview of the field of spirituality in the workplace in The Four Gateways to the Enlightened Organization by Judi Neal.

• Religion in the Workplace Article address the complaint by members of alternative faiths that many religions receive a lack of respect in the workplace.

• Seven Principles of Spirituality in the Workplace Spirituality - as we define it - has no religious component or preference; it is a way of expressing more humanity.

Links to Other Sites

• Seeing Things Whole: A Network for Bridging Faith and Organizational Life Our mission is to help bridge the gap between informed faith and organizational performance in order to serve the common good.

• Take Back Your Time TAKE BACK YOUR TIME is a major U.S./Canadian initiative to challenge the epidemic of overwork, over-scheduling and time famine that now threatens our health, our families and relationships, our communities and our environment. Scroll down to read "Challenging Time Poverty," "Time Stress Hurts All of Us in Different Ways," and the "Time to Care" public policy agenda.

• Workplace Fairness Workplace Fairness is a non-profit organization that provides information, education and assistance to individual workers and their advocates nationwide and promotes public policies that advance employee rights. Our goals are that workers and their advocates are educated about workplace rights and options for resolving workplace problems, and that the policy makers, members of the business community, and the public at large view the fair treatment of workers as both good business practice and sound public policy.

• De Pree Leadership Center The De Pree Center aims to serve as an integrating point between public and private life, between the world and the church, and between the marketplace and the academy.

• The Academy of Management: Management, Spirituality & Religion Interest Group The primary purpose of the special interest group is to encourage professional scholarship in the relationship between management, spirituality and religion.... [and the] study of the relationship and relevance of spirituality and religion in management and organizations.

• Workplace Fairness A non-profit organization that provides information, education and assistance to individual workers and their advocates nationwide and promotes public policies that advance employee rights.

• ekklesia A think-tank that works to promote theological ideas in the public square

• WORKSHOP: Applied Christian Studies Workshop is a nationwide teaching programme in the UK. It has been developed to make Christian vocational training available to men and women with busy lives, people who have the demands and responsibilities of work, local church and family life. Its specific aim is to equip participants for the ongoing challenges of church life and secular society.

• The Spirituality, Leadership and Management (SLaM) Network Limited The Spirituality, Leadership and Management (SLaM) Network Limited is an independent not-for-profit organisation that aims to foster the integration of spirituality, leadership and management in organisations and communities and in our relationship with the natural world through networking, education and research. The fifth annual Spirtuality, Leadership and Management Conference was held December 6-9, 2002.

• Spirithome.com and The Spirit At the Workplace A Web resource for spirituality and faith

• Faith At Work (NZ)"Resourcing Christians to work out their faith as they are out working." Faith at Work is a training and research programme developed in partnership with the Christchurch branch of the Bible College of New Zealand (BCNZ). Faith at Work is an attempt to enrich the sense of connection between God's work and our work. It has developed out of research work exploring the Christian concept of vocation, the theology of work and contemporary approaches for equipping and supporting Christians for life in their places of work. Alistair Mackenzie began this work in 1993. Faith at Work (NZ) provides training and resources related to career and life planning, the theology of work and vocation, everyday spirituality, ethics for business and the marketplace, and the ministry and mission of the laity in daily life from a Christian perspective.

• The Institute for Global Engagement (IGE) A "think tank with legs," created to develop sustainable environments for religious freedom worldwide, and to inspire and equip emerging leaders with faith-based methodologies of engagement. Founded by Robert Seiple, the first-ever U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, the Institute uniquely combines research and teaching with a strategic operational component that seeks solutions to complex political and religious problems in difficult parts of the world.

• The Association for Spirit at Work The professional association for people involved with spirituality in the workplace. "Our vision is to make a difference in the world by expanding the role of businesses, groups and organizations in transforming society. The Association for Spirit at Work provides support to those who share this vision and who see work as a spiritual path."

• Avodah Institute "Avodah (Ah'-voe-dah) is a Hebrew word used in the Bible that has two distinct yet intertwined meanings: worship and work. The dual meaning of this ancient word offers powerful wisdom for modern times. The primary purpose of The Avodah Institute is to help meet the spiritual needs of people in the marketplace. Our mission is to help leaders integrate the claims of their faith with the demands of their work."

• Bringing Spirituality into the Workplace Resources on the website of The Institute for Management Excellence.

• Centre for Spirituality at Work The Centre for Spirituality at Work, in Toronto, is for people who truly desire to deepen the connection between who they are and what they do. And for those who want to release, nurture, claim, savour the sacred at work and help others to do so as well.

• Commentaries on Spirituality in the Workplace Susan Kramer's peaceful website with suggestions for remaining centered and spiritual in the workplace.

• The Pluralism Project The Pluralism Project was developed by Diana L. Eck at Harvard University to study and document the growing religious diversity of the United States, with a special view to its new immigrant religious communities....How Americans of all faiths begin to engage with one another in shaping a positive pluralism is one of the most important questions American society faces in the years ahead.

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