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This past week, I traveled through parts of Tennessee and Georgia to attend a concert (Train with Natasha Bedingfield and O.A.R.–fantastic!) and visit the University of Georgia School of Law (to plan the 2018 National Business Law Scholars conference).  On that trip, I saw a number of billboards with religious messages–more than I remember having seen in the past.  This set me to reflecting on the use of billboards–typically commercial space–for this purpose.  I share a few observations today on that topic.

The messages on the billboards I saw appear to be important to the speakers who offer them.  [Note that in this paragraph I am working from memory but have tried to describe what I saw as accurately as possible.]  I saw several that were just printed with the word “JESUS” (in all capital letters, as I have written it here) and one that said: “TRUST JESUS” (again, in all caps, as written here) with a faded waving American flag in the background.  But the most striking billboard that I saw was one that stated: “In the beginning God created everything,” a message that was accompanied on the left by a circle in which the Darwinian progression to humankind was depicted and across which there was a large “X.”

On the one hand, highway billboards are a great vehicle for the exercise of free speech.  We are captive in our vehicles and generally bound to certain key routes when engaged in car travel over any significant distance.  Other than distinctive local flora and buildings (as well as traffic, exit, and other roadside driving guidance), billboards are the primary visual as one drives on a highway.  In fact, their size often makes them more attractive than those flowers, structures, and signage.  (Although I have never missed an exit for a billboard, I have come close.)

The use of billboards for religious messaging does not convert the message to commercial speech (to the extent that question may be relevant to any free speech analysis).  

In last week’s post, I mentioned Dr. Steven Garber. Recently, I finished his 2014 book Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good. This book is among a handful of  books in the faith & work area that I have read over the past few months.

Visions of Vocation is beautifully written, lyrical and rich. Garber’s weaves philosophy, literature, and personal stories throughout the book’s 255 pages.

Garber’s thesis in this talk, which echoes in much of his work, is that “vocation is integral, not incidental to the Missio Dei (mission of God).” Garber says the book Visions of Vocation grew out of these questions: Can you know the world and still love the world? & What will you do with what you know? The first question hits home, as the flaws of jobs and people often become more vivid over time.  After the second question, Garber shows how stoicism and cynicism are unsatisfying responses.  

Garber offers no easy answers, which is, perhaps, on purpose. These are difficult questions in a difficult area, and easy answers may not exist. I finished the book still hoping for some clear principles for integrating faith and work, but…

Below are some resources related to the integration of faith and work stemming from businesses or business people.

Companies 

Organizations

Presentations 

Books and Articles

The political discourse of this election cycle, and the respective postures of the two main political parties, suggest that social justice and economic prosperity are in opposition to one another. At times, it seems that some believe pursuing racial and gender equality are (at best) distractions from “real problems” like jobs and the economy. Others seem to think any form of business or industrial development is essentially sanctioning the destruction of the Earth and its people. Both are wrong.

Equity and fairness are not anathema to economic progress. In fact, in the big picture, they are essential. There is nothing inconsistent about being pro-business and supporting social justice. One can believe in social justice and still think there are too many regulations that hamper businesses. There are, for example, regulations that disproportionately keep women and minorities from opening their own businesses. And there are laws and regulations that create barriers to entry and help maintain market power businesses where competition is both warranted and necessary..

My colleague, Haskell Murray recently posted Faith and Work in Universities, which lists some resources related to religion and scholarly activity, particularly as it related to business. This is a worthwhile discussion, and far too…

Earlier, I focused on the faith and work movement in churches, and I plan to add to that post over coming weeks. In this post, I will start aggregating information on faith and work in universities. I plan to list university initiatives, scholarly articles and books, and professor presentations.

University Initiatives

Articles and Books

Presentations

Interest from churches in the integration of faith and work seems to have grown exponentially over the past few decades. That said, as far back as Martin Luther, there has been a call to view even jobs outside of ministry as a vocation or religious calling.  

I plan to update this post from time to time, and I may add more discussion, but for now, I will just list some of the church-founded or church-connected faith & work initiatives or resources below. I welcome suggestions for additions to this list.

Organizations 

Presentations and Panels

Books

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…

Today, the following business law professor position at Pepperdine University’s Seaver College was brought to my attention. Further information is available here and below.

—————–

Assistant Professor of Business Law

The business administration division of Pepperdine University seeks a candidate with a terminal degree in law for a tenure-track position in business law. Candidates are expected to complete all requirements for the JD before the date of appointment, which is August 1, 2017. A documented research interest in law is required and teaching experience is preferred. The expected courses taught would be undergraduate classes in business law and international business. The flexibility to teach occasionally in another field is preferred.

The business program at Seaver College, is accredited by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). USA Today ranked Seaver’s business program as the 7th best undergraduate business program in the country. We have approximately 775 undergraduate students in the Business Administration Division. Despite the large number of majors, our classes are small (rarely more than 25 students) and our faculty is collegial and collaborative. The division offers Bachelor of Science degree programs in accounting, business administration, and international business, and a contract major in finance. Degree programs…

A recent Vanity Fair article discussing Citizens United is making the rounds. (I saw it on Facebook!)  The article notes:  

It had already been established, in Buckley v. Valeo (1976), that anyone has a First Amendment right to spend his or her own money advancing his or her own cause, including a candidacy for political office. Citizens United extended this right to legally created “persons” such as corporations and unions.

I have been giving some more thought to whole “personhood” discussion of late, and my thoughts have taken me back to both Hobby Lobby and Citizens United. What follows is a long blog post that pulls together my thoughts on these two cases in an admittedly not well developed way.  But it’s a start (though I really should be grading).  

My home state in West Virginia is struggling.  The economy is struggling because two of the state’s main industries — coal and natural gas — are facing falling production (coal) and low prices (gas). Severance taxes for the state account for approximately 13% of the budget, and both are down dramatically. Tax revenues for the state were down $9.8 million in January from the prior year and came up $11.5 million short of estimates.  For the year-to-date, the state collected $2.29 billion, which is $169.5 million below estimates. Oddly enough, state sales and income taxes for January both exceeded estimates, but not enough to offset other stagnation in the state.  

The state has long been known as a coal state, and that industry has dominated the legal and political landscape.  West Virginia has been criticized for having a legal system that is “anti-business,” with the United States Chamber of Commerce finding stating that West Virginia is the 50th ranked state in terms of the fairness of its litigation. (See PDF here.) CNBC (with input from the National Association of Manufacturers) also ranked West Virginia last in terms of business competitiveness, so the starting point is not good.  

Now, the West Virginia legislature is considering the…