The Henry Kaufman Forum on Religious Traditions
and Business Behavior

This forum explores two central questions in the relationship between the world’s major religious traditions and the business behavior of adherents to those traditions:

First, what do the world’s major organized religious traditions – Protestantism, Catholicism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism – prescribe about business and financial ethics and behavior?

Second, how and why have business and financial actors seriously compromised the leading religious traditions of their cultures?

By interrogating these two core questions, the conference will yield insights valuable to contemporary business and religious leaders about abiding questions such as: Do the scriptures and doctrines of these religions appear to have had a marked effect on financial behavior? Does religion appear to be a more potent or less potent influence than business ethics courses in fostering sound, ethical, and socially responsible financial behavior? How can religion best be promulgated to make financial behavior more sound, ethical, and socially responsible?

For more information, contact:
Michelle Lui, Assistant Director, Center for Financial Policy: 301-405-0400 or mlui@rhsmith.umd.edu
David Sicilia, Henry Kaufman Fellow in Business History: 301-405-7778 or dsicilia@umd.edu