E14: Brian Grim & What has religious freedom to do with business?

Matt Hawkins interviews Brian Grim, president and founder of Religious Freedom & Business Foundation (RFBF). Brian answers the question, “What has religious freedom to do with business?” Brian is a sociologist by trade and, while at the Pew Forum, built the research project that has become the standard for global religious freedom research.

* Religious Freedom and Business Foundation

* Bio: Brian Grim, PhD

* Brian blogs at The Weekly Number

* Follow Brian on Twitter @brianjgrim, and @RFBF_US

* Essay: Seven Reasons Why Religious Freedom is Good for Business

* Brian’s TEDx Talk at the Vatican: Religious Freedom by the Numbers (YouTube). Text highlights.

* Via @FirstThingsMag: What Christianity Contributes to China’s Economic Rise

Brian J. Grim, Ph. D., is President of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation and a leading expert on the socio-economic impact of restrictions on religious freedom and international religious demography. Brian is a member of the World Economic Forum’s council on the role of faith. He is an associate scholar at the Religious Liberty Project at Georgetown University and an affiliated scholar at Boston University’s Institute on Culture, Religion & World Affairs (see full CV). Prior to becoming the Foundation’s president in 2014, Brian directed the largest social science effort to collect and analyze global data on religion at the Pew Research Center. He also worked for two decades as an educator in the former Soviet Union, China, Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Brian holds a doctorate in sociology from the Pennsylvania State University and is author of numerous articles and books including The Price of Freedom Denied (Cambridge Univ. Press).

Matthew Hawkins (@mthawk) serves as Coalitions Director for the ERLC, working with other groups in Washington, D.C. to achieve common objectives. He is presently studying ethics and public affairs at George Mason University.