June 5, 2019

Religious Diversity in the Workplace, with Mark E. Fowler

Episode 14:

Mark E. Fowler is responsible for overseeing the design and implementation of Tanenbaum’s programmatic trainings. Mark has been involved in New York City’s education community for over 20 years and is a skilled facilitator/trainer who worked with teachers, counselors, administrators, and students at the Anti-Defamation League on prejudice reduction, conflict resolution, and reducing bias and bullying. He is a sought-after keynote speaker and facilitator who has addressed organizations throughout New York on issues of equality in race, gender, sexual orientation, and religion. He earned a B.A. in English and Education at Duke University and was trained as a Mediation and Conflict Resolution Specialist with the NYC Department of Education. Mark also is a graduate of the One Spirit Interfaith Seminary and is an ordained Interfaith/Interspiritual minister.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • How Mark’s career journey led him to work at the Tanenbaum Center, and how he joined the One Spirit Interfaith Seminary
  • Why Tanenbaum’s mission is to promote religious tolerance and help eliminate religious prejudice, and how that work especially matters in the workplace
  • How Tanenbaum is a secular and non-sectarian nonprofit with a long history of leading the forefront of religious diversity work
  • What surprising findings Tanenbaum has discovered in their religious diversity research, and how information from their surveys has helped guide their work
  • Why having clear processes for registering complaints around religious diversity issues can actually help with the retention of staff
  • How Tanenbaum is partnering with companies to help improve their religious diversity to allow staff to believe and practice their faith or non-faith freely
  • What factors have contributed to a drastic increase in hate crimes in recent years compared to in previous decades
  • Why the effects of hate crimes expand far beyond their victims and touch the lives of everyone the victim is connected to, and why no religious faith is immune to violence
  • Why education is the key to combating extremism, and how Tanenbaum is working to improve public education with free resources
  • Why it is important to understand not just why hate happens and how people become indoctrinated into hate but to understand what strategies are effectively bringing people out of that life
  • Why understanding your own biases and limits around religious diversity is critical to working in diversity and inclusion

Additional resources: