Managing Religious Diversity in the Private Sphere in Post-Secular Societies: Lessons from Business and Human Rights

Abstract

This article discusses managing religious diversity in post-secular societies by drawing lessons from business and human rights. Managing religious diversity has been traditionally played out in the realms of the state. A state’s primary obligation is to respect and protect religious diversity in its society. This article looks beyond the state by arguing that managing diversity is a two-way street. It submits that business and human rights standards are benchmarks by which state and corporations’ effective management of religious diversity should be measured and supervised. This article argues that business and human rights standards, such as the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, establish the obligations of business and other private actors, such as religious communities, to respect and protect human rights in private relations. Businesses carry negative and positive obligations to employ a human-rights-based approach to managing religious diversity in their business operations. Religious communities, for their part, have to manage religious diversity to the extent their autonomy and self-governance allow for it. Equipped with this knowledge, this article concludes that business and human standards, including the United Nations Guiding Principles, represent the standards that business and religious communities should comply with in managing religious diversity in private relationships.