From Hobby Lobby to Chick-fil-A to Indiana’s RFRA to wedding photographers and wedding cake bakers, “faith and business” has been in the headlines quite a bit over the past few years.

Over the next few weeks, I plan to write a series of posts exploring developments in this area of faith and business. I plan three additional posts, looking at faith and business (sometimes called, "faith and work") initiatives in (1) universities, (2) churches, and (3) businesses. My comments in this series will have a Christian focus, as that is my faith and is the area with which I am most familiar, but I welcome comments from any faith tradition.

Based on what I have seen around the country, many universities, churches, and businesses seem to be increasing their focus on the integration of faith and business. For some, this is a terrifying development. For others it is long overdue. I submit that both sides should attempt to engage in perspective-taking and nuanced discussion in an attempt to reach common ground.

As someone who prioritizes his faith, I also want to share my personal thoughts on the area of “faith and business” in this introductory post. First, some Christians, myself included, often lose sight of the fact that Jesus said that all the law hangs on loving God and loving others. Jesus cared for the societal outcasts (here, here, and here), while strongly (but lovingly) criticizing the spiritual leaders. He had and has followers with a diverse variety of political views. Jesus did things like healing people on the Sabbath that appeared to break religious law, but actually fulfilled the true, loving spirit of the law. Second, as Inside Edition correspondent Megan Alexander reminded Belmont University students and faculty last week, Christians should focus on doing high quality work, because the Christian scripture instructs for us to our work “heartily, as for the Lord.” This is a tough one for me, as I am often dissatisfied with my work product, but I think the call is to do the absolute best work you can do, with your talents and given your various responsibilities. Third, and finally, I think participants in the “faith and business” conversation have to realize that people of faith are unlikely to be able to leave their faith at home. There can be good conversations about how that faith can and should be expressed in business, but I don’t think it is realistic to think that serious people at faith can just turn off their beliefs while at work. While the discussions about the interplay of faith and business may be difficult, they are important discussions to have in this pluralistic society.