On Believing and Preaching to the Choir
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Summer in London is one of those unassuming pleasures. Everything slows down and there are more opportunities to be spontaneous. In my job looking after inthallo’s philanthropic portfolio, this means more time to think about intangible issues that are trickier to embed into grant-making.
Here's a mammoth question we’ve been grappling with:
Back in July, we hosted some friends to share how we approach these difficult questions. We were fortunate to have two exceptional guests – Mervyn Thomas, founder and president of CSW, and the Rt Rev Philip Mounstephen, Bishop of Winchester – who helped us unpack the principle of Freedom of Religion or Belief, its meaning, and its future.
Since we work across philanthropy and investment and given the breadth of our portfolios, the experinces and opinions in our team are diverse. So we hoped to shape a conversation about different lenses rather than conclusive answers, avoiding blanket statements and culture wars.
“Isn’t it just a problem of freedom of worship rather than belief?”
“But isn’t there persecution here too?”
“What’s the point if the trend is towards secularisation anyway?”
While valid concerns, and ones we hear day in and day out, they’re hardly the questions that are going to teach us anything new. Instead, our guests urged us to think beyond our own preconceptions, pointing out the tensions between what is fundamentally a right of the individual, and the challenges that it poses at a global scale.
We were delighted to have our team and valuable friends of inthallo offer their perspectives. Unsurprisingly, an analyst with deep knowledge of the Chinese market and a researcher of the effects of social media on Christian faith will see these issues differently. We all left with our own takeaways, but I’ve been mainly reflecting on three:
Most people around the world are religious – and we forget that. Some may blame religious differences for society’s biggest problems, while overlooking that the freedom to live by one’s beliefs is what allows them to voice that view. What if, in fact, we could trace the root of these problems precisely to a lack of this freedom?
Exposure is too often conflicted with coercion, contributing to unhelpful narratives around expressions of faith. In many Western nations, the aims of fostering a plural society and maintaining the separation between religions and the State seem to be at odds. The same countries that have banned the display of crosses or stars of David, or the wearing of headscarves or turbans in public spaces, are also grappling with growing islamophobia, antisemitism and other forms of hate in their societies. Does eliminating all exposure to religious expression really contribute to a society free of fear and coercion?
Not all forms of discrimination are equal, but all of them should be challenged. When reflecting about our situation, we shouldn't forget that millions of people around the world still practice their faith in secret, or lie about their true beliefs, for fear of imprisonment or even death. It is also a powerful reminder not to take our freedoms for granted, and to challenge discrimination when it does manifest in the form of censorship, disinformation or hate speech.
How does all of this relate to our philanthropic work?
Secular funders tend to ignore the role that religion plays in shaping our sector. In the UK, this blind spot is worth roughly £1.23 billion annually, so not exactly negligible. In the US, donations to religious causes and institutions total $146.5 billion, and it is estimated that about 25% of all voluntary donations made globally in 2024 were for religious institutions.
We knew we were taking a leap of faith (pun intended) by raising this topic. We wanted to open this conversation not out of existentialism or contrarianism, but because knowing each other is the first step towards trust. As philanthropic funders, we dig deep to understand what motivates a nonprofit’s work, and we hope that others will afford us the same curiosity and ingenuity.
Funders tend to use frameworks and theories of change as identity, letting these rigid concepts speak on our behalf. It’s rare that we have an opportunity to go off-script and reflect deeply about what we really think.
Difficult conversations with people you don’t know very well have an additional advantage; they keep you in check. If we only spoke with those who agree with us on every point, we’d shut ourselves off from the possibility of changing our minds.
One thing that became clear: we need to acknowledge the importance of religion and to promote the freedom of belief, starting with our grant-making practices.
We don’t expect charities to tailor projects for us, change their language or shift their mission. Of course, we don’t align with all the charities we assess, but we’d rather decline than impose our ways.
We hope charity leaders, like us, reflect deeply and check their foundations for solidity every now and then.
In faith-based nonprofits, we look for open-minded leaders willing to embrace diversity of belief with humility.
And in secular nonprofits, we look for the same thing.
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